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The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

An intriguing and often over-looked slice of melodrama from the 1930s, this film remains neglected alongside its bigger 'brothers' - namely Dracula, FRANKENSTEIN, and THE INVISIBLE MAN. However that doesn't mean that it should be forgotten - it's actually a very good little film that plays more like a standard romance tale than your usual horror flick.THE DEVIL-DOLL cleverly intermingles three plot strands into one and it gels nicely. The first is the standard melodramatic tale of a father loving a daughter who hates him for what he has done. All of the cast involved in this give good performances and it works nicely. Maureen O'Sullivan (star of the Tarzan films of the '30s) is excellent as the daughter who learns to forgive and forget.There is also the routine plot about a man returning to wreak revenge on the men who are responsible for his demise, and this section of the story too is quite interesting and enlivened by some varied, inspired acting. The final section - and the best - is the horrific element of the shrinking process involved in the film. Although made over sixty years ago, the special effects of the shrunken people still hold up even to this day. The special effects are elaborate and it isn't obvious that rear-screen projection was used. They're eye-opening and that's saying something.Unfortunately there is also an over the top performance from the woman playing Malita, who seems to think that opening her eyes wide will evoke terror - however all it evokes is laughter. She may be eye-opening but for all the wrong reasons. Along with that are the standard laboratory clichés - bubbling test tubes of poison, steam, foam, lots of glass tubing and containers. Barrymore carries the film somewhat and is excellent in his role as the tormented criminal with a heart of gold. This is one of those little films that has a bit of everything and it's well worth tracking down.

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.

For me, there are 3 reasons to watch this film: 1. To realize that even the grandest studio of all -- MGM -- could make a really dumb movie. 2. To realize that even that grand old actor -- Lionel Barrymore -- made some real stinkers. 3. To watch a film just for the sake of enduring just dumb it could be.Okay, now that I've got that off my chest, let me give you some details.Barrymore is one of two old men who escapes from Devil's Island. The escape lasts all of about 5 minutes, and is consequential to the film only because it gives a basis for the revenge that Barrymore will take on his ex-banker friends in Paris who framed him. Barrymore is paired up with a mad scientist who has learned to shrink people to 1/6 their normal size. The scientist's wife is played so over the top that she makes Elsa Lanchester's roles in horror films look as if she was on sedatives. The scientist dies of a heart attack (we viewers of the film should be so lucky!), and Barrymore and the scientist's wife go to Paris to exact revenge on the bank partners and continue the scientific research.If it all wasn't campy enough, once Barrymore gets to Paris, he disguises himself in drag as an old woman. After that, there are some good moments and the ending is rather touching. And throughout, there is the satisfaction of watching just how good Barrymore was...even in a dumb movie.

MGM's THE DEVIL-DOLL (1936) is a campy sci-fi/horror classic. Perfect for those late-night curiosity viewings. The movie is preposterous, but elevated by impressive 1930s special effects along the lines of those in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935).THE DEVIL-DOLL tells the story of a man bent on revenge who gets mixed up in the outlandish schemes of a mad scientist. Hiding from the police, the man (a prison escapee) uses the mad scientist's strange experiments in his systematic plan to destroy those men who did him wrong.It seems the scientist had developed a technique that would shrink living things to one-sixth their normal size. Once shrunken, however, the subject lay paralyzed until willed to do something by the strong mental power of an outsider. The scientist had hoped to shrink everyone in the world to make the food supply last longer, but having miniature mind-control zombies has its uses, too.Oscar-winner Lionel Barrymore stars and spends much of the film in his disguise as an old woman. (I'm being totally serious.) The wonderful Rafaela Ottiano plays the crazed wife of the scientist, devoted to his twisted vision. Ottiano seemed to know what kind of movie she was making, going all-out in her performance. Maureen O'Sullivan plays Barrymore's daughter, with Frank Lawton as her taxi driver boyfriend. Among the rest of the cast, it's good to see Robert Greig play something other than a butler.The B-level cast does a good job with the B-level material, but the most impressive part of THE DEVIL-DOLL is the special visual effects. Creating the effect of miniaturized people required composite shots with an eye on camera angles and perspective. (Mixed, it seems, with some huge-furniture sequences.) A modern eye can often find the seams, but this kind of stuff is hard to do and I believe they did it as well as anybody could in 1936.The story, with its attempted father-daughter redemption arc, is just ridiculous. Barrymore is hardly a hero in this one. Nor is he even a nice guy. There's no one to root for, really. This is the kind of movie to pop in some late night and just enjoy with a bucket of popcorn and the company of your choice. A campy horror classic for anyone curious to see Lionel Barrymore dress in drag. Not one of the high points of Barrymore's career.