A Little Key-Hole for Looking Glass People

Musicals are strange enough on their own. Advancing story through song. Even the good ones are strange. Stylized. It'd be interesting to see a musical where the music rose up organically within the story. In a more realistic way. Like a song you can't get out of your head...

But I'm getting off track here. Musicals are strange enough. Pornographic musicals are an even rarer breed. Which brings us to 1976's Alice in Wonderland, a pornographic musical adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic children's horror story.

Pornographic films of the 70s and early 80s are fascinating because they were real narratives. The films had scripts. Actors had to memorize lines. I caught a fascinating documentary called "Debbie Does Dallas Uncovered" (on IFC or Sundance) that includes interviews with a number of people involved with the production of the cult classic. Mob connections aside, porn of this era was essentially independent filmmaking.

"Alice in Wonderland" is popular for adapting because it's essentially an extended dream sequence where a lot of weird things happen that you don't have to explain. Here's the structure for an "Alice in Wonderland" movie:

Nothing makes much sense for about 70 minutes. And then she wakes up.

That said, the 1976 film goes a curioser route by making it a musical. In addition to having it be a film. In addition to having it feature genuine fuck scenes. They actually composed original songs for the damn thing. Even Roger Ebert found some merit in the film.

The film's rated X. There's something so refreshing about an X-rated film. Maybe it's Grindhouse nostalgia. Some scenes were shaved down for it to receive an R-rating later in its life, though you'd be hard-pressed to find any version of it now.

If any of my friends are interested in viddying this obscure little number, let me know. I might be able to help you out.