DEVIL DOLL-1936-Two Devil's Island escapees hide out. One guy, Marcel (Henry B. Walthall), a scientist can shrink living things (he's only done it with dogs so far). He seems to think this will provide more food for mankind. The other guy Paul Lavond (Lionel Barrymore) wants revenge on the business partners who put him in jail. When Marcel dies, Lavond helps Marcel's wife experiment on their servant girl ("We can make the whole world small"). He really doesn't want any part of it but then has an idea. He disguises himself as an old woman and plans his vengeance against the three who did him in. Meanwhile he also visits his daughter Lorraine (Maureen O'Sullivan) who hates her father. She lives with her grandmother who knows her son's secret. Lavond sends a shrunk down person to rob and kill his accusers. In the end, he makes one of them confess (Pedro DeCordoba) and Marcel's wife tries to kill Lavond but she accidentally blows herself up. Lavond meets Lorraine but doesn't reveal his identity, pretending to be Marcel. He says her father is dead but he loved her very much.
Although for some reason he isn't credited this is director Tod Browning's penultimate film (he made his last MIRACLES FOR SALE 3 years later). It makes good use of the miniature people and has good acting. One of the screenwriters was Erich von Stroheim. Guy Endore (MAD LOVE) was also a co-writer. It's based on a novel by A. Merritt.
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