La muñeca diabólica

After seventeen years in prison, the former respected Parisian banker Paul Lavond (Lionel Barrymore) flees with his friend, the lunatic scientist Marcel (Henry B. Walthall) that is researching with his wife Malita (Rafaela Ottiano) the miniaturization of animals and human beings to improve the resources of mankind. Paul Lavond was framed for robbery by his scoundrel associates Emil Coulvet (Robert Greig), Charles Matin (Pedro de Cordoba) and Victor Radin (Arthur Hohl) that had stolen his business while his family was doomed to shame, poverty and tragedy. When Marcel reduces the retarded servant Lachna (Grace Ford), he learns that the woman is motionless and only responds to the control of his brain and has a heart attack. After the death of Marcel, Paul Lavond sees the chance to use the miniaturization process as instrument of vengeance and he travels to Paris with the insane Malita disguised of Madame Mandilip, a nice old lady and owner of a dolls store. Paul Lavond, using the identity of Madame Mandilip, befriends his resented and estranged daughter Lorraine Lavond (Maureen O'Sullivan) and plots a scheme to revenge and vindicate his family name.

"The Devil Doll" is an entertaining film by Tod Browning with a good story and special effects still impressive in 2011. The cast has great performances but Lionel Barrymore is excellent in his double role, and convincing as an old woman. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Boneca do Diabo" ("The Devil Doll")

Lionel Barrymore is great in this film as an escaped convict out for revenge against the three bankers who framed him for embezzlement and murder seventeen years before. He and another fellow, a scientist, escape from Devil's Island together and arrive at the scientist's house, where his wife carries on his twisted experiments: shrinking living beings. His goal is to shrink all creatures on Earth, to make food production easier, but the shrunken things' brains don't function properly. You can control them telepathically, for some strange reason, but they can't think for themselves. When the scientist dies, Barrymore devises to use these dolls to get revenge on his enemies.

There are a lot of relatively good special effects in the film, and, like I said, Lionel Barrymore is fantastic. There is a nice emotional center of the film - Barrymore's daughter has suffered a lot from her father's crimes, and she hates him. Barrymore's sole purpose in getting revenge (and getting his enemies to confess their crimes) is to free his daughter from the shame in which she has always lived because of him. I actually wish that there was at least one more sequence concerning the daughter (there are three in the present film). The final scene is quite touching. 7/10.

While he is famous for being the mind behind Universal's 1931 horror classic, "Dracula", director Tod Browning is also often labeled as another of the director who struggled the most when the invention of movies with sound arrived to cinema, smashing the careers of many professionals of the silent medium. One of the best American directors of silents, Browning did struggle with "talkies", but thanks to the enormous success of "Dracula", found himself in a very good position. Sadly, "Freaks", his next film, became so controversial that he lost the favor of the audience and the studios, who were not ready to the tale of the love between a midget and a "normal" woman. While he managed to recover from this, he never had again the commercial success of "Dracula"; a real shame, because in 1936 he directed the film that finally proved that he had understood the benefits of the new sound era: "The Devil-Doll".

In this film, Lionel Barrymore plays Paul Lavond, a former banker who was wrongfully accused of fraud and sent to prison for 17 years. In prison he meets another convict named Marcel (Henry B. Walthall), an odd scientist who becomes his friend and plan their escape together. After escaping, they hide in Marcel's house, where Lavond discovers that Marcel and his wife Malita (Rafaela Ottiano) invented a way to minimize objects, in an attempt to reduce people in order to save space and food. Sadly, the process damages the brains of living beings, reducing them to puppets who can be easily controlled with the mind. Lavond is at first horrified by this insanity, but after the sudden death of Marcel, he decides to help Malita if she agrees to help him in his revenge. Now, disguised as an innocent old lady, Lavond returns to Paris with his devilish living dolls, decided to make those who send him to prison pay for every year he spent without his family.

The story was written by Browning himself, giving his very own spin to the plot of Abraham Merritt's novel "Burn Witch Burn"; however, the screenplay was done by Guy Endore, Garrett Fort and Erich Von Stroheim, so actually very few remains from Merritt's novel in the movie, and it's truly more a Browning film. As usual in his stories, Browning focuses on the misadventures of an outcast, in this case Paul Lavond, who while being the hero of the story, has to resort to brutal crimes to achieve his vengeance, almost like a horror retelling of "The Count of Montecristo". The story unfolds nicely, and despite being more than 70 years old, it still feels fresh and original. This is definitely because the characters of the film are so very well developed that truly feel and act like real complex persons despite the fantasy elements of the story.

Now, the true surprise of the film is definitely Tod Browning's effective direction of the whole thing. While he is revered for his work in "Dracula" and "Freaks", most critics and fans tend to agree that his best work happened in the silent era, as those films (as well as "Mark of the Vampire") have their best scenes in the silent parts. Well, this movie proves that idea wrong, as not only "The Devil-Doll" is heavily based on dialog, it is remarkably well-executed and is definitely on par with most of Browning's best silent films. As usual, Browning mixes horror and black comedy in a delightful subtle way, even referencing his own classic "The Unholy Three" in occasions. Finally, it must also be pointed out that in this film Browning crafts truly impressive scenes with special effects that still look awe inspiring even today.

