DIR: Bill Osco
The mid to late 1970's is generally seen as something of a golden age for porn, that time when even people making X Rated movies were at least attempting to make real films, even if they weren't especially artful. ALICE IN WONDERLAND has fascinated me since I first heard about it; a porno musical? How could that not be at least interesting? It's by no means a great film, but ALICE IN WONDERLAND certainly is interesting.The thing that is perhaps most intriguing about the film is just how much of it doesn't revolve around sex. There is a long establishing sequence in which Alice (played by the sweetly pretty Kristine DeBell, who had several mainstream roles after this film) makes it clear to her boyfriend that she isn't ready to have sex with him (the film is careful to establish that, despite this stance, Alice is 18), then the White Rabbit shows up in the library where Alice works and leads her into Wonderland. Even in Wonderland, where events become more sexual with each passing scene, there is at least an attempt to tell a story, and to allow DeBell to act. Alice wants to grow up, but she's a little reluctant to join in the various sexual games in Wonderland, and to the filmmaker's and DeBell's credit, they do attempt to carry this through even in Alice's approach to the sex scenes.
The songs are pretty awful, and so is the bawdy comedy, but there is something about this movie. Even though, at the tea party, Alice doesn't so much have tea with the Mad Hatter as, well, blow him, there is a strange innocence about the whole thing. It has a playfulness that makes it, for all its rough edges, bad acting, silliness and shagging, feel like something that a group of friends - pardon the pun - tossed off for a bit of fun. I can't exactly recommend it, because it's not actually any good, but I certainly enjoyed watching it.
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