Il nano e la strega

"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.