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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: March 1st, 2016.
Director: Vidal Raski
Cast: Anne Sparrow, Tony Eades, Clara Keller, Torben
Year: 1974
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The Movie:
Call them little people, midgets, dwarfs or Lilliputians, many of us (well maybe not many, but I count as at least one person), for whatever reason, have long held an affinity for the tiny unsung heroes of exploitation cinema. We'll take Weng Weng over James Bond any day. We'd rather watch The Terror Of Tiny Town than any other standard B-grade western you can name and you can rightly consider Louis De Jesus (who also rules in the XXX Ultra Flesh) the trump card that made Joel Reed's twisted Bloodsucking Freaks the trash cinema masterpiece that it is. The Sinful Dwarf, however, is just wrong. Don't misunderstand that. It's all kinds of awesome, but yeah, this movie is pretty fucked up.
This 1973 American-Danish co-production stars former Danish children's show host Torben Bille, who also pops up in the Agent 69 films, as the titular dwarf named Olaf who lives with his mother (Clara Keller), a former but still marginally inspired night club chanteuse, in a boarding home that she runs. When he's not hanging around the house getting into trouble or playing with his primitive children's toys acting generally creepy, he's abducting local hot chicks, drugging them with dirty looking needles, and keeping them captive.
Enter quaint newlywed couple Mary (gorgeous Anne Sparrow) and Peter (Tony Eades), a couple out to enjoy their new life together, but without a whole lot of money to spend. They're in town for a business trip and wind up at the boarding house where, of course, Olaf sets his sits on the curvy blonde Mary. When she wanders into the attic where Olaf stores his sex slaves, who he pimps out to local dirtbags and keeps doped up on heroin, he makes her his latest catch but thankfully for Mary, her husband soon notices she's missing and calls the local fuzz. Soon enough, the race is on to save Mary from a fate worse than death before it's too late!
From the opening scene where Olaf and his mechanical toy poodle accost a woman who is obviously in her twenties who is for some reason playing hopscotch by herself on the sidewalk, to the odd musical interlude where Olaf plays piano as his mother belts out an off key show tune, The Sinful Dwarf is… something else. While the odds of a crazed dwarf who can't even walk without the aid of a cane successfully holding a bevy of beautiful and obviously very healthy young women hostage are pretty slim, you probably knew from the title going in that this wasn't a film particularly concerned with logic. It's even less concerned with political correctness, and God bless Vidal Raski and William May, if those are in fact their real names, for unleashing this unapologetically nasty piece of trash on an unsuspecting public. Is this is nice film? A well made film? A scary film? No, not at all, but it's definitely a dirty one, a picture that'll have you trying to scrub off its foul stench for days to come once you see it.
As primitive as the picture is on a technical level, and as absurdly filthy as the whole ordeal may be, the movie isn't completely without some artistic merit. The opening credits have a childlike surrealism to them that instantly grabs your attention and the quirky score, that sounds like something a horribly untalented child musician might make if left alone to his own devices for too long definitely suits the material. The cinematography is about as good as your average seventies porno, meaning that it's competent enough that it's in focus, but not particularly impressive in any way shape or form. What the camera does manage to capture, however, is the seediness of the locations used for filming. Olaf's den of sin is a dirty place indeed, and the unwashed naked women held captive there don't appear to be any cleaner. There's an unsettlingly authentic atmosphere of depravity here that, while likely captured completely by accident, definitely sticks to you whether you want it to or not. And you probably don't.
As far as pacing goes, the movie doesn't move at a lightning quick pace and you could argue that Olaf deserved more screen time than he's given here, particularly when you consider that, well, he's the star of the show and all. That said, the film is unique in its ugliness, bouncing back and forth between scenes of unintentional hilarity and legitimate upset with no regard for rhyme, reason, tone or logic. You've got to admire that.
Originally shot with hardcore footage in the feature itself, the movie was distributed in the United States by Harry Novak's Box Office International Pictures with the XXX material trimmed out, and it's that alternate version that Severin presents on DVD (and the same cut that Something Weird Video previously offered on VHS and DVD-R, though it is a title that they no longer offer). The Danish two-disc special edition of the film (from AWE) presents both cuts of the picture, and while Severin's original DVD release of the movie did not present both cuts of the movie they did later offer the full uncut version of the picture at a later date. It should be noted that the 'international version' contained on this Blu-ray debut from Severin isn't so much a cut version as it is a perfectly legitimate alternate version, as it's the one that played theatrically pretty much everywhere except Denmark. The film was also released on DVD in Japan in 2004 through Happinet Pictures. The film played theatrically in the United States (and possibly elsewhere) under the alternate titles of The Abducted Bride. More on the XXX alternate in a bit… let's get to the techy stuff first.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Severin Films offers up The Sinful Dwarf on Blu-ray on a 50GB disc in the film's proper 1.33.1 fullframe aspect ratio in a 1.33.1 transfer presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition using the Abducted Bride title card with Novak's Boxoffice International Pictures credited for the production. Things look about as good as they probably can here, given that this is a pretty ratty looking film in the first place. Detail is definitely improved over the past DVD release even if it isn't ever on par with the best that the format can provide. Contrast is a bit goofy in some scenes but it's not a deal breaker and whatever print damage and debris shows up in the picture, well, you just sort of accept it. Those familiar with past home video release of the picture should definitely notice the upgrade here.
Audio chores are handled by way of an English language DTS-HD 2.0 Mono track. There are no alternate language or subtitle options provided.
