Review of The Devil-Doll (1936) by Freddie F — 06 May 2012

This is an incredibly underrated and enjoyable horror/ comedy flick. The plot is as priceless as it is ludicrous: Lionel Barrymore, after escaping from prison, has to cross-dress to pose as the elderly owner of a doll-shop, where the dolls are actually real people shrunk to doll size, so he can get revenge on the men who had him wrongly convicted.

Barrymore's performance is great and hilarious, surely the best cross-dressing role I've ever seen on screen (I would also not be surprised if it came out that Robin Williams took this role as inspiration for "Mrs.

Doubtfire" -- he plays the role similarly to how Barrymore does his 'old lady'.) The special effects are quite fantastic, Tod Browning does his typical very good directorial job, the dialogue and performance from Barrymore are hilarious, and the fact that it gets so ludicrous is just a positive in my book.

A flawed, but highly entertaining and clever film.