After the diversion of the 1964 Devil Doll, we arrive at The Devil-Doll I was originally looking for, Tod Browning’s 1936 chiller: I vaguely remembered this from my childhood from the late night BBC 2 Horror Double Bills. While not exactly a terrifying proposition by 2021 standards, The Devil-Doll is an interesting, amusing and super-culty film that makes it 74 minutes well spent. Based on a 1933 novel called Burn, Witch, Burn by A Merritt, The Devil-Doll has an off-kilter narrative that somewhat boggles the brain; think Mrs Doubtfire, but with killer dolls, and you’ve got the idea.
Paul Lavond (Lionel Barrymore) escapes from jail, and seeks shelter with an aged professor and fellow convict pal Marcel (Henry B. Walthall) who just happens to have mastered the art of miniaturisation before his jail sentence began. That doesn’t make a greet deal of sense from the get-go, but we’ve barely started. Marcel shows Paul a series of toys that are actually miniature animals; the creatures appear dead, but Marcel can bring them to life with his mind. With this technology, Marcel hopes to reinvigorate the food marketing and supply world, but drops dead before he can apply the science. Paul picks up the toys, and begins a reign of terror against those who wrongly imprisoned him, The Fugitive style, and hopes to win the attention of his estranged daughter Lorraine Lavond (Maureen O’Sullivan) before he gets caught….
There’s a comments section attached, and if anyone wants to explain to me how miniaturising dogs will help the world’s food shortages, I’m keen to hear it. But there’s plenty of other strange issues to ponder here; why does no-one recognise Paul when he’s disguised as a granny, the most obvious disguise since Mrs Doubtfire? Paul is supposedly our hero, but can we really endorse a man who discuses himself as a granny to command an army of killer dolls armed with tiny stilettos? Can we honestly say we empathise with this man’s struggle?
Either way, The Devil-Doll rises to some shocking moments, and some ingenious miniature effects in the style of Bride of Frankenstein. Browning brings quite a sweep to the story, and his focus on the father-daughter relationship leads to a touching and unexpected finale. Old movies often disappoint, but The Devil-Doll is as sprightly as a convict granny with a basket full of stiletto wielding dolls; ie very sprightly indeed. Just £46 on Amazon right now.
Had the guy been around now he could have made a mint in the diet business. Mini-me with teeth. Sounds appealing. And right up Cult Avenue.
Throwing my hat into the ring here. Miniaturize the animals when young, let them grow up to “full size” in their miniaturized state, then un-miniaturize them. One carrot should do for a whole family of rabbits. And we still get big animals, cheap.
Of course, it doesn’t explain where the extra weight of the animals goes to or comes from. And honestly, I’d be MUCH more afraid of a 6ft man wielding a one foot knife than a 1ft man wielding a 2in knife.
Not mention of any un miniaturising process in this film. One way only. Nice try.
Well, without un-miniaturizing, I’m as stumped as you.
I don’t really want to eat a hamburger the size of my pinkie finger.
Exactly. Watch the mental disintegration of those who feel that miniaturisation will solve the problems of world hunger. Nonsense!
I’ve been thinking about this. I don’t think this fits into the movie BUT if you miniaturized every person, then you’d be all set. At least in terms of food. Every cow could feed a village.
Rebuilding your infrastructure would be a whole different matter.
“Curse you, tiny toilet!”
~Vector, from Despicable Me
I hear you, but if you miniaturise everything, then you’re kind of back where you started, right? How would that be better?
You don’t miniaturize everything, Just the people.
So, if they had a self-miniaturising device, why are they miniaturising cows and horses? Ok, so there would be massive burgers and pizzas, but we’d be two inches tall. I can’t see this being an improvement. I do admire you sticking with this, but I really don’t get why making tiny sheep helps fight world hunger…
I concur, shrinking the animals doesn’t help at all. Unless we all convert to vegetarianism, which I don’t see happening.
