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The Sinful Dwarf (1973)

Dir: Vidal Raski

A young girl walks along the street, a warm smile on her innocent face.
Just then a Dwarf named Olaf (Torben Bille) appears, leading a yapping toy dog.
The girl is intrigued and picks up the toy.
The Dwarf grins at her as he leads her away to a sinister boarding house where he states "I have more toys upstairs".
As the girl smiles at the toys spread out before her…the Dwarf smashes her in the head with his cane!

Peter (Tony Eades) and Mary (Anne Sparrow) are a young Couple down on their luck who arrive at the cheap boarding house looking for a place to stay (both with accents that make Hugh Grant sound common, but are truly dreadful actors).
They are greeted by the weird alcoholic Mother of Olaf, Lila Lash (Clara Keller), who sports a disfiguring burn down her cheek, and are led up to their room. …An evil glint is in the Mother's eye.

It turns out the Mother and Son are running a white slavery sex ring!
Three girls (including the one seen being bashed on the head) are kept in a locked attic room, drugged up on heroin (which is procured from a toy seller called 'Santa Claus' who delivers the drugs in stuffed toys), where they await the arrival of their 'clients'..
And it seems the pretty Mary is next on the list to swell the sex slave ranks….

A true Cult Exploitation title, "The Sinful Dwarf" is a strange film indeed. It's a Danish film, with a large English cast, and is either a Danish/British co-production, or a Danish/U.S co-production according to what you read.
Truth be told I think the American angle is solely down to the Harry Novak distribution of the film.

Whatever it's origins…this is a real treat for Trash fans.

After the above mentioned nasty opening, we are given an supremely weird title sequence that consists of wind up toys wobbling around the multi-coloured credits accompanied with music (by Ole Ørsted), that is a cacophony of noise made up of a mixture of those clockwork monkeys that bang drums and clash cymbals and a bass guitar, before moving into a tribal drum vibe!

The 'sinful Dwarf' himself sports a huge toothy grin, evil arched eyebrows and big scary cheeks!
And Torben Bille does a great job. Limping around with his cane and leering at anything female he has a fun time destroying the English language…"Here's de woom" he says to Peter and Mary as he shows them upstairs… "Over 'ere, ze kitchen".
This guy just oozes sinister sleaze. And the manic grin he sports as he injects the naked buttocks of the sex slaves with heroin ("I'm coming girls! I'm coming") is a real Exploitation treat.

As the wonderfully named Lila Lash, Clara Keller has a lot of fun as the tipsy, sadistic overseer who laments the loss of her cabaret career. Though she like to keep her hand in. Sadly her singing leaves a lot to be desired though and the plastic fruit on her head (ala Carmen Miranda) have certainly seen better days!

Sex. This film is full of…sex.
The first, very long, sex scene is between by Peter and Mary, and although only soft core it's made pretty explicit by the way the actors react to each other and the very energetic thrusting and groin wiggling.
The physical acting of Eades and Sparrow is vastly superior to their delivery of dialogue.
And this scene also brings in a chance to talk about the characters of Mary and Peter.
Surprisingly, for such an exploitative film, they share some genuinely close dialogue as they make love.
And, acting aside, they are a very likeable and sympathetic couple, who are struggling to overcome their hardships as Peter tries to become successful writer and they seem very much in love. Again, a strangely warm set-up to find in such a joyfully trashy film.

But in the end this is a movie that simply revels in its slimy shenanigans. The nudity is often full frontal (with some brief between the legs shots) and the camera spends plenty of time lingering on the girls as they lie naked on dirty mattresses in their grime covered room with fallen down walls, bare floorboards and a single putrid toilet.
And of course the ever-essential nude flogging scene makes an appearance with the camera never shying away from the whipped groin of the unfortunate victim.

It's at it's most dubious though during the pumped up, wailing guitar backed, sex scenes between the slaves and their 'clients'.
One of the girls, after having her toy dog ripped out of her hands, is pounced on by a man but then proceeds to become a very willing partner indeed in what is basically her own drugged up rape!
Again the sex is only soft, but the energetic performances help move it up to a much stronger level than it would otherwise be.
Male nudity is kept to a few pubic hair shots and multiple views of the 'clients' saggy arses humping away with great enthusiasm.

The set design is a definite plus to the movie and is highly effective, with the boarding house coming off suitably dirty and run down with many strategically draped cobwebs, and deepening wells of shadow.
It's as grimy as the film itself!

The fault with the movie is that it's a movie that only comes to life while being exploitative or just plain bizarre. Everything else, away from the camp goings on and nastiness, is basically lifeless due to the lacklustre editing and direction. No one could deny that the Director obviously likes his exploitation scenes, but seems to fall asleep in-between them.
Luckily though it's a film that has very few moments that are not bizarre or exploitative. Which is a blessing as far as Vidal Raski's otherwise flat Direction goes.

But quite frankly nothing could destroy the enjoyment in this supremely sick and twisted film purely because it is so sick and twisted and openly embraces the fact!
The actresses are obviously older than the roles they are playing, but the way they are seen hugging their toys (and each other) gives off a very uncomfortable feeling. It really comes across that these are the young innocents, preyed upon by the most vile of adult evils, and left to stew in the juices.

This is one mean, gratuitous and utterly reprehensible heap of Trash.
It swims in it's own abundant filth and is proud to do so.
From its sexual violence, to its almost constant nudity, it bombards the viewer with prime, juicy exploitation set-pieces.
And, UNLIKE the equally exploitative, if far more gory, "Bloodsucking Freaks" (that it shares a certain similarity to), "The Sinful Dwarf" is Exploitation that is full of manic energy, a passion for the extreme and obviously made with a wicked twinkle in the eye.

This is utterly indefensible Exploitation/Trash Cinema at it's most wicked. And as such is nothing short of essential viewing.
And the final image is a gem!
Seek this out now…you won't be disappointed!