Alice in Wonderland (1976 film)

Alice in Wonderland
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Bud Townsend
Produced by William Osco
Screenplay by B. Anthony Fredericks
Based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
by Lewis Carroll
Starring Kristine De Bell
Music by Jack Stern
Cinematography Joseph Bardo
Edited by Shaun Walsh
Production
companies
  • Cruiser Productions
  • Essex Pictures Company
Distributed by General National Enterprises
Release date
  • December 10, 1976 (1976-12-10)
Running time
 72 minutes (cut)[1]
88 minutes (uncut)[2]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $400,000
Box office $90 million[3]

Alice in Wonderland (sometimes listed as Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Comedy) is a 1976 American musical comedy pornographic film, loosely based on Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was directed by Bud Townsend and starred Kristine De Bell as Alice. The film was favorably reviewed by film critic Roger Ebert in 1976.[4]

The film initially received an X rating in 1976 and subsequently, an R rating a year later after three minutes were cut from the film. It was later re-released on VHS with text preceding the movie noting that while more hardcore footage had originally been shot, the footage "could not be included" in the final cut.

Plot

After rejecting the advances of her boyfriend, William (Ron Nelson), mousy librarian Alice falls asleep reading Alice in Wonderland. The White Rabbit appears to her in a dream and she follows him into a strange wonderland. Finding herself in a room and too large to fit through the small door, Alice drinks a potion which causes her to shrink while her dress remains the same size, leaving her naked. While chasing the Rabbit, she falls into a river and begins to drown, but is saved by a group of local inhabitants. After making friends with them, Alice is gifted a new (albeit very revealing) dress before setting off after the Rabbit again. While walking through the woods, she begins to experiment with her sexuality by stripping naked and masturbating. The Rabbit happens upon her and takes her to meet the Mad Hatter.

After being initially uncomfortable when the Mad Hatter exposes his penis to her, Alice ultimately performs fellatio on him. She is then called to assist Humpty Dumpty, who has fallen off a wall, causing him to lose the ability to achieve an erection. The situation is rectified when Alice performs fellatio on Dumpty. She is then taken to meet siblings Tweedledee and Tweedledum, whom she watches having passionate but incestuous intercourse. Following this encounter, Alice, the White Rabbit, and the Mad Hatter continue on toward the King's Ball. On the way, they come across a couple having sex in an open field; Alice chastises them but she is ignored. At the royal court, the King converses with Alice, speaking with her about self-empowerment and ignoring the judgements of others; he ultimately seduces her.

The Queen suddenly appears, catching Alice and the king in bed together. A hurried trial is held and Alice is "convicted" of being a virgin. As punishment, the Queen orders Alice to have sex with her. A number of sexual escapades ensue among various characters as Alice prepares to carry out her sentence, including a brief lesbian encounter between Alice and the Queen's maids. Alice and the Queen engage in lesbian sex, but as a result of the cunnilingus she receives from Alice, the Queen experiences an orgasm so strong it briefly incapacitates her. The Mad Hatter and White Rabbit assist Alice in escaping the Queen, who pursues to no avail.

Waking from her dream and thereby returning to the real world, Alice meets William again. Having experienced a sexual awakening while in Wonderland, Alice accepts William's advances and they have sex in the library. In a closing sequence, Alice travels through Wonderland naked before she and William set off toward their new home where they live "happily ever after."

Cast

Musical numbers

  • "Whole New World"
  • "(Guess I Was Just Too Busy) Growing Up"
  • "If You Haven't Got Dreams, You Ain't Got Nothing (19 Going on 90)"
  • "His Ding-A-Ling Is Up"
  • "Tweedledee and Tweedledum's Song"
  • "What's a Nice Girl Doin' with a Knight?"
  • "Cards, Cards, Cards"
  • "Make Each and Every Movement Count"
  • "Happy Love"
  • "Whole New World" (Reprise)

Production

The film was produced by adult film mogul William Osco, the producer of one of the first mainstream adult films, Mona (1970), and its sequel Harlot (1971), as well as Flesh Gordon (1974). Osco chose to make, as his next project, an adult musical version of the Lewis Carroll novel, finding that the story rights were in the public domain. The result was an X-rated feature which was picked up by 20th Century Fox, who cut three minutes to obtain an R rating.

The film was shot in Athens, New York and Plainview, New York over ten days.

Release

Alice in Wonderland opened theatrically in the United States on December 10, 1976. The film grossed over $90 million globally.[3]

Alice in Wonderland was released during the Golden Age of Porn (inaugurated by the 1969 release of Andy Warhol's Blue Movie) in the United States, at a time of "porno chic",[5][6] in which adult erotic films were widely released, publicly discussed by celebrities (like Johnny Carson and Bob Hope)[7] and taken seriously by film critics.

Home media

The film was circulated as an R-rated version in VHS format by Media Home Entertainment, while the hardcore version was also available on VHS. Both have long been out of print.

In December 2007, underground film company Subversive Cinema released a DVD containing the original X-rated and hardcore versions, fully restored,[8] and available through DVD retail outlets.

Off-Broadway musical

In January 2004, Osco produced and directed an Off-Broadway musical adaptation of his Alice in Wonderland at the Kirk Theatre, New York.

The stage production, entitled Alice in Wonderland: An Adult Musical Comedy, features an original score by TayWah, and advertising warned that it is "for mature audiences only" and "contains full nudity".[9] The show is set in a trailer park in Weehawken, New Jersey[10] and follows Alice's sexual awakening as she "escapes her boyfriend's advances and mother's drunken rants" into a new erotic world.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Alice in Wonderland (X) (cut)". British Board of Film Classification. May 31, 1977. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  2. ↑ Staff (2016). "Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy (1976)". IMDB. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  3. 1 2 Hollingsworth, Cristopher (2009). Alice Beyond Wonderland: Essays for the Twenty-first Century. Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-1587298196.
  4. ↑ Ebert, Roger (November 24, 1976). "Alice in Wonderland:An X-Rated Musical Fantasy". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  5. ↑ Blumenthal, Ralph (January 21, 1973). "Porno chic; 'Hard-core' grows fashionable-and very profitable". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  6. ↑ Porno Chic (Jahsonic.com)
  7. ↑ Corliss, Richard (March 29, 2005). "That Old Feeling: When Porno Was Chic". Time. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  8. ↑ Subversive Cinema release Archived November 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. 1 2 "Through the Looking Glass: Adult Musical Comedy, Alice in Wonderland, Begins Jan. 12 | Playbill". Playbill. Retrieved 2018-09-29.
  10. ↑ Dietz, Dan (2009). Off Broadway Musicals, 1910-2007: Casts, Credits, Songs, Critical Reception and Performance Data of More Than 1,800 Shows. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 12. ISBN 978-0786433995.
  • Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy on IMDb
  • Roger Ebert (November 24, 1976). "Alice In Wonderland — Review". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved March 31, 2009.
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