The Devil-Doll (1936)

The Devil-Doll
Directed by Tod Browning
Written by Garrett Fort, Guy Endore, and Erich von Stroheim from a story by Tod Browning based on the novel Burn Witch Burn by Abraham Merritt
1936/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing

[box] Malita: We’ll make the whole WORLD small![/box]

MGM really didn’t understand the horror genre.

Lavond (Lionel Barrymore) and Marcel (Henry B. Walthall) escape from Devil’s Island, where Lavond has spent 17 years unjustly confined.  They go to Marcel’s house where his crazed wife Malita is continuing Marcel’s “humanitarian” experiments to shrink animals and humans to 1/6 their normal size.  Marcel asks Lavond to help the couple with their work but he refuses.  Lavond’s only remaining mission in life is to exact vengeance on the three fellow bankers that framed him for embezzlement and to lift the cloud of shame on his daughter (Maureen O’Sullivan).  But when Marcel suddenly dies, Lavond and Malita go off to Paris where they open a doll shop.  Lavond disguises himself as kindly old dollmaker “Mme. Mandilip”  and uses his miniaturized people, which move only at telepathic commands, in his revenge plot.

The premise of this movie had potential but failed to be creepy or scary. I got the feeling that MGM just couldn’t have Barrymore be a really bad guy. As it is, he is very much more Doctor Gillespie than Mr. Potter.  He seems completely sane and his revenge plans fully justified.  It is fun to see Barrymore as a woman, however. The special effects for the little people and animals are kind of clunky as well.  The film has a nice score by Franz Waxman.

Trailer