Of course, not everything is about Browning, as certainly without his superb cast the final result would be very different. Lionel Barrymore is simply amazing as Paul Levond, portraying the tragic figure of the good man consumed by hate, forced to commit crimes to clean his name. Barrymore was a master of his craft, and he proves it in the scenes where he must disguise himself as an old lady. Maureen O'Sullivan and Frank Lawton, fresh from Cukor's version of "David Copperfield", are reunited again, playing Lavond's daughter and the man in love with her. The two of them are very natural, but is O'Sullivan's talent the one that shines the most. Italian actress Rafaela Ottiano gives a very good and scary performance, although the fact that Barrymore's character is the focus of the film limits her screen time quite a lot. Overall the cast is pretty effective, and one of the main reasons of the movie's high quality.

It's a shame that Browning's career was considered beyond redemption after the huge commercial failure of the misunderstood "Freaks", as this movie proves that there was still a lot in Browning to give after mastering the craft of making "talkies". While it's hard to deny the importance and value of both "Dracula" and "Freaks", it is only in this movie where Browning shows a true understanding of the new technology, as while the movie is still very visual, it's at its core a very dialog oriented film, and Browning demonstrates he can handle it. While the story has that feeling of being taken straight from a pulp novel, it's very emotional and dramatic (without being overtly sappy), and it could be said that it's in this movie where Browning finally combines the best of both worlds.

Like most people, I too used to believe that Browning's best days happened along Lon Chaney during the years of the silent era, however, "The Devil-Doll" is a film that has made me reconsider that thought as this movie has everything that made Browning great in the silents, as well as his full domination of the new technology. While definitely nowhere near "Dracula" or "Freaks", this is a "talkie" that shows him at his best. 8/10

Directed by Tod Browning, it's hard not to think about "The Unholy Three" where Lon Chaney dresses as an old lady as a cover for committing a multitude of crimes. However, that's where the similarity ends. Here it is Lionel Barrymore dressed as an old lady, posing as a Parisian toy manufacturer, when he is in fact hunted fugitive Paul Lavond, who was framed 17 years before by three associates and sent to Devil's Island for life. Once back in Paris, forgive and forget are not in this guy's vocabulary. Lavond says he must clear his name for the sake of his daughter, but - let's face it - he seems to be really enjoying his revenge.

There are some plot holes here that confuse me. Lavond and his inmate friend Marcel escape from Devil's Island, which is off the coast of South America. Yet somehow the convicts manage to crawl to Marcel's wife's home. How did they get across the ocean? Did Marcel's wife relocate to Devil's Island hoping Marcel would escape? Although Lavond technically does not commit any crimes against the innocent, is what he does horrific enough that the production code requires his death? The ending is left so open it's hard to know what Paul Lavond's final move will be.

Kudos to Rafaela Ottiano as Marcel's crazed widow with that streak of white in her hair and that Mrs. Danvers of the Devil Dolls vibe going for her as she somewhat steals the show. It's never mentioned how she lost that one arm and what appears to be part of one leg, but it sure adds to the atmosphere. Maureen O'Sullivan hams it up a bit as Lavond's embittered daughter but the relatively unknown Frank Lawton as her taxi driving fiancé somewhat dampens the effect with a fine performance as a very tolerant fellow who looks for the sunny side of life.

Highly recommended as an odd little film from a director who specialized in them and that was quite daring for a movie made just after the production code.

In what was unfortunately his next to last directorial effort, Tod Browning creates a fun flick with a good gimmick (and good special effects), fine acting, and ultimately a truly touching quality. As we can see, our vengeance obsessed main character may be an antagonist but is not really a villain. His love for his daughter and mother comes through strongly, and with an actor as compulsively watchable as Lionel Barrymore in the lead, the movie is certainly easy enough to follow.

Barrymore plays Paul Lavond, a banker framed by his partners and sent up the river, who at the beginning of the movie breaks out of Devil's Island prison in the company of a persecuted scientist, Marcel (Henry B. Walthall), who's devised what *he* thinks is the answer to the worlds' hunger problem: shrink everybody and everything so that the quantity of the worlds' food will then amount to more. The thing, Marcel and his wife Malita (Rafaela Ottiano) are clearly mad, and despite Pauls' own misgivings about their actions (yes, our antagonist does have some morals) he's still okay with using them towards his own ends.

This leads to some fairly well realized sequences in which "miniaturized" dogs, horses, and people are controlled by masters such as Barrymore. The sequences in which Lachna (Grace Ford) and Radin (Arthur Hohl) go about particular missions are entertaining every step of the way. In general, the film is a little talky and never terribly scary, but Browning does generate some palpable suspense and in one great moment, as the clock is ticking, the character Matin (Pedro de Cordoba) feels his conscience getting to him. Maureen O'Sullivan, as Lavonds' daughter Lorraine, and Frank Lawton, as ambitious and cheery taxi driver Toto (!), make for an appealing couple. But getting to watch the interesting Mr. Barrymore at work is really the main reason to watch "The Devil-Doll", especially as he dresses in drag as Lavond masquerades as a doddering old character named Miss Mandilip.

Set in Paris, and scripted by Garrett Fort, Guy Endore, and Erich von Stroheim, this does have solid atmosphere going for it, as well as an affecting, emotional ending. This may not be quite as memorable as Brownings' other works, but is worth a look for fans of genre films from this period.

Seven out of 10.