#helmut doring

[synctest]

the enigma of kaspar hauser (1974)

[outsideofadream]

Even Dwarfs Started Small

Today I watched another early Werner Herzog film. Even Dwarfs Started Small concerns a groups of dwarfs who escape from some sort of institution in a remote location and begin to wreak havoc in the grounds. The film gets crazier as the dwarfs engage in ever more chaotic activities including food fights, setting fire to flowerpots, playing tricks on blind dwarfs and even killing a pig.

This is easily one of Herzog's weirder films but it is fascinating and the actors are all amazing, especially the girl who left her shoe inside the building and the pint-sized man in the above video, Helmut Döring, who cackles his way throughout the entire film. Apparently Herzog told him that he mustn't laugh at all but as soon as they began shooting he would pull silly faces and make him laugh anyway!

The video is taken from the end of the film and gives some idea as to the tone Herzog established.