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Joe Schmoe
Reviews
Fairy Tales (1978)
A little too "moral" for my tastes
This 'erotic fairy tale' film rehashes similar plotlines from earlier films, most notably "Cinderella," with the premise of an impotent prince looking for a woman who can excite him. Since all of the 'good' material had been taken by earlier films, "Fairy Tales" pulls from many sources, from nursery rhymes like 'Little Bo Peep' and 'Jack and Jill,' to tales like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" and even a cameo by "Little Red Riding Hood."
By jumping around so much, this film keeps your interest. It's fairly humorous and the T&A is harmless. Tommy Tucker's brothel-barker character is the most successful as he beckons passersby to enter 'the big shoe,' assuring that what they do there is "nobody's business but your own."
Where this film loses steam is in the penultimate song sequence, identical to the one in "Cinderella," in which the cast sings the praises of Sleeping Beauty's virtues. Whereas in "Cinderella" the song refers to Cinderella's particular sexual expertise; here Sleeping Beauty's claim to fame is that she's a virgin. And comatose to boot. The prince, King Cole, and the Frog Prince (for whom i felt most sorry in that his plight could have been halted by a simple kiss from a virgin), despite the endless parade of literary babes, all desire Sleeping Beauty because she's never had sex. This sudden assertion of moral purity seems out of place and sort of disgusting in the light of the supposed sexual freedoms of this fantasy world. It brings a strangely didactic tone to this otherwise if-it-feels-good-do-it spectacle.
Cinderella (1977)
The Best of the 'Erotic Fairytale' films
Although it's probably gone on before, and most certainly after, the 1970's seem to be a time in which the makers of "erotic film" turned towards classic literature for subject matter. But unlike films such as "Lady Chatterly's Lover," a group of films turned toward even older and even more sacred texts: fairy tales. Several different production houses released erotic fairytale films during this period, including this 1977 version of Cinderella. While not the first (or the last), this film stands head and shoulders above the others.
Using the well-known rags-to-riches story of Cinderella as its base, this film creates a surprisingly effective result in both erotica and satire. The momentum of the film is suitably id-based; that is, every time a situation arises in which ribaldry might occur, it most certainly does. Cinderella's stepsisters prance around half-naked and demand Cinderella to run a cleverly devised spinning wheel for their pleasure. The Lord Chamberlain delivers invitations for the great ball to the lovely women of the village, acquitting himself at every opportunity. And of course, the prince finally must go to every hovel and reveal which fair maiden had been the best "fit" the night of his blindfolded orgy. The material basically writes itself.
But what sets this film apart is its wry take on the whole situation. It never forgets that this is a revisionist telling of the tale, and other earmarks besides the sex appear in the form of vaudevillian dialogue and references to the swinging disco lifestyle that was popular at the time. The music of the film is wonderfully dated and, had the subject matter been toned down a bit, could have easily overtaken "Le Freak" on the pop charts. And certainly we cannot forget Sy Richardson's hilarious performance (later retread for "Fairytales") as the Fairy Godmother with an attitude strictly from black exploitation films of the 70's.
The producers of this film made a wise decision to keep its sexual level strictly softcore, a decision with which the makers of the earlier "Alice in Wonderland" seemed to have great difficulty. Full pornography would have caused the film to lose its fun-loving heart, which ultimately is its most redeeming feature.
The other erotic fairy tale films, including the aforementioned "Alice," as well as the later "Fairytales," and the horrid "Erotic Adventures of Pinocchio," attempt the same feat, with less success. "Alice" is too choppy and just plain dopey, "Fairytales" has its moments but fails to capture the spirit of "Cinderella."
Alice in Wonderland: An X-Rated Musical Fantasy (1976)
"Don't you get a bit tired of it?"
Near the end of the film, the White Rabbit says something like this to another character, while all around them people frolic in something akin to an orgy choreographed by Bob Fosse. I concur, but I refer to this entire film.
While this film is a lot of fun at times, it has too many scenes in which nothing much happens, or worse, the plot seems to be marking time to throw in another song, or an attempt at characterization is made and again fails. This is an example of an erotic fairy tale that takes itself too seriously.
This may sound strange since so much of the film revels in the absurd, retelling the story of Alice in Wonderland, giving it a 70's our-bodies-ourselves makeover of sexual awakening. Yet it seems to me that too much weight was place don Kristine DeBell's Alice, who must play both virginal librarian who eschews all physical pleasure, and the nymph whose logic tells her there can be nothing wrong with all the pleasure available to her. Now that sounds like I'm taking it all too seriously, but it's because the effect is one of hollowness to the film.
There are of course two versions of this film; I have seen only the R-rated version. I am now desirous to see the uncut version, if only to save myself from seeing the harsh edits in which the hardcore footage must have been excised. Between that and the other efforts to tone down this version (which I understand was the first one to be released), the film seems choppy, as though cameras were cutting away before we saw 'too much.'
The result is not so much of joyous parody or sexual freedoms, but rather a regression to simple burlesque, like a feature-length Benny Hill episode. The point is, the film could have been better, in either cut or uncut version.
Pinocchio (1971)
Prototype of later, better erotic fairytale movies
If you've seen the Charles Band re-tooling of Cinderella, or even the less well made erotic remake of Alice in Wonderland, you may (as I did) think this film is worth seeing. Not so. This early 70's campfest can't even pull kistch off correctly. Neither "erotic" nor an "adventure" as we watch Pinocchio deal with the gift of life by bcoming some kind of gigolo. In fact, the bulk of the movie reads like gags in a bad burlesque show. I can't say more, not to withhold spoilers so much as the fact the way the film is shot makes it difficult to know what's going on. In an effort to reduce overall nudity (of which there is little and never is it particularly moving), the camera zooms in too far or cuts away just as a scene might have gotten interesting. Highly disappointing, since the final result is a film that is not much less moral than Disney's version, and probably just about as arousing.