Dværgen (1973)

User Rating:

3.1/10   

Director:

Vidal Raski

Writers:

Harlan Asquith (screenplay)
William Mayo (story)

Release Date:

December 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror

Tagline:

Hvad var den mystiske dværgs perverse hemmelighed??? (What was the mysterious dwarfs perveted secret???)

Plot:

Olaf and his mother run a boarding house and a white slavery ring. They also smuggle heroin to keep...

Plot Keywords:

White Slavery | Heroin | Slavery | Female Nudity | Whipping

Cast

Torben Bille	...	Olaf the Dwarf
Anne Sparrow	...	Mary, Wife
Tony Eades	...	Peter, Husband
Clara Keller	...	Lila Lash
Werner Hedman	...	Santa Claus the Drugdealer
Gerda Madsen	...	Winnie, Lilas friend
Jeanette Marsden	...	Sex-slave in attic
Lisbeth Olsen	...	Sex-slave in attic
Jane Cutter	...	Sex-slave in attic
Dale Robinson	...	Customer of the Dwarf
Ben Haley
Ted Neumann
Peter Gaumont
Richard Wilder
Steve Brace

Also Known As:

The Sinful Dwarf (International: English title)
Das Haus der verlorenen Mädchen (West Germany) [de]
Syntinen kääpiö (Finland) (DVD title) [fi]
Teenage Bride (Netherlands) (video box title) [nl]

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

Denmark | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 (DVD rating) (2008) | USA:Unrated (DVD rating) | USA:X (DVD uncut version) | Australia:R | Sweden:(Banned) | New Zealand:R18 (cut)

Filming Locations:

Copenhagen, Denmark

Trivia:

This movie only sold a few thousand tickets at the box office in its native Denmark.

Quotes:

The Dwarf: I have more toys... upstairs!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Women of the House: Women in Film (#1.9)" (1995)

Soundtrack:

Cho-Cho Bamba

Not only is the dwarf in this film sinful, but he's damn scary to boot!

Olaf (Torben Bille), a bizarre dwarf with a limp and a strange love of wind-up toys, lives with his ex-entertainer mother, Lila Lash (Clara Keller), in their run-down boarding house. With business a little slow (thanks to the hot and cold running mice and decor courtesy of the Munsters), they supplement their income by running a prostitution racket, keeping a collection of abducted women trapped in the attic and drugged-up on heroin.

When a struggling young writer, Peter (Tony Eades), and his hot-to-trot wife Mary (stunning busty blonde Anne Sparrow) choose the Lash boarding house as their new home (not that they have any other options, since they are skint), Olaf and Lila are delighted: Mary would make a profitable addition to their business. But first, they must get rid of Peter...

Opening with a sequence in which Olaf uses a wind-up dog to lure a sexy brunette (who is playing hopscotch all by herself on the sidewalk!) to his home, before bashing her over the head with his walking stick, The Sinful Dwarf is an enjoyably silly and pretty darn sleazy film from the get-go.

And, after a freaky title sequence featuring garish credits and a variety of unsettling toys, the depravity and lunacy continues unabated for the full hour-and-a-half(-ish) running time, with plenty of full-frontal female nudity (and a smattering of male nudity too), a few near the knuckle sex scenes, a touch of torture (Olaf is pretty handy with a whip), forced heroin taking, rape, a slime-ball drug-dealer named Santa Claus, voyeurism, and some terrible musical numbers courtesy of old lush Lila.

Torben Bille is very memorable as the evil titular dwarf (and is liable to give those fearful of 'little people' a few sleepless nights), but, for me, the star of the whole affair is definitely the winsome Anne Sparrow, who looks great throughout. Wearing a variety of tight fitting outfits (at least until she is stripped by Olaf), Ms. Sparrow is a delight to behold. What a shame that this was her only film appearance.

The Sinful Dwarf is not going to be to everyone's taste (hence its low low IMDb rating), but those of us who love obscure cinematic oddities loaded with sleaze will have a fun time with this one-of-a-kind movie.