This is an educational, semi-industrial U.S. government sponsored film springing from an anti-drug genre common to the late 1960s-early 1970s. Supposed to warn young people off drugs, it serves the message up with attractive and well made psychedelic visuals that only serve to subvert the stated purpose and intention. Most remarkable is the integration of black and white stills of the actress speaking the dialog that is animated along with the cels; how did they do that? Through photos printed on reversal film? Anyway, "Curious Alice" is about as technically secure and as imaginative as classroom films ever got; the synthesizer track -- which may be a composite of music from more than one source -- is a pioneering bit of synch that's among the first of its kind. But one downside is that, as an adaptation of the literary classic by Lewis Carroll, it is poor and tasteless. They are not outwardly trying to transmit Carroll's work, but they do as the writer pulls a little too much out of the source to establish it as a wholly independent work. The song "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane with its exhortation to "feed your head" was a likely stimulus for this film, as it was for other projects that warned against recreational drug use. As a purely visual and audio phenomenon, "Curious Alice" is so extraordinary that it belongs to the canon of the avant-garde, but as message it is too mixed, and were I a teacher in 1968 I would not have shown it to any class of students; it's just too irresponsible.
7 Reviews
A confusing, bizarro message...but the animation is nice.
planktonrules25 July 2016
"Curious Alice" is one of the strangest educational films ever made. While it apparently was meant for kids, it really looks like a film meant for stoners, as kids would have been incredibly confused when they saw this bizarro film.
The story is a reworking of "Alice in Wonderland". While Lewis Carroll's original story abounded with drug imagery, it wasn't so obvious. Here, however, Alice wanders through a strange place where folks keep offering her a wide variety of dangerous and illegal drugs.
The voice of Alice is a young girl and the animation is very peculiar but effective. It's very trippy and strange...which fits the story. However, the language the film uses and the confusing POSSIBLY anti- drug message is muddled...making it of dubious value to anyone except, perhaps, college-aged drug users...most of which would have just laughed at the message. Odd to say the least!
The story is a reworking of "Alice in Wonderland". While Lewis Carroll's original story abounded with drug imagery, it wasn't so obvious. Here, however, Alice wanders through a strange place where folks keep offering her a wide variety of dangerous and illegal drugs.
The voice of Alice is a young girl and the animation is very peculiar but effective. It's very trippy and strange...which fits the story. However, the language the film uses and the confusing POSSIBLY anti- drug message is muddled...making it of dubious value to anyone except, perhaps, college-aged drug users...most of which would have just laughed at the message. Odd to say the least!
Alice's Trip to a Wonderland of Dopes
Cineanalyst7 August 2020
A piece of anti-drug propaganda--apparently, actually--produced by the National institute of Mental Health, of the United States government, "Curious Alice" is an outrageously amusing wonder of unintended consequences. Indeed, the psychedelic cut-out animation for Wonderland comes across more as a promotion of drug consumption instead of a convincing polemic against--at least, it suggests that the filmmakers of this weren't unfamiliar with such illicit usage themselves. One would be hard-pressed to design a drug campaign better, or worse depending on your position, suited to joining the interests of children and drug users than by employing Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
Alice chases the White Rabbit through a medicine cabinet, from Aspirin to prescription drugs, a home bar filled with booze and a cigarette vending machine until she drinks enough to be in an inebriated state to enter Wonderland. Through the gateway, she meets the Caterpillar, who turns out is smoking wacky tobacky from the hookah. The tea party consists of an LSD-Mad Hatter, a pep-pills-taking March Hare and a Dormouse hooked on sleeping meds. King of all the land, though, is heroine, as pushed by the King of Hearts to the rest of the deck of cards. Appropriately enough, given that he was the one to be somewhat helpful and kind to Alice in the book, only the Cheshire Cat tries to save Alice from drug abuse. Although the short film does manage to play around a bit with the book's wonderful wordplay, it's also telling that it butchers the dialogue between Alice and the Cat. There's no such line this time as, "We're all mad here," and you can't convince me that a smiling cat with the superpower of invisibility is a beacon of sobriety. That's nonsense.
Regardless of one's opinions of illicit substances, that "Curious Alice" should backfire, turning out amusing because it's so bad, serves the propagandists right. Part of what makes Carroll's Alice books not only the greatest children's literature ever, but also a curious and curiouser read for adults to this day, is that they don't contain a moral. They are stories that parody other fairy tales, that do not earnestly reflect reality, that are wrapped up in riddles, that are about the absurdity of messages and the limits of logic. Using that book to sling your hype? That's dopey.
Alice chases the White Rabbit through a medicine cabinet, from Aspirin to prescription drugs, a home bar filled with booze and a cigarette vending machine until she drinks enough to be in an inebriated state to enter Wonderland. Through the gateway, she meets the Caterpillar, who turns out is smoking wacky tobacky from the hookah. The tea party consists of an LSD-Mad Hatter, a pep-pills-taking March Hare and a Dormouse hooked on sleeping meds. King of all the land, though, is heroine, as pushed by the King of Hearts to the rest of the deck of cards. Appropriately enough, given that he was the one to be somewhat helpful and kind to Alice in the book, only the Cheshire Cat tries to save Alice from drug abuse. Although the short film does manage to play around a bit with the book's wonderful wordplay, it's also telling that it butchers the dialogue between Alice and the Cat. There's no such line this time as, "We're all mad here," and you can't convince me that a smiling cat with the superpower of invisibility is a beacon of sobriety. That's nonsense.
