THE DEVIL-DOLL

Year: 1936
UK: BFI Collections
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Lawton, Rafaela Ottiano, Robert Greig, Lucy Beaumont, Henry B Walthall, Grace Ford, Pedro De Cordoba, Arthur Hohl, Juanita Quigley, Claire Du Brey, Rollo Lloyd, E Allyn Warren, Francis McDonald, Inez Palange
Director: Tod Browning
Country: USA
UK: 78 mins
UK Certificate: PG contains mild horror
UK Release Date: 27 September 2002 (Limited Release - London)

Synopsis

Paul Lavond (Lionel Barrymore), a former banker framed by former business partners and Marcel, an obsessed scientist escape from Devil's Island. The scientist's wife, Malita (Rafaela Ottiano), has been continuing with their experiments involving shrinking animals. The shrinking process means they can be controlled by the will of others. After successfully reducing a human, Lavond argues with Marcel and the scientist dies of heart failure.

When distraught Malita begs Lavond to stay and help her carry on the work, a plan begins to take shape in Lavond's mind. In Paris, Lavond's former partners discuss his escape and offer a large reward for his capture, but Lavond has assumed another identity. Disguised as 'Madame Mandelip', a dollmaker with a shop in the Parisian backstreets, Lavond begins to take his revenge...