7/10
Music, Lewis Carroll, and Excessive Nudity...
9 August 2007
Alice (Kristine DeBell) enters in a world of wonder... but not the kind of wonder that you remember as a kid. The Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit, the Queen and others (even Tweedledee and Tweedledum) show Alice some things about her body -- and other people's bodies -- that might be quite wonderful. A tale of love and lust the likes you have never seen.

The story of how Kristine DeBell got involved with this is interesting. According to her, she was a model at the Ford Agency and saw that there were auditions for this film. She did not know what kind of movie it was, so she tried out and landed the part. Now, exactly what point she figured out what sort of movie it is is unclear, but we do know that she ended up going through with it.

The producer was Bill Osco, probably best known at that point (and maybe even today) for "Flesh Gordon". The director, Bud Townsend, had made a few horror films, "Terror House" and "Nightmare in Wax", which are largely forgotten today, even by fans of cult horror.

In "Alice", the songs are cheesy, but fit the theme of the movie. One song, "What's a Girl Like You Doing on a Knight Like This?" was pretty funny, and the others had similar themes going. The trial towards the end was well scripted, and fit very nicely into the world of Alice. The logic and humor were definitely accounted for. There is no denying it is an adult film, but one that has a certain level of intelligence.

What more can you say about a film like this? All I know is, for people who are used to adult films where the "plot" iss just a 30-second lead-in to the sex, this one is going to overload you with plot and music. But, personally, I think there is something very special about this film and I hope it gets a nice DVD release with the sound and picture touched up and special features (if that is even possible). I can see this being a cult film.

DeBell's story following the film is even more interesting. She began dating producer Bill Osco, who was pushing her to make another adult film, this time a riff on "Wizard of Oz". Author David J. Hogan says this was the original plan before "Alice", with the film to be called "Dirty Dorothy". Whether Hogan or DeBell is right is unknown, but either way the film never went forward, with DeBell insisting on not making any more of "those" films. (Why she agreed to do the first is still a mystery.)

Through Osco, she got the lead in another cult (though not adult) film, "The Great American Girl Robbery" (1979). And who co-produced with Osco? None other than Chuck Russell, who went on to direct such films as "The Blob" and "Nightmare on Elm Street 3"! Through some small miracle, DeBell escaped the world of adult films and b-movie shlock, appearing in "Meatballs" and being a successful star ever since.

While that may be a small tangent off the point of "Alice", it is relevant: what could have been a forgotten, bizarre attempt at an adult musical actually lead to the career of a mainstream actress and (indirectly) an incredible horror director. Who knew?
22 out of 27 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed