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STUDIO: Subversive Cinema
MSRP: $29.95
RATED: X and XXX
RUNNING TIME: 81 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Exclusive Featurette with Adult Film guru Bill Margold & feminist critic / adult actress Lena Ramone
• Two Versions of the Film: X and XXX Rated
The Pitch
"Lewis Carroll drops the Opium Laced Imagery for some 1970s XXX Naturist Action."
The Humans
Kristen DeBell, Larry Gelman, Ron Nelson, Alan Novak, Bree Anthony, J.P. Paradine, Tony Richards, Angel Barrett, Nancy Dare and Juliet Graham
The Nutshell
Tits and ass help to sell everything. A little more than thirty years ago, a couple of wild people go together and decided to use their bare assets to make a new version of Alice in Wonderland. There’s not a whole lot to it. A young woman works at a library, where’s she constantly fighting off the sexual advances of her boyfriend. One day she meets The White Rabbit who starts Alice on her quest to start living life.
Bill Osco shot the film on the cheap with a local crew of Canadian talent and Northwestern Actors. Jumping through the Wonderland National Park in British Columbia, you can tell that the crew was shooting on the fly. But, what makes all the difference in the world is the difference between the original cut and the 70s arthouse friendly X rating. Originally, Osco shot the film on the cheap with Adult Cinema intentions. But, after a warm reception at a Seattle Film Festival…he managed to sell a recut version of the film to 20th Century Fox. Timing it just right, Osco was able to have the prints for an X-Rated Alice in Wonderland hit theaters alongside Star Wars.
Little did Alice know, The White Rabbit was ready for some spelunking.
The Lowdown
Alice in Wonderland has had many delightful interpretations over the years. We’ve seen Walt Disney make it cute and drop all of the drug references. Then, there was this horrible comic that Xenescope tried to push out onto the market. There was the video game that they’re turning into a film and we also had that horrible TV-Movie version with Scott Baio. But, none of these adaptations hold a candle to this 1976 adaptation.
Subversive Cinema has done the world a big favor by taking the time and money to reconstruct the XXX cut that only a handful of people had managed to see before its first showing. The video quality of this cut varies greatly, as the cut sequences have been pulled from a number of sources. Some of them have fared well and they match the theatrical print’s A/V Quality. But, even with the horrible print damage, you can see why they were cut. Hardcore pornography featuring penetration, pseudo-incest, fellatio and various other acts couldn’t hit a major theater chain even back in the 1970s. It’s no wonder why the cuts were made, but with the material restored…we’ve been given a different film.
This was the only safe scene from the middle of the film from which I could make a screencap.
Kristen DeBell is a vision in this cheaply made musical comedy. I wasn’t that familiar with DeBell outside of her work in Meatballs. But, I want to see this woman’s entire body of work. I couldn’t imagine a former Playboy playmate such as DeBell doing similar work in the modern era. There’s been much debate as to whether the final sex scene with the inserted penetration was actually DeBell. I know that she’ll probably never read this, but I’d like to put the question out to her. Did you do it? If so, I would like to commend you on having the gusto to make me actually give a damn about musical. If only every songfest could end with DeBell taking it like a champ, then I’d be able to keep up with the Broadway crowd.
Lex Luthor: The Golden Age
I’ve made a big deal out of the XXX cut, but what about the original cut? It looks great and the sound mix is really dynamic for something made in the 1970s. Sure, the audio mix is restored mono, but it doesn’t drop any of the background or foreground sound presented. The major difference in the cuts is the cutaways from the hardcore inserts and carefully placed imagery to obscure hardcore action. If that’s all you can handle, then I recommend that cut. But, the real deal is found in XXX and that’s where you spend your viewing time.
By the time that I finished the DVD, I was exhausted. When I first saw that this title was available for review, I didn’t expect much out of it. But, what I got was a production of a bygone era. A time where the adult skin theater and the multiplex blended together, as the lines of decency became obscured. It’s a shame to say that the Carter era had more liberties in its cinema than we do. But, if the shoe fits.
Rip Taylor has a posse.
The Package
Much has been made of the choice to drop the original soundtrack from this DVD release. It’s not that big of a deal to me, since most of the songs are god awful and hold no value to me. The major reason to pick up this release is the inclusion of one of those Holy Grails of 70s porn. I wanted to see all of the action that got cut out of the original version of this film. Man, did I get what I had coming in spades.
She might have a weird scrunch face, but I’d still hit it.
The closest thing I can compare it to would be if you watched Grindhouse theatrically and then found out that the missing reels were Kurt Russell shoving his arm up to his elbow in one of the extras’ genitalia. The missing footage will change your perception of the film as being a hokey musical into a hardcore sexfest. In all honesty, it works and helps to reinforce the film’s central theme. That theme being the desire for all Librarians to go have sex with strangers.
This is how Rip Taylor rolls, you’d be wise to get to steppin’.