The Devil Doll (1936)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1936
Running Times: 79m
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: black and white
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Sound: mono

DIRECTION

Director: Tod Browning

PRODUCTION
Production Company: MGM
Producers: Tod Browning, E.J. Mannix [uncredited]

SCRIPT
Script: Garrett Fort, Guy Endore, Eric Von Stroheim
Story: Tod Browning
Novel: Burn, Witch, Burn! by Abraham Merritt

DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Harry Sharrock [uncredited]

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Leonard Smith

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Fredrick Y. Smith

MUSIC
Music: Franz Waxman, Edward Ward [uncredited]
Orchestrator: Clifford Vaughan [uncredited]

SOUND
Recording Director: Douglas Shearer
Sound System: Western Electric Sound System

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Make Up: Robert J. Schiffer [uncredited]
Warbrobe: Dolly Tree

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Cedric Gibbons
Associate Art Directors: Stan Rogers, Edwin B. Willis

OTHER CREW
Apache Dance Director: Val Raset [uncredited]
Double for Arthur Hohl: Paul Foltz [uncredited]

CAST

Lionel Barrymore (Paul Lavond/Madame Mandelip)
Maureen O'Sullivan (Lorraine Lavond)
Frank Lawton (Toto)
Rafaela Ottiano (Malita)
Robert Greig (Emil Coulvet)
Lucy Beaumont (Madame Lavond)
Henry B. Walthall (Marcel)
Grace Ford (Lachna)
Pedro de Cordoba (Charles Matin)
Arthur Hohl (Victor Radin)
Juanita Quigley (Marguerite Coulvet)
Claire du Brey (Madame Coulvet)
Rollo Lloyd (Detective Maurice)
E. Allyn Warren (Commissioner of Police)

UNCREDITED CAST

Jean Alden, Paul Foltz (Apache dancers)
Egon Brecher, Christian J. Frank, Sherry Hall (detectives)
Robert Du Couedic (policeman)
Billy Gilbert (Matin's butler)
Robert Graves, Edward Keane (gendarmes)
Wilfred Lucas (voice)
Eily Malyon (laundry proprietress)
Frank Reicher (doctor)
Evelyn Selbie (flower woman)
Nick Thompson (Police Sergeant)

Francis McDonald (Detective - scenes deleted)
Inez Palange (concierge - scenes deleted)

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.

The Devil Doll has become one of Tod Browning's least talked about genre movie, often overlooked in the understandable clamour to praise the magnificent Freaks (1932) and in the less understandable wallow in nostalgia that surrounds Dracula (1931). The Devil Doll is a frequently very funny and genuinely creepy film with special effects that still look good today and a great central performance from Lionel Barrymore.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Loew's Inc, MGM/UA Distribution Company
Video Distributor: MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc
Laserdisc Distributor: MGM/UA Home Video (ML 105725)

Argentina
Rating: 16

Finland
Rating: K-16

USA
Rating: approved (PCA #2328)

1936
March
Day Unknown: USA – filming begins

April
Day Unknown: USA – filming begins

July
7: USA – copyright granted (LP6486)
10: USA – theatrical release

1937
February
18: Denmark – theatrical release

May
9: Finland – theatrical release

1996
September
11: USA - laserdisc release (MGM/UA Home Video (ML 105725))

Bambola del diavolo, La – Italian title
Boneca do Diablo, A – Portugese title
Hirveä kosto - Finnishtitle
Muñeca diabólica, La – Venezuelan title
Muñecas infernales – Argentinian title
Muñecos infernales – Spanish title
Poupées du diable, Les – French title
Teufelspuppe, Die – German title
Witch of Timbuctoo, The

NEWSPAPERS

Expresso, Cartaz 26 July 1997 (Portugal)
review (by Manuel Cintra Ferreira)

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

apaches, bankers, Christmas, dancers, Devil's Island, dolls, Eiffel Tower, films based on books, mad scientist, miniature humans, prison, revenge, taxi drivers, toys

Last Updated: 7 October, 2009