Phew. It’s been a long journey, but with three of the WP4 in agreement, I have to declare miniaturisation to be useless as a form of solving world hunger. Sure, I’d love to be tiny and have a great big slice of pizza, but that’s hardly an example for the world to follow. Glad we had this talk.
I’d miniaturize myself in a heartbeat if it would get me a giant cheeseburger.
I think this might be true. But the mechanism to do so is fictional. Sorry to crush a dream like this.
“There’s a comments section attached, and if anyone wants to explain to me how miniaturising dogs will help the world’s food shortages, I’m keen to hear it.”
As Alex says, it’s simple. Bigger animals need more food. Smaller animals need less food. So if we have smaller animals, they’ll need less food. Comprende?
Yes but if you want a steak or a burger or a roast ham/bacon butty or a lamb chop your miniature cows and pigs and sheep are not going to be much use at feeding you!! 🙄
Don’t eat meat is the answer to that Fraggle! Let the little animals live, and then there’ll be more food for everyone!
I’m too old to be P.C now, I like a steak now and then. And a roast beef/lamb Sunday lunch. You young’uns can do the tofu stuff.
Well, your steak will be the size of a stamp if you let Alex miniaturise everything! Silly plan!
Agreed.
Fried tofu is nice – don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. Every other type… not so nice 🤮
Not knocking fried tofu, if that’s what floats your boat, sail on.
No no no, fried tofu doesn’t float my boat, I just like it is all! Why do I bother?
Then it floats your boat, that’s what liking it means! FFS!
I wouldn’t say fried tofu floats my boat, Dix! Why you getting involved? Scram!
This is my website, and I do what I want. You just said you liked it! That is what ‘floating your boat’ means! How long have you been hard of understanding?
Bit rich from the man who doesn’t understand a simple plot! I like it, but not enough for it to float my boat! Pasta floats my boat – tofu doesn’t!
What has this got to do with miniaturising sheep?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
The prosecution rests. Next!
I don’t know.
Sigh. This film is set in 1936, dummy!
Who me?
No, you are with the good guys here, Alex and DJ Otzi are the dummies. Say no to animal miniaturisation!
Boo!
I think we can declare this argument won, unless Uncle Fester has fresh notions up his sleeves…
Miniaturising humans?
Why would that help?
I change my mind. Just kill them all off.
Argument lost. Thanks for playing.
I am!
Thank you, a voice of reason at last! Alex and DJ Otzi seem to thing miniaturising farm animals means more food, but even if we make ourselves smaller, there’s just the same amount!
Exactamentally!
Phew!
Yes, but the cows, pigs and sheep will be tiny, so there will be nothing to eat, and tiny amounts of milk. Smaller animals are no use to anyone. What is the point of a two inch cow?
Have you ever heard of vegetables? Carrots, lettuce and such? If there are less animals, then they eat less vegetables, and there’s more for us in a much healthier diet! Capeesh?
No one is talking about veg, DJ Otzi! We’re talking about cows and sheep, not sprouts like you.
I’m lost for words.
Lost for vegetables, more like. So you admit this plan makes zero sense?
With people like you and Fraggle on the world, yes.
So you tell me how is a box of miniature giraffes going to solve the world’s food problems? Eh?
I’m not explaining it again. What can you not get your head around?
You haven’t explained anything! How does making tiny sheep help?
There’s a lot of food on the planet.
There’s more animals on the plant, however.
Food < Animals. Understand?
So you have a choice: make more food, or have less animals.
Making more food is very difficult though, so what's the solution? Killing the animals?
But I'm afraid morals come into play here. Killing the animals is wrong, right?
So what do you do? Make them smaller. Smaller animals need less food. So…
Food = Animals.
The problem is therefore solved.
But the main reason we have farm animals is to generate food. Sure, they’ll be easy to feed but they’ll be f all use because they’ll be two inches tall. You wouldn’t get a burger out of one cow!
Then stop breeding so many farm animals. Why are we even discussing this?
