The Devil-Doll **** (1936, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O’Sullivan, Frank Lawton, Henry B Walthall, Arthur Hohl) – Classic Movie Review 3119

Director Tod Browning’s vintage 1936 sci-fi horror classic stars Lionel Barrymore as Paul Lavond, a respected banker in Paris framed for robbery and murder by crooked associates and sent to Devil’s Island.

He finally escapes with a scientist friend, who was working on a method to reduce humans to just inches. Burnt up with hatred, the Devil’s Island fugitive returns to Paris to avenge himself on the enemies who framed him by employing the scientist’s methods and trading in real shrunken people killer dolls and using the miniaturised humans to exact vengeance.

The worryingly bizarre sight of the extremely unfeminine Barrymore getting into drag as an aged Parisienne female old crone is treasurable and well worth watching all on its own. But The Devil-Doll has a rousing, creepy horror yarn to tell too, and does so with a fine production and with good vintage effects, well orchestrated by Browning, the director of Freaks.

Browning and legendary actor/director Erich Von Stroheim both had a hand in the screenplay (with Garrett Fort and Guy Endore), based on the novel Burn Witch Burn by Abraham A Merritt.

The Devil-Doll is an unusual movie to come from the usually family-film-oriented MGM studio executives, who were probably jealous of Universal’s highly successful and lucrative monster movie franchise, and put a lot of money into it, very generous with the supply of giant sets designed by Cedric Gibbons and props.

Also in the cast are Maureen O’Sullivan, Frank Lawton, Henry B Walthall, Arthur Hohl, Rafaela Ottiano, Grace Ford, Robert Greig, Lucy Beaumont, Pedro de Cordoba, Juanita Quigley, Claire du Bray, Rollo Lloyd, E Alyn Warren, Frank Reicher, Billy Gilbert, Eily Maylon, Egon Brecher, King Baggot, Robert De Couedic, Christian J Frank, Robert Graves, Sherry Hall, Edward Keane, Evelyn Selbie and Nick Thompson.

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© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3119

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