The Devil-Doll

Todd Browning was still be pushed out of Hollywood for making FREAKS when he unleashed THE DEVIL-DOLL on the world. How he managed to snag Lionel Barrymore for the lead is still a mystery to me but he sure as hell delivers one great performance here. The plot is as crazy as they come.....a man framed by his business partners for fraud meets a scientist in jail who wants to shrink the entire population of the planet to ease the strain on food and energy resources. When they escape, the scientist demonstrates this shrinking technique then dies leaving his wife and Barrymore to carry on...thing is...Barrymore wants revenge not only for himself but for his daughter whose life has been ruined by the shame of her father and he intends to use the shrunken people to do it. Sounds ludicrous doesn't it? Thing is, because of scripting, direction and great acting this thing works and the special effects are quite convincing considering this was 1936. Not the easiest film to track down but not to be missed should you "trip" over it.