You decided to show off your intellect and fell face first in a cow pat.
I’ll throw a cow pat at you in a minute.
Go on, I dare you!
Ok, you asked for it… Ten miniature ones coming right your way…
Haha you don’t even know where I am!
I know where Shedley is though…
Are you threatening my cat?
😶
Internet police! Help! Cat threatening in process, Shedley is down! Shedley has Fallen!
The internet police won’t help you now…
*slowly lowers pillow*
I take a dim view of this and will miniaturise Shedley as a precaution.
Probably wise. What, are you going to eat him to? Is that a starter?
No, because it’s silly to thing miniaturising animals will help. I think you know that now. Only Alex remains tuned to the moon.
How do you plan to solve world hunger, then? I want to hear your ideas.
Dress as a granny and create an army of tiny stiletto wielding puppets to kill off my enemies.
How will that solve world hunger? Explain.
It just will. That’s how it works. Any questions?
*hides pillow behind back*
Where do you live?
Shedley, get away from the windows!
Shedley’s gone now, Dix. Shedley’s gone.
What have you done?
I started my own quiz. So Shedley’s going to be the new quizmaster.
Hmm…I’ll see about this when I get home!
That all sounds completely bonkers, and £45 is a bit steep for such an old movie. Nope.
I think our host is off to the kirk this morning.
Driving 100 miles, did I promise instant replies?
Must have been quite a service. Or did the elders put you in the pew of shame again this week because of your work on this blog? The kirk can be so judgmental. But I like that you’re keeping up the auld ways.
Nope. Keep up. In the middle of a 100 mile drive. So how does a box of tiny giraffes help world poverty? Eh? What’s your answer, Uncle Fester?
You have to drive 100 miles to the kirk? I heard the Church of Scotland was experiencing hard times but that strikes me as an onerous burden of faith.
Tiny giraffes eat less than big giraffes. *sigh*
Yup, but then there’s hardly any giraffe to go round, since they are now tiny. As Indiana Jones’s dad says ‘our situation has not improved’
There may be many more giraffes. And this doesn’t affect us anyway as we don’t eat giraffes. You are being too anthropocentric.
Sigh. So what? How does your system work?
Plants aren’t being shrunk, only animals. So animals will consume 1/6 the amount of energy that is still available in grains and veggies. Yes, cattle and pigs will be smaller, but so will humans, so that’s a wash.
All of this is explained in the movie itself. Were you nodding off at that point?
*sigh* *face palm*
Even if you miniaturise humans too, then the cow to human is exactly the same as it was before. And miniaturising humans is not part of this cure for world hunger anyway. So wrong, wrong and wrong again, Uncle Fester. Keep trying!
I can’t explain the difference between absolute and relative measures to you now. The Scottish school system has failed totally. Hang your head in the Pew of Shame. The elders were right.
Mealy mouthed gobbledegook! You said you understood this process but it’s clear you understand nothing. best get out of the way in case anyone can actually explain this, your five minutes of fame are up!
Well worth it for cinema experts like yourself!
Haha nope.
*sigh*
As noted in the the review of this film on the Internet’s top film site:
Here is Marcel explaining his scheme: “Lavond, my friend, millions of years ago the creatures that roamed this world were gigantic. As they multiplied, the earth could no longer produce enough food. Think of it, Lavond: every living creature reduced to one-sixth its size. One-sixth of its physical need. Food for six times all of us!” Do the math!
More can be read here: https://alexonfilm.com/2015/07/31/the-devil-doll-1936/
That still does not make sense to me. Do you unminiature the creature before you eat it? How do tiny pigs help anything?
It’s very simply laid out. Have you ever played Simon? That might be more your speed.
Barely know the man.
Simon would be a lot of fun on a long car ride.
I’m happily married, not interested in dating your pals from the bins.
You and the missus can both play with Simon.
Not interested in your pimping.
Show Simon some love. He’s a lot of fun.
No.