Curious Alice (1971)

In 1971, the National Institute of Health made a film directed at elementary school students to educate them on the dangers of various drugs.  Because this was during the height of psychedelic entertainment, Alice in Wonderland came to be associated with mind-altering substances, so much so that the common belief was that it was intentionally a drug story.  This actually led to the 1951 Disney film becoming popular after its original lackluster performance at the box office, leading to releases of the "psychedelic trip" of a film.

NIH used these associations to depict all of the possible drugs that someone can encounter via Alice's trip through Wonderland.  The result is something of a quirky, psychedelic short film on its own and one wonders whether it actually had a positive effect or if it just encouraged its audience to take their own trips down the rabbit hole.

Original Source Breakdown

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Chapter I: Down the Rabbit Hole - MAJOR REFERENCES
Alice begins in the real world reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.  When she falls down the rabbit hole, the Hall of Doors has been replaced with a Hall of Medicine Cabinets.  Here, Alice finds regular drugs that one would find at the pharmacy as well as alcohol and cigarettes.  She makes the connection that all of these are legal, all of them affect your body in some way, and all should be used in moderation.  After drinking from the Drink Me bottle, things start getting weird.

Chapter VI, VIII: Pig and Pepper/The Queen's Croquet Ground  - MINOR REFERENCES
As Alice floats and flies through Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat helps guide her, sticking to a lot of the same dialogue from these chapters book.  Alice responds with how strange and funny this world is.

Chapter V: Advice from a Caterpillar - MAJOR REFERENCES
Alice meets a stoned Caterpillar who is smoking marijuana, which is why he keeps asking repetitive questions.  He's much more mellow than he is in the books.  Puns are made about Alice wanting to get "higher" (i.e. taller).  Surprisingly, he doesn't suggest the mushrooms, but mushroom imagery is found throughout Alice's trip.

Chapter XI: Who Stole the Tarts? - MAJOR REFERENCES
The King and Queen of Hearts act as drug dealers who have all of their card subjects addicted to heroin.  They are trying to trap the Knave of Hearts into developing a habit as well, in a scene that's reminiscent of the trial episode.

Chapter VII: A Mad Tea Party - MAJOR REFERENCES
Each member of the tea party is associated with a different drug.  The March Hare tries to get Alice to take "Uppers, such as pep pills and amphetamines, the Dormouse pushes "Downers" like sleeping pills and barbiturates, and the Hatter is just tripping on LSD the whole time.

Chapter X: The Lobster-Quadrille - MINOR REFERENCES
All the characters descend on Alice each trying to get her to take their own drugs.  They do this to the tune of "The Lobster-Quadrille," as evident by the "Will you, won't you?" chorus.  She wakes up back in the real world, glad that it was all a dream.

Review:

I think it's perfect that a film like this exists.  As a Carroll fan, I'm usually upset by people who just assume that "oh, it's all about drugs and he was just on drugs when he wrote it," because it negates all the cleverness and craft that went into his stories.  But I see how certain connections can be made, and this film does a good job of not vilifying the original story, but embracing it and using it as its structure.

It's clear that the makers of this film enjoy the book, as none of the elements of the story nor the characters are treated with disdain. It feels more as if the creators had fun matching which character could represent which drug, and each of the choices are pretty solid.

The animation style is cool and helps lend to the whole mind-altering aesthetic.  It's mostly cut-out images moving around an abstract void.  Alice herself is made up of black-and-white photos portraying different faces and positions, with some animation used to stylize her hair and clothes.  Most of the other characters are drawings, with the Mad Hatter looking especially creepy and intense.  The court of cards are actually real playing cards, and this may be the only time that that effect could be pulled off.

Again, I'm not sure how good this film was at preventing drug use.  If anything, I feel it would make children more curious.  Yes, it's supposed to be scary and overwhelming towards the end, but it's all too cool to make one fearful.  The fact that it misses its mark only makes the film better, however, as it seems almost like a parody of itself.  It's exactly what you expect when you hear "1970s anti-drug PSA based on Alice in Wonderland."

4.5 out of 5 Forbidden Substances