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Alice in Wonderland (1976)
PRESS
1976
Los Angeles Times 24 June 1976 Pt.IV p.15 (USA)
"It's hard to tell if whether its aura of insipidity is
by accident or design. At best it's only intermittently funny and, although
not for prudes, it could surely receive an R-rating with only the slightest
of cuts. (...) There are some fairly syrupy and highly forgettable songs.
Indeed if it weren't for a certain amount of nudity, simulated sex and
blunt talk, Alice in Wonderland would seem like just
another innocuous kiddie show." - from a review by Kevin Thomas
Bucks County Courier Times (Levittown, Pennsylvania)
25 June 1976 p.18 (USA)
"The new X-rated "Alice in Wonderland" can honestly
be described as a bed-time story, because it puts one to sleep very
quickly. Biss (sic) Osco, the man responsible for last year's very funny
X-rated spoof. "Flesh Gordon," has attempted to parody the
famous Lewis Carroll fairy tale, but he's come up with a very tepid
tale of a sexually frustrated young Alice who leaves her clothes and
morals behind as she wanders through a wacky wonderland. (...) Director
Bud Townsend meshed the innocence of Walt Disney pictures with the appeal
of "Deep Throat" and gives us a dirty cinematic joke that
an eighth grader would be embarrassed to tell. The screenplay by B.
Anthony Fredricks, offers very little to laugh about and absolutely
nothing to think about. The story merely follows Alice as she intermittently
loses her clothes eventually loses her innocence, and finally gives
up her virginity. The film's theme - anything that feels good is good
- is in old and lame one and has been used countless times before. Kristine
De Bell comes across as a very appealing Alice, but her acting leaves
much to be desired. Most of her talents are confined to suggestive smiles,
innocent sideglances, and quickine (sic) outfit changes. (...) The filming
technique, which consists mostly of slow motion and annoying freeze-frame
shots, makes the production drag on endlessly. A few of the lines are
humorous, but nothing stops Alice and her Wonderland friends and foes
from becoming bores in the buff. At one point, Rabbit looks at the carnal
carnival and explains, "After awhile, it all seems the same."
Even the Rabbit, noted for its vast reproductive powers, gets bored
with such crummy characters." - from a review by Lou Gaul
Variety 8 September 1976 p.20
"A musical serial double-entendred to near catatonia.
(...) The script here could have been written by a corrupted sex therapist.
Instead, Osco, director Bud Townsend and scripter B.A. Fredericks have
encapsulated the familiar Wonderland confrontations in lushly rustic
settings with all the charm of the local massage parlour. (...) Bucky
Searles' lyrics and music are surprisingly adroit, lending strong support
to the bouncy, innocent air the film tries for." - from a review
by Sege
Albuquerque Journal 9 September 1976 p.C-3 (USA)
"At first one snickers at the frilly music and the hokey scenes,
thinking this is just another true sex exploitation film. It is. But
then a message comes forth: A person should not be ashamed of his or
her body. Whatever one's personal beliefs are, the premise of this movie
is as legitimate as any and more so than some. The form of the movie
is what raises questions. Does one need soft-core pornography to get
this message across? Some people, including director Bud Townsend and
screenwriter B. Anthony Fredericks, think so. The acting is better in
this film than most of its kind. Debell is actually effective in her
role. She is sweet and innocent looking and carries her (difficult)
role quite well considering the circumstances: She has to wander through
Wonderland discovering her body while others discover it too. The cinematography
and music is also above the mean for a sex exploitation film and some
of the songs are actually cute albeit a bit naughty. Alice in
Wonderland is a film that gets across a real message, although
it does in a formula many would unjustly label 'obscene.'" - from
a review by David Eden
1977
Films Illustrated vol.6 no.72 (August 1977) p.448 (UK)
"Somewhere in today's cinema, there must be room for a
witty, funny and irreverent pornographic musical version of Lewis Carroll's
imaginative children's classic. Unfortunately, Bill Osco's film of that
title is not it. Frankly this is an appalling mess. Showing every sign
of being hastily conceived, it's unerotic, unsubtle and, as a satire,
botched at every turn. The approach is so heavy, indeed, that it makes
the same team's Flesh Gordon seem like a masterpiece of the genre."
- from a review by David Quinlan
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.44 no.524 (September 1977) p.187
UK)
"[A] witless travesty of Lewis Carroll's classic tale
[...] The script's only half-decent joke is a thoroughly ancient chestnut
("Who", asks a previously unseen pin-up, "do I have to
fuck to get out of this movie?") and its tuneless lyrics (the film
is billed, with some nerve, as the "first X-rated musical")
never rise above the level of "What's a nice girl like you doing
on a knight like this?" or "Humpty Dumpty can't get his ding-a-ling
up". Bill Osco (perpetrator, before this, of Flesh
Gordon) has reportedly inflicted similar treatment on The
Wizard of Oz, in which case one would be well advised to steer
very clear of yellow brick roads." - from a review by Clyde Jeavons
Films and Filming vol.23 no.12 (September 1977) pp.35, 38 (UK)
"In spite of its excesses, (it's) a curiously wholesome
combination of Disney, Playboy, Peg's Paper and Fritz
the Cat. (...) The most positive aspect in the film is Kristine
de Bell's Alice - she looks like a pubescent Candice Bergen with a speaking
voice that suggests Judy Garland's Dorothy, and she could hardly be
bettered as the clean-limbed, innocent-faced, earnest-mannered raver
of the title. (...) Shame on that member of the preview audience who
confessed to reading The Evening News throughout the screening.
There may be folk who can read in the dark, but I'm not one of them.
I won't say there weren't moments when I was bored rigid, but Ms de
Bell wasn't in one of them." - from a review by Julian Fox
Last Updated:
24 October, 2009
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