The Devil-Doll

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The Devil-Doll
Directed by	Tod Browning
Produced by	Edward J. Mannix
Written by	Tod Browning Guy Endore Garrett Fort Erich Von Stroheim
Starring	Lionel Barrymore Maureen O'Sullivan
Music by	Franz Waxman
Cinematography	Leonard Smith
Editing by	Frederick Y. Smith
Release date(s)	July 10, 1936
Running time	79 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Devil-Doll is a B&W 1936 horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring a cross-dressing Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan as his daughter, Lorraine Levond.

The main thrust of the plot of this little-known B-movie classic (a fantastic "bad movie") where Barrymore plays the fellow inmate of a mad scientist who is trying to create a formula to reduce the size of people to 1/6th of their original size, with the idea of conserving the resources needed for survival: clean water, food, energy, etc. which are limited on the Earth last longer for an ever-growing population. The scientist dies after their escape. Barrymore's character joins the fellow escapee's widow, "Malita," and uses the shrinking technique to obtain revenge on business associates who framed him and vindication for himself.

While unavoidably a camp film, there is a serious message underlying the entire plot: that of the concern of over-population, and that the resources on Earth are by nature limited, and that at some point if population growth is not controlled and limited, these resources will be too limited to allow mankind to survive. This is fairly forward-looking for a film penned in 1934.

[edit] Cast

• Lionel Barrymore- Paul Lavond
• Maureen O'Sullivan - Lorraine Lavond
• Frank Lawton - Toto
• Rafaela Ottiano - Malita
• Robert Greig - Emil Coulvet
• Lucy Beaumont - Madame Lavond
• Henry B. Walthall - Marcel
• Grace Ford ... Lachna
• Pedro de Cordoba - Charles Matin
• Arthur Hohl - Victor Radin
• Juanita Quigley - Marguerite Coulvet
• Claire Du Brey - Madame Coulvet (as Claire du Brey)
• Rollo Lloyd - Detective Maurice

[edit] External links

• The Devil-Doll at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e The films of Tod Browning 1910s The Lucky Transfer • The Slave Girl • An Image of the Past • The Highbinders • The Story of a Story • The Spell of the Poppy • The Electric Alarm • The Living Death • The Burned Hand • The Woman from Warren's • Little Marie • The Fatal Glass of Beer • Everybody's Doing It • Puppets • Jim Bludso • A Love Sublime • Hands Up! • Peggy, the Will O' the Wisp • The Jury of Fate • The Legion of Death • The Eyes of Mystery • Revenge • Which Woman? • The Deciding Kiss • The Brazen Beauty • Set Free • The Wicked Darling • The Exquisite Thief • The Unpainted Woman • The Petal on the Current • Bonnie Bonnie Lassie 1920s The Virgin of Stamboul • Outside the Law • No Woman Knows • The Wise Kid • Man Under Cover • Under Two Flags • Drifting • The Day of Faith • White Tiger • The Dangerous Flirt • Silk Stocking Sal • The Unholy Three • The Mystic • Dollar Down • The Blackbird • The Road to Mandalay • The Show • The Unknown • London After Midnight • The Big City • West of Zanzibar • Where East Is East • The Thirteenth Chair 1930s Outside the Law • Dracula • Iron Man • Freaks • Fast Workers • Mark of the Vampire • The Devil-Doll • Miracles for Sale