Alice in Wonderland: A Musical Porno

Alice (Kristine DeBell) enters in a world of wonder... but not the kind of wonder that you remember as a kid. The Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, the Queen and others (even Tweedledee and Tweedledum) show Alice some things about her body -- and other people's bodies -- that might be quite wonderful. A tale of love and lust the likes you have never seen.

The story of how Kristine DeBell got involved with this is interesting. According to her, she was a model at the Ford Agency and saw that there were auditions for this film. She did not know what kind of movie it was, so she tried out and landed the part. Now, exactly what point she figured out what sort of movie it is is unclear, but we do know that she ended up going through with it.

The producer was Bill Osco, probably best known at that point (and maybe even today) for "Flesh Gordon". The director, Bud Townsend, had made a few horror films, "Terror House" and "Nightmare in Wax", which are largely forgotten today, even by fans of cult horror.

In "Alice", the songs are cheesy, but fit the theme of the movie. One song, "What's a Girl Like You Doing on a Knight Like This?" was pretty funny, and the others had similar themes going. The trial towards the end was well scripted, and fit very nicely into the world of Alice. The logic and humor were definitely accounted for. There is no denying it is an adult film, but one that has a certain level of intelligence.

What more can you say about a film like this? All I know is, for people who are used to adult films where the "plot" iss just a 30-second lead-in to the sex, this one is going to overload you with plot and music. But, personally, I think there is something very special about this film and I hope it gets a nice DVD release with the sound and picture touched up and special features (if that is even possible). I can see this being a cult film.

DeBell's story following the film is even more interesting. She began dating producer Bill Osco, who was pushing her to make another adult film, this time a riff on "Wizard of Oz". Author David J. Hogan says this was the original plan before "Alice", with the film to be called "Dirty Dorothy". Whether Hogan or DeBell is right is unknown, but either way the film never went forward, with DeBell insisting on not making any more of "those" films. (Why she agreed to do the first is still a mystery.)

Through Osco, she got the lead in another cult (though not adult) film, "The Great American Girl Robbery" (1979). And who co-produced with Osco? None other than Chuck Russell, who went on to direct such films as "The Blob" and "Nightmare on Elm Street 3"! Through some small miracle, DeBell escaped the world of adult films and b-movie shlock, appearing in "Meatballs" and being a successful star ever since.

While that may be a small tangent off the point of "Alice", it is relevant: what could have been a forgotten, bizarre attempt at an adult musical actually lead to the career of a mainstream actress and (indirectly) an incredible horror director. Who knew?

Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Comedy may indeed be one of the earliest examples of erotic fan fiction to ever surface. Receiving a considerably wide release in the late 1970's, the film became one of the defining pornographic parodies and continued to capitalize on the pornography craze in America during that time. To this day, it's something so quirky, as an idea and a feature-length film, that it practically begs you to watch it just by its title and its cluttered poster of sex-starved misfit characters.

The film revolves around Alice (Kristen De Bell), who falls asleep while reading the classic novel Alice in Wonderland and wakes up in a sexual wonderland, guided by the white rabbit (Terry Spelman) and other classic characters, now bearing some sort of sexual attribute to their personalities. Alice, who prides herself on being a good-natured woman, very dainty and puritanical, has never before seen such sexual freedom and advances run rampant, and the film chronicles her sexual awakening in the land as she assists other characters, such as Humpty Dumpty and the Mad Hatter, in their own personal escapades.

Kristine De Bell is a real find of an actress here, largely because B. Anthony Fredericks gives her character something to do rather than owning the title of the key masturbatory fantasy in the picture. De Bell's Alice is placed into one incredibly silly and deranged setpiece after another, yet through all this insanity, she not only keeps a straight face, but she keeps her persona straight too, naive and well-meaning. Her charisma as an actress is fairly strong and, much like Fredericks' silly screenplay, she's given a lot of creative range as an actress.

Despite bearing an "X" rating, a rating no longer used in the United States, the film is pretty mild - it's no more graphic than Flesh Gordon (which was produced by Alice in Wonderland producer William Osco two years before) because it largely focuses on the story structure and trying to parody something in a memorable way. Pornographic films like these are interesting species largely because they are not focused on the endlessly and emptily scored/shot sex scenes, but more concerned with infusing some cheap, sexualized humor into the screenplay.

Both this and Flesh Gordon are far more innocent pictures than you probably think, but both have the same problem of failing to be very erotic. Because they are bent on setting up a story and characters that mirror their original source material, they falter in the respect of trying to be erotic in addition to making an admirable attempt to cater to more people than those who would frequent a Grindhouse theater on a lonely Wednesday evening. Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Comedy also features a handful of songs composed for the film and even those can distract from the eroticism the film wants to create but can't consistently maintain.

Still, much like Flesh Gordon, there's fun to be had here. De Bell is a real find of an actress, the set decorations are largely attractive, and the songs provide for momentary diversions of plot and point-A-to-point-B structure. This is another one of those see-it-to-believe-it-pornos that would only benefit from being shown on a projector in a room equipped with about two dozen well-worn seats, a sticky floor, an incense odor, and a few shady characters down in front.

Starring: Kristine De Bell, Terry Spelman, Alan Novak, Bradford Armdexter, Gila Havana, and Ron Nelson. Directed by: Bud Townsend.

Years ago I saw the box for Alice In Wonderland in a local video shop. I remembered those blue eyes on the cover. After I saw the Big Brawl, I went back to rent the movie, but it was gone. It took me 18 years to get an X-rated cut, and it was worth the wait. The actors look very 1970s...a bit scrawny/decrepit with a lot of hair, but the story is actually entertaining. Nothing like musical numbers in the middle of a porn movie. And there was something special about Kristine DeBell. She is able to project a sort of wholesomeness in the middle of a sex scene. I thought she was great in her appearance on Night Court also. It is a shame that her career never really blossomed.

In fact, by today's standards, it would probably garner an R rating. This witty, appealing fantasy musical skinflick treatment of the Lewis Carroll classic would likely make the author proud. With songs like "What's a Girl Like You Doing On A Knight Like This", you will laugh a LOT as familiar characters such as the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit put a titillating twist on the children's tale. Certainly not for the kiddies, but it doesn't have the hardcore, unemotional edge common to the genre. It's just pure silliness and fun, fun, fun.

What can you possibly say? This is the uncut hardcore, musical Alice! It works too with a large energetic cast seemingly enjoying themselves to the hilt and whilst one could wish for a re-mastered version, I guess we are lucky to even have this video transfer. Pretty much a delight throughout. There are a couple of slightly off moments but this could have been embarrassing all through and it certainly is not. It also could have been and today would have been too camp. No, a very fine effort that is amusing, tuneful and just sexy enough. Fine performances particularly the Kristine DeBell in the lead and was that an unaccredited Richard Prior as the prone Knight being vigorously (if discreetly) ridden?