Extra features are pretty great here, starting with the aforementioned XXX variant of the feature. Details? The differences between the two cuts are, as you could probably guess, pretty much relegated to sexual content of the more explicit kind. The film was originally shot as a hardcore feature, and that version is what's on this disc. Expect to see some penetration shots and a neat trick with a cane and a cooter. As to the effectiveness of the hardcore bits, well, they actually fit the movie quite well and add another layer of dementia to an already completely mind blowing piece of trash. Seeing as these are not inserts, they don't lose the tone or feel out of place at all as these types of variations often do. The XXX cut of the movie, under the title of The Dwarf, uses most of the same source as the Abducted Bride cut, switching over to a lesser quality source for the more explicit content. This cut is presented in AVC encoded 1080p HD as well, but it uses a Dolby Digital Mono track instead of the DTS-HD option provided on the feature version.
There's more though! Be sure to check out two new featurettes included here, the first of which is The Search For Torben. This eight minute piece does what it can to shed any and all available light on the history of this picture. We learn here how Severin tried to track down those involved with the film and more or less hit one dead end after another. There was brief communication with the guy who did the music for the movie… until he was reportedly put off working with them after seeing a video online about how the movie ruined someone's life (obviously it was the spoof video also included on this disc). This piece does, however, document the film and its odd star about as well as can probably be expected at this point (given that he's passed away). Also on hand is a six minute piece called Novak: Sultan Of Sinema in which Elijah Drenner gives us a rundown on who Novak was, what he did and why he matters in the annals of cult and exploitation cinema. It's fun, it's interesting and it's definitely worth checking out.
As if that weren't enough, Severin have, through an arrangement with Vinegar Syndrome, managed to offer up some other Danish oddities that tie into the history of The Sinful Dwarf. The first of these is a clip from The Hottest Show In Town (reportedly an upcoming VS release) in which a dwarf who is supposedly Torben (and he sure does look like him) has fairly graphic sex with a female co-star of roughly the same size and stature.
The second Danish bonus is the inclusion of the full length hardcore feature The Blue Balloon. The film begins with a man and a woman, recently married, fooling around in a field. They finish and he boards a bus as she weeps. Hubby heads off and she winds up meeting up with a tough looking lesbian who gets her drunk and takes advantage of her. She wakes up in a seedy barn where the lesbian pulls off her wedding band and uses a dildo on her. Once she's had her way, the lesbian makes a phone call and before you know it, two seedy dudes have arrived to try a piece of the pie for themselves. First, however, they've got to hand over some cash to the lesbian. It seems our heroine is being sold into prostitution whether she likes it or not. The dudes hold a knife to her throat, bind her and have their way with her then force her to smoke a doobie with them.
The morning after, the lesbian invites a few more guys over who are willing to pay for a crack at her latest discovery. They take pictures of her and rough her up, DP her, and once she's alone, she writes a letter to her husband explaining what's happened to her and why she'll never see him again. Cut to a phallic blue balloon floating through the sky for reasons that are never made quite clear.
Soon enough, the girl is walking the streets. She does two guys in a dirty alley and once they're finished, an obviously intoxicated guy shows up looking for a little fun. Wouldn't you know it, this drunk is her wayward husband but he doesn't recognize her at all. He pays her for oral sex and she cries as she delivers, and once she's finished him off she tells him who she is. He holds her, and showing us that no matter how bad things get life is not without its glimmer of hope now and then, the camera pans over the city as they embrace. Definitely a grim film, this seedy little import is well made with an interesting cast. The European locations lend it a moderately exotic vibe and the film is a very polished and carefully shot picture that strives, rather successfully, to work as more than simple, base pornography. Lisbeth Olsen of Justine & Juliette and, yes, The Sinful Dwarf stars in the film and the picture is rumored to have been produced by the same group that bankrolled The Sinful Dwarf as well. This film was previously released as part of the After Hours Cinema Grindhouse Hostage DVD collection back in 2007 (cropped from 1.33.1 to 1.78.1) but it's presented here in high definition in a proper fullframe scan taken from Vinegar Syndrome's 16mm print and the compositions look much better.
Extras from the previous DVD release are also carried over, starting with The Severin Controversy (that aforementioned spoof video). Online cult film fanatics might remember this piece as a fun little viral marketing campaign that Severin released on various movie forums and on YouTube back in 2008 to generate some buzz around this release. 'John Severin' hosts this faux-documentary that purports to investigate some of the controversy around the film by interviewing a few viewers at a video store who discuss their experiences with various cult films which lead them to The Sinful Dwarf, a film which of course scarred them for life. It's all done with tongue placed firmly in cheek, and even if it doesn't really shed much light on the background of the film or its cast and crew, it is definitely good for a laugh, particularly in its accusations of Denmark being a country where people grow up watching child pornography and how The Sinful Dwarf lead to one of the viewers having difficulty relating to women after seeing the film.
Also included are the film's original American theatrical trailer under the alternate Abducted Bride title (which does a great job of really selling potential viewers on the film's depravity factor), two American radio spots and the older Severin DVD trailer. Animated menus and chapter selection are also included.
The Final Word:
Severin Films have done a great job bringing both the international cut and the XXX version of The Sinful Dwarf to Blu-ray. The movie is as odd and sleazy as they come, it's a pretty twisted picture featuring a fantastic performance from one of the most crazed 'little people' to ever take a starring role. As to the disc itself? In addition to both cuts of the film we also get a bonus feature in the form of The Blue Balloon, a few other bits and pieces of supplemental goodness and a very pleasing high definition upgrade for the main attraction itself.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
