USA, 1936
79m
35mm film, black and white, 1.37:1
mono, English
An American horror film directed by Tod Browning.
Plot Summary
Framed for robbery and murder, respected Parisian banker Paul Lavond is sent to Devil’s Island. Many years later, he effects an escape, taking with him a scientist who had found a way to miniaturise humans, a process that Lavond now plans to use to help him gain his revenge on those who set him up.
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: A Tod Browning production
© Copyright MCMXXXVI [1936] by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Corporation
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presents a Tod Browning production. Controlled by Loew’s Incorporated
Produced by: Producers: Tod Browning *, E.J. Mannix *
Screen Play by: Garrett Fort, Guy Endore and Eric Von Stroheim
Story by: Tod Browning
Based on the novel Burn Witch Burn! by: Abraham Merritt
Director of Photography: Leonard Smith
Film Editor: Fredrick Y. Smith
Musical Score by: Franz Waxman; Edward Ward *
Recording Director: Douglas Shearer
Warbrobe by: Dolly Tree
Make Up: Robert J. Schiffer *
Art Director: Cedric Gibbons
Cast
Lionel Barrymore ([Paul] Lavond[/Madame Mandelip])
Maureen O’Sullivan (Lorraine [Lavond])
Frank Lawton (Toto)
Rafaela Ottiano (Malita)
Robert Greig (Emil Coulvet)
Lucy Beaumont (Mme. Lavond)
Henry B. Walthall (Marcel)
Grace Ford (Lachna)
Pedro de Cordoba ([Charles] Matin)
Arthur Hohl ([Victor] Radin)
Juanita Quigley (Marguerite [Coulvet])
Claire du Brey (Mme. Coulvet)
Rollo Lloyd (Detective [Maurice])
E. Allyn Warren (commissioner)
Alternative Titles
La bambola del diavolo – Italy
A Boneca do Diablo – Portugal
Hirveä kosto – Finlanf
La muñeca diabólica – Venezuela
Muñecas infernales – Argentina
Muñecos infernales – Spain
Les Poupées du diable – France
Die Teufelspuppe – Germany
The Witch of Timbuctoo
Press
2002
Empire no.161 (November 2002) p.50
Another freakish melodrama from Tod Browning, this was the first great shrinking people effects movie. The sequences of the killer dolls in action – escaping from Christmas trees and making their way across huge living rooms to commit murder – remains fascinating and unsettling. Barrymore is a bit of a softie as megalomaniac masterminds go, but there’s some high quality fiendishness from Rafaela Ottiano as a crippled minion who loves playing with the dancing dolls – from an illustrated review by Kim Newman
References
Periodicals
- Castle of Frankenstein 1967 Annual p.38
- Empire no.161 (November 2002) p.50 – illustrated review (The reviews by Kim Newman)
- Journal of Popular Film & Television vol.26 no.2 (Summer 1998) p.86-94 – illustrated article (Violence, Women and Disability in Tod Browning’s Freaks and The Devil Doll by Madeleine A. Cahill and Martin F. Norden)
- Kinematograph Weekly no.1532 (27 August 1936) – review
- The London Reporter vol.1 no.50 (28 May 1936) – review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.3 no.36 (December 1936) p.131 – review
- Photon no.23 (1973) p.36-45 – illustrated article (Tod Browning – a Filmography by Bill Nelson)
- Photoplay vol.50 no.3 (September 1936) p.54 – review
- Shivers no.52 (April 1998) pp.24-27 – illustrated article (by Bryan Senn)
Newspapers
- Expresso, Cartaz 26 July 1997 – review (by Manuel Cintra Ferreira)
Books
- After Dracula: The 1930s Horror Film by Alison Peirse p.152
- Armchair Cinema: A History of Feature Films on British Television, 1929-1981 by Sheldon Hall p.346
- Caligari’s Children: The Film as Tale of Terror by Siegbert Solomon Prawer p.69
- Censored Screams: The British Ban on Hollywood Horror in the Thirties by Tom Johnson pp.136-138; 196 – notes; credits
- Classic Horror Films and the Literature That Inspired Them by Ron Backer pp.178-182
- Golden Horrors: An Illustrated Critical Filmography, 1931-1939 by Bryan Senn pp.368-377
- Horror and Science Fiction Films IV by Donald C. Willis p.128
- Horrorshows: The A-Z of Horror in Film, TV, Radio and Theatre by Gene Wright p.43 – credits, review
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.97 – credits
- Sound Films, 1927-1939: A United States Filmography by Alan G. Fetrow p.151
- Vintage Science Fiction Films, 1896-1949 by Michael Benson pp.140-141
