Wonderland

Adult Cinema fans know the period of the mid-'70s through roughly 1983 as the Golden Age, when theatrical porn including so-called "Porno Chic" represented the artistic peak for the medium. But this imaginative version of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is typical of the great romantic cinema achieved by pornographers (especially at Adam & Eve) around the turn of this century, before succumbing to all-sex gonzo as the industry norm.

The BTS short-short (3 minutes long) subject on the DVD reveals from a shooting script the original project title of "Decadent Desires". But the film is an ambitious undertaking, featuring rhyming dialog, cheap but dazzling sets, makeup and stage craft, and excellent performances, notably by Ava Vincent as the evil queen. I was surprised that no one had corrected a major credit for the Jacker Cat (Cheshire Cat) role listed in pseudonym as "Kevin Costler" when under the makeup it's clearly Steven St. Croix (IMDb rejects my correction, typical.)

The individual scenes do not follow Lewis Carroll's creation closely at all, merely using his dazzling fantasy as a jumping off point for XXX content and amusing and/or weird face-offs. Central role of "Alece" (pronounced as if spelled Elise) is the best one of the career of Allysin Chaynes, who does a good job of appearing innocent no matter what sexual act she's engaged in, and delivers her lines well, though clearly upstaged by Vincent's dramatic readings. Other strong performances are given by Shanna McCullough and guest star Wanda Curtis, latter a masturbator of the first order. Bridgette Kerkove fills out her fanciful costume memorably, though is not given much to do.

Clearly not for all tastes, this labor of love puts into proper perspective the trash recently created by the hack Axel Braun in his series of big-budget fairy tale porn releases. Enright is a serious filmmaker who at times creates honest parodies, not the rip-offs categorized in recent times as "porn-parody". Contrast "Wonderland" with any Axel Braun video including the many "award-winning" ones, and one can see the night and day difference in quality.