‘A young bride alone with an evil dwarf’
The Sinful Dwarf – original title: Dværgen (English: “The Dwarf”) – is a 1973 Danish exploitation horror film directed by Vidal Raski (his sole film credit, so most probably a pseudonym). The film was released theatrically in the US by Harry H. Novak as both The Sinful Dwarf and Abducted Bride.
On February 23, 2016, Severin Films unleashed The Sinful Dwarf on Blu-ray with the following special features:
- The Abducted Bride – Alternate US Release Version
- The Harry Novak Story – Featurette On The Sultan Of Sexploitation With American Grindhouse Director Elijah Drenner
- The Blue Balloon (Dir. Svig Sven) Color / 1973 / 75 mins
- The Hottest Show in Town – Excerpt From Torben Bille Film
- The Search For Torben – Featurette On Effort To Find Cast/Crew
- The Dwarf – International Version
- The Severin Controversy – Featurette on the Lasting Effects of The Sinful Dwarf
- Trailers, TV Spot, Radio Spot
Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
Plot:
Olaf (Torben Bille) brings women to the home he shares with his drunken mother (Clara Kelle). Once the unlucky ladies arrive, they are drugged, imprisoned, tied up and then turned into junkie-prostitutes. Olaf and ma are also landlords and it’s not long before their new tenants become suspicious about the footsteps in the attic…
Review:
It would be easy to assume that any film boasting such a grand title could never live up to its billing. Not so. The Sinful Dwarf delivers on every level, certainly several levels above the sensational Bille, perhaps the most thoroughly demented performance by any dwarf actor captured on film.
Bille was a common face on Danish television and puts his all into his performance as Olaf, sweating, gurning and frothing at the mouth throughout as he feeds his harem of girls heroin (smuggled into an unconvincing London inside children’s toys) to ensure none of them attempt to escape.
Rumoured to have married the female lead, Anne Sparrow (his nubile tenant), Bille used the film as a springboard onto other fruity material, including Agent 69 Jensen i Skorpionens tegn, starring Anna Bergman, daughter of the famed director, Ingmar and star of one of television’s most notorious racially-insulting comedies, Mind Your Language. Nothing else in his career, from children’s TV presenter to more adult material ever came close to Sinful Dwarf, though.
Despite the rather grey Copenhagen looking little like swinging London, the wooden acting, Bille’s somewhat maverick timing in delivering his lines and the fact everyone looks like they need a wash, the film is essential viewing for any fans of unusual/off-beat or exploitation cinema.
Copious amounts of nudity, sex (off-putting, not titillating), drug use, murder and a bit of singing, the nearest film you could possibly describe it to would be Blood Sucking Freaks. Even then, Ralphus is playing serious catch-up to Olaf. We must mourn that they never appeared together.
By the time you’ve fully got your head around the finale, there can be little doubt that the film not only comes from another time but almost another planet, the odd surroundings and unfamiliar cast lending a feeling of unease to what otherwise is simply top-draw filth (meant in a congratulatory sense). Sadly, Torben died aged 47 in 1993.
Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia
Buy the Japanese poster from Amazon.com
