Il nano e la strega

I disagree that "King Dick", known in Italian as "Il nano e la strega", is pornographic. Sure, the focus is pretty consistently on sex, but it never seems to be trying for eroticism. Instead, the tone is humorous, though never really funny.

Take for example the protagonist, one Little Dick, whose name is thoroughly ironic. Sure, he's little like a gnome, but he's big where it counts. There's also an evil hag named Nymphomania, who used to be young and beautiful, but was cursed to be in her current form and can only relinquish this curse when she has had sixty-nine orgasms. Little Dick might come in handy after all.

There's probably only a few seconds of sex in the movie, and they didn't exactly go all out on making it look sexy or appealing. Two characters basically bump into each other from behind, while fully clothed. You could get the same effect by holding up two pieces of paper with poor drawings of cartoon people on them, and smacking them into each other.

When I was a kid I used to think it was funny that what is marked as "adult" entertainment is pitched at an intellectual level that only a child could understand. "King Dick" is a pretty good example of that. Of course, the animation is also really cruddy - reminds me of the dirty pictures my friends drew in primary school - but what do you expect from an early '70s animated porno flick, now only available as a VHS rip?

I don't know why, but I kept watching until the end. It was occasionally amusing, if not very entertaining.

King Dick is about a dwarf who is being chased around by a witch who has had a curse placed on her. After the dwarfs master tells his servant (Little Dick) to seek out the witch to help with his erectile dysfunction, she becomes infatuated with Dick and forces her way with him. She then makes a deal with the master that if she cures his problem, in return she wants to keep Dick. However Dick doesn't find her desirable and runs away, so the rest of the movie is her trying to get back her Little Dick in order to gain the 69 orgasms she needs in order to break her curse and become a young beautiful woman again.

There is some humorous moments that still hold up to this day, mostly toilet humor and a few funny animations, but most of the movie is pretty drawn out and this would probably highly benefit being cut down to a short 5 to 10 minute piece showcasing the decent parts, and forgetting about the rest of the endless dragging on of scenes.

I managed to find this on DVD, in Australia, I don't know if it is still in circulation for purchase, but don't get your hopes up as the DVD is a direct copy from VHS, with grain, rolling frames and all.

Apparently this movie has a small cult following in the U.K, but it wouldn't surprise me if that following has completely died off. For someone of my generation, I see this as almost a Hanna Barbara type of parody in the more X-rated adult market, but I would still happily watch Smurfs or Flintstones over watching this movie again anytime soon.

The plot and premises do sound much funnier then it really is, but the low budget animation and, as I said, countless scenes dragging the whole thing out really don't make it something you should kick yourself to ever seek out and check out for yourself.

"King Dick" is the U. S. release version of a European animated adult feature (originally titled "Little Dick, the Mighty Midget"), filmed in 1973 as a response to Ralph Bakshi's hit "Fritz the Cat". With poorly-synchronized dubbed English dialog and terribly limited animation, all the pic has to offer is humor of the most vulgar sort.

Episodic tale concerns the adventures of Little Dick, a midget servant who must fall in love with the hag witch Nymphomania to break a spell and return himself and her to their original status as beautiful prince and princess. Witch has a magical crystal ball and a frog assistant named Aphrodisiac, with sexual frolics dominating the footage. Subplots involving Robin Hood and Emperor Nero render the film's setting and historical period ambiguous.

Pic's Italian origin is reflected in repeated jibes against thPe Catholic Church, with randy monks and nuns figuring in the action. Running gags are of the bathroom sort, with animation (mainly applied to the human to the human rather than animal characters) allowing jokes about the tiny hero's huge member.

Biggest disappointment here is the animators cutting corners, using cheap water-color backgrounds, drab colors and frequently frozen tableaux in which just a few character elements are actually animated. Potential for a truly ribald cartoon exists, but not with limited animation techniques.

My review was written in July 1982 after a screening at Lyric theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.