Regardless of one's opinions of illicit substances, that "Curious Alice" should backfire, turning out amusing because it's so bad, serves the propagandists right. Part of what makes Carroll's Alice books not only the greatest children's literature ever, but also a curious and curiouser read for adults to this day, is that they don't contain a moral. They are stories that parody other fairy tales, that do not earnestly reflect reality, that are wrapped up in riddles, that are about the absurdity of messages and the limits of logic. Using that book to sling your hype? That's dopey.
Another Anti-Drug Film That Makes You Want to Do Drugs
Michael_Elliott15 December 2011
Curious Alice (1968)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
You know you're in trouble when the U.S. Department of Health produces a movie that ends up being distributed by Something Weird Video forty-years after it was made. This is a take-off on Alice in Wonderland as a young girl (named Alice of course) starts to get curious about the various "bad" things in her mommy's cabinets. Soon this curiosity leads her to Wonderland where she sees a wide range of creatures doing bad drugs. If you want a serious take on drug abuse then it's best you don't show this thing to your kids because after viewing it I'd say that the majority of people will be wanting to light up a joint. This isn't a smart or intelligent look at drug abuse and in all reality it really seems as if someone made it to drop some acid to. The animation is actually very nice looking in its own right and the way it tries to create various hallucinations was very effective and I'd say this here is something that will appeal to those who like to watch certain items while out of their minds. At 11-minutes the thing certainly drags in spots but there's enough going on here to watch it once if you enjoy seeing this anti-drug movies that usually go against their own cause.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
You know you're in trouble when the U.S. Department of Health produces a movie that ends up being distributed by Something Weird Video forty-years after it was made. This is a take-off on Alice in Wonderland as a young girl (named Alice of course) starts to get curious about the various "bad" things in her mommy's cabinets. Soon this curiosity leads her to Wonderland where she sees a wide range of creatures doing bad drugs. If you want a serious take on drug abuse then it's best you don't show this thing to your kids because after viewing it I'd say that the majority of people will be wanting to light up a joint. This isn't a smart or intelligent look at drug abuse and in all reality it really seems as if someone made it to drop some acid to. The animation is actually very nice looking in its own right and the way it tries to create various hallucinations was very effective and I'd say this here is something that will appeal to those who like to watch certain items while out of their minds. At 11-minutes the thing certainly drags in spots but there's enough going on here to watch it once if you enjoy seeing this anti-drug movies that usually go against their own cause.
Makes you want to do drugs
BandSAboutMovies1 May 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Dave Dixon, the Culture Czar, was the lead DJ of the legendary "Air Aces" on Detroit's rock station WABX and the first person to play Sabbath, The Doors, Led Zeppelin and The Doors in the Motor City. Beyond co-writing Peter, Paul and Mary's "I Dig Rock & Roll Music," he co-wrote this animated film that explains drugs through Alice In Wonderland which is totally right on with the kids and four years after Jefferson Airplane did the same thing in "White Rabbit."
The art in this movie is mind-boggling, however, and you'll be entranced as Alice learns about LSD from the Mad Hatter, speed from the March Hare, heroin from the King of Hearts and barbituates from the Dormouse.
Made by the National Institute of Mental Health in 1971 and meant for use with ten-year-old students, if I had seen this before my teen years I would have done all the drugs in high school. The National Coordinating Council on Drug Education agreed, writing that viewers "may be intrigued by the fantasy world of drugs" after watching it.
The art in this movie is mind-boggling, however, and you'll be entranced as Alice learns about LSD from the Mad Hatter, speed from the March Hare, heroin from the King of Hearts and barbituates from the Dormouse.
Made by the National Institute of Mental Health in 1971 and meant for use with ten-year-old students, if I had seen this before my teen years I would have done all the drugs in high school. The National Coordinating Council on Drug Education agreed, writing that viewers "may be intrigued by the fantasy world of drugs" after watching it.
great psychedelic short
SnoopyStyle22 July 2020
Alice finds a bottle labeled "Drink Me". She promptly drinks it and shrinks down to a strange new world. She finds a variety of characters and attends Mad Hatter's tea party. The party goers take various drugs and to Alice's horrors, the situation gets out of hand.
This is a short adapted from "Alice in Wonderland" used as an anti-drug message film for kids. It is psychedelic heaven and definitely defeats its own purpose. Nevertheless, I love it. I love the style, the little girl, the cartoon characters, and the simple animation style. It's more likely to drive kids to take drugs and I'm fine with that.
This is a short adapted from "Alice in Wonderland" used as an anti-drug message film for kids. It is psychedelic heaven and definitely defeats its own purpose. Nevertheless, I love it. I love the style, the little girl, the cartoon characters, and the simple animation style. It's more likely to drive kids to take drugs and I'm fine with that.
Holy Smokes
gavin694212 November 2015
This is an education film for public school children, about drugs, narcotics, psychedelics, alcohol, amphetamines, and barbiturates abuse in the context of the Alice In Wonderland story.
The version I watched of this short film was on YouTube. I am not sure what other sources there may be, possibly floating around on compilations of old educational strips. We know there are plenty of drivers ed films out there. Either way, I would love to see someone clean this up a little bit and get it out there in a new form.
This is such a strange film. It purports to be anti-drug, and yet comes across as being very "trippy". I am not now nor have I ever been a user of hallucinogenics, but this seems like exactly the sort of thing they would watch while using drugs. So, I surmise it failed miserably in its purpose.
The version I watched of this short film was on YouTube. I am not sure what other sources there may be, possibly floating around on compilations of old educational strips. We know there are plenty of drivers ed films out there. Either way, I would love to see someone clean this up a little bit and get it out there in a new form.
This is such a strange film. It purports to be anti-drug, and yet comes across as being very "trippy". I am not now nor have I ever been a user of hallucinogenics, but this seems like exactly the sort of thing they would watch while using drugs. So, I surmise it failed miserably in its purpose.
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