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 dates
  • 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 fantasy adult erotic 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 with three minutes cut from the film. It was later re-released on VHS with a somewhat grandiose title roll preceding the movie noting that quite a bit of hardcore footage had originally been shot, but "could not be included" at the time.

Plot

After offending her boyfriend William by rejecting his advances, mousy librarian Alice falls asleep reading Alice in Wonderland. The white rabbit appears to her in a dream and takes her into a sexual wonderland. The story loosely follows Carroll's original plot, and includes many of his characters, but with considerable sexual license.

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, after Andy Warhol's film Blue Movie (1969), mainstream adult films, Mona (1970), and its sequel Harlot (1971), as well as the comedy/stop-motion effects hit, 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 and Palenville, 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 just beginning to be widely released, publicly discussed by celebrities (like Johnny Carson and Bob Hope)[7] and taken seriously by film critics (like Roger Ebert).[4][8]

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,[9] and available through mainstream DVD retail outlets.

Off-Broadway musical

In 2007, an Off-Broadway musical based on this Alice in Wonderland was staged at the Kirk Theatre in New York City. Osco was credited with writing the book.[10] The show was entitled Alice in Wonderland: An Adult Musical Comedy and flyers advertising it were designated "For Mature Audiences Only". The show was set in a trailer park in Weehawken, New Jersey.[10]

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, IA: University Of Iowa Press. p. 182. ISBN 978-1587298196.
  4. 1 2 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 (magazine). Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  8. ↑ Ebert, Roger (June 13, 1973). "The Devil In Miss Jones - Film Review". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  9. ↑ Subversive Cinema release
  10. 1 2 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.

External links

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