Tod Browning's second-to-last film is campy as hell, and ya gotta love Lionel Barrymore in drag exacting revenge on enemies of his using miniaturized people he can control (but of course). The effects were great for the time period, and they're still entertaining today, including the use of giant props and inserting cut-out footage of people (and animals) into other scenes. Browning had a great eye for weirdness and the macabre, and creates real suspense with the idea that a person a few inches tall could track someone down in their apartment. Those scenes in the middle of the film are fantastic. Barrymore is strong, and Maureen O'Sullivan is just fine too; she plays the daughter who hates him for having been sent to prison and bringing shame on the family. The idea is excellent, but both the beginning and ending of the film include moments that strain credibility. I don't mind it in the science fiction that creates the technology or even the creator keeling over at just the right moment, but the melodrama at the end is all artificial and relies on a character motivation that is absurd. I have to believe that Browning was impacted by the Hays Code, which wouldn't have allowed an alternate. (I'm being vague here to avoid spoilers). I considered a slightly higher rating because of that, as it seems unfair to Browning, but have to judge it for the end product. Regardless, the film is entertaining and unique, and I would enjoy watching it again some rainy night.

From Tod Browning, the director of horror classic Dracula (1931) and the infamous Freaks (1932), The Devil-Doll is a fun horror/fantasy that, while patently absurd, is very entertaining, with a great cast and some impressive special effects.Lionel Barrymore plays convicted banker Paul Lavond, who was sent to prison after being framed by his co-workers for embezzlement and murder. After 17 years inside, Lavond escapes with fellow prisoner Marcel (Henry B. Walthall), with revenge on his mind. On arrival at the swampland cabin inhabited by Marcel's crazy crippled wife Malita (Rafaela Ottiano), Paul sees something that will make it possible to even the score with his old colleagues: the miniaturisation of human beings that can be controlled by telepathy.After Marcel dies, Levond and Malita travel to Paris, where they set up a toy shop. Disguised as Madame Mandelip, the shop's proprieter, the escaped convict sets into motion his plan for revenge.With not one person-not even the police chief with whom he converses-suspecting that Madame Mandelip is Lavond, the film stretches plausibility quite a long way, but Barrymore is so amusing as his doddery alter-ego that all is easily forgiven. And with some great visual trickery, using a combination of mattes and excellent oversized props, The Devil-Doll is a delight for anyone interested in the history of movie special effects.The film is also very touching at times, with Lavond desperately wanting to clear his name so that his daughter Lorraine (the lovely Maureen O'Sullivan) will no longer hate him. As Madame Mandelip, Lavond has several conversations with his daughter (who also sees nothing peculiar about the heavy set woman with masculine features), but even after proving his innocence, he is unable to reveal his true identity.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for the awesome line 'She's an inbred peasant halfwit'.

Paul Lavond (Lionel Barrymore) escapes from prison after being framed for a crime he did not commit. He soon discovers an experiment with little people, the Devil-Doll of the title. The Devil-Doll becomes key to Lavond's revenge to those who framed him as well having to resort to cross dressing with his disguise as an old woman. Quite amusing seeing Barrymore as an old woman and the movie is well paced as Lavond sought his revenge. The Devil-Dolls were certainly creepy as they were about to strike their targets. However I am not really satisfied with the end and the way Lavond left things off with his daughter Lorraine (Maureen O'Sullivan).

This was one of the last few "classic horror films" of the 30s that I had not yet seen, so I was looking forward to viewing what I hoped would be another golden era fright flick. This was especially true as I am a big fan of Tod Browning's work and would consider most of his films to be among from favorites. Sadly, I was pretty disappointed in the movie overall and became another reminder of why other studios just weren't able to compete with Universal in this time period.The movie starts off promising. Two convicts escape from jail and retreat to a home in the swamp owned by one of the men. Here, his wife has been continuing the scientific experiments that he'd begun before his imprisonment. The idea was to miniaturize people so that we would consume less resources, therefore making it one of the first earth conscious movies I can remember. The other convict is played by Lionel Barrymore, who is bent on revenge against the three men who set him up on false charges to steal his fortune. When the scientist dies his wife is determined to finish his research and enlists Barrymore who sees this as an opportunity to enact his revenge, so off to Paris they go to fulfill the master plan.My biggest issue with the movie starts with the character played by Barrymore. The police are searching for him and assume he's returned to Paris, so he is forced to go incognito. This involves him dressing in drag and taking on the false identity of an old matron. As the main character, who takes up the majority of the screen time, Barrymore is exceedingly annoying in this role. The false female falsetto he employs is grating to listen to for an entire movie and rather than being any kind of effective villain to carry the thriller, the viewer ends up longing for any scene that won't involve this caricature. Those scenes are just as dull, though. This movie is much longer than the standard horror film of the time and suffers for it. There is far too much padding and most of it involves a trite story about Barrymore's estranged daughter and his attempts to reconcile the life he's left for her. We, also, get a standard cliché romance between his daughter and her beau, Toto, a cab driver who's trying to make a better life for them. The end result is far too much run time playing out plots that needed to be trimmed out and not nearly enough time devoted to the revenge plot that should have been the central premise.The actual revenge involves Barrymore utilizing these miniature people to carry out his plots as he tries to prove his innocence and bring down his enemies. We've all seen plenty of horror movies that use miniature people or dolls to chilling effect. There is something naturally unsettling about seeing something like a doll being used as a force of evil. Here, though, there is very little scary about them. Instead they are more used as little sneaks to steal things or prick people with miniature knives. This is far from something like the doll in TRILOGY OF TERROR or CAT'S EYE.I will give a lot of credit for the special effects used to create the mini people and animals. They must have been mind-blowing to an audience at the time and still hold up fairly well, despite being able to see some cracks in the design during certain scenes when it doesn't translate as well.There was a great idea in here somewhere that probably could have been pulled off much more effectively were the script to utilize Barrymore more in his IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE villain persona and far less as an annoying cross-dresser.