Child Bride (DVD)

The most shocking and licentious exploitation film of the 1930s, Child Bride is an educational illustration of the illicit ills of child marriage. Down in Appalachia, on Thunderhead Mountain, inbred, uneducated girls, who have yet to ripen into womanhood, are swapped among coarse middle-aged men folk who wed and love their females between the ages of ten and fifteen. After about ten anguishing years of cooking, cleaning, childbearing and gratifying their husbands, these child brides are traditionally beaten to death and a newer, younger bride is taken. As a result of this vicious cycle, the people of Appalachia live in a sequestered world, out of step with modern values and customs.

Child Bride follows the sad story of Jennie Colton (Shirley Mills), forced into the grubby arms of Jake Bolby (Warner Richmond). Already on his second child bride, Jake is a hateful, heartless hillbilly who promises a grim life for sweet Jennie. Jennie's teenage boyfriend, Freddie Nulty (Bob Bollinger) is heartbroken that a much older man has robbed him of the girl he has been saving himself for. Freddie rallies with dwarf sidekick Angelo (Don Barrett, a pseudonym for iconic "little person" Angelo Rossitto) to stop Jennie from becoming Jake's child bride.

Presented here, uncut and unexpurgated is Child Bride in all its sleazy glory.

• exploitation