Pre-Order Warner Archive Collection Press Release: The Devil Doll (1936) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Coming to Blu-ray October 24th

NEW 2023 1080p HD Master from 4K Scan of preservation elements
THE DEVIL DOLL (1936)
Run Time: 79 Minutes
Subtitles: ENGLISH SDH
Audio Specs: DTS HD-MA 2.0
Aspect Ratio 16x9 1.37:1 with Side Mattes
Product color: B&W
Disc Configuration-BD 50
Special Features: New feature commentary by Film Historian Dr. Steve Haberman and Filmmaker/Film Historian Constantin Nasr, Classic WB Cartoons "MILK AND MONEY" (HD) and "THE PHANTOM SHIP" (HD), Original Theatrical Trailer

Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Lawton
Master of the macabre Tod Browning (Freaks) created this spine-tingler about madness, murder and revenge. It stars Oscar®-winning screen legend Lionel Barrymore as an escaped convict who uses a mad scientist’s shrinking serum to create tiny people. He then disguises himself as a kindly old lady running a toy store, so he can secretly send his tiny assassins out to exact a terrifying revenge on the men who framed him. Special-effects genius Leonard Smith created the trick photography that Michael Weldon (The Psychotronic Encyclopedia) called “better than (that of) any other shrunken-people movie”. Maureen O’Sullivan co-stars as Barrymore’s innocent daughter and Frank Lawton as her devoted suitor. Rafaela Ottiano adds a note of horror as the maniacal widow of the twisted scientist. Full of menacing moments and hair-raising scenes “certain to return in nightmares” (Pauline Kael), this is truly an unforgettable horror movie classic, now stunningly remastered!

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[dana martin]

WAC zigged and zagged and found a way to get 4 Tod Browning titles released in the same month, with the help of Criterion,

 

[Capt D McMars]

WAC zigged and zagged and found a way to get 4 Tod Browning titles released in the same month, with the help of Criterion,

Go Team!!

 

[JoeDoakes]

Couldn't they have gotten it out a week earlier?

 

[lark144]

Couldn't they have gotten it out a week earlier?

In my domicile, every day is Halloween. But yeah, it would have been nice.

I saw a stunning print of this at MOMA decades ago which looked like nitrate but I don't think was. Still, it glowed so gloriously, it really enhanced the film's images, transporting me to another realm. I was so disappointed with the DVD, it made the film look so pedestrian and ordinary. So I'm really looking forward to this, and hoping it comes close to my initial experience of the film, whenever it appears.

 

[RichMurphy]

A fascinating film, with great visual effects. Not sure which is more horrifying: the shrunken people, or Lionel Barrymore in drag.

 

[lark144]

A fascinating film, with great visual effects. Not sure which is more horrifying: the shrunken people, or Lionel Barrymore in drag.

It's not just Lionel Barrymore in drag that's frightening, but that it inspires him to new heights of scenery chewing, so that the oxygen is drained from the room, and you wonder how those shrunken people, though tiny, are able to breathe.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I can't believe you guys are accusing old Lionel of being a ham.

 

[B-ROLL]

...clearly a drunken moment ....

 

[bujaki]

I can't believe you guys are accusing old Lionel of being a ham.

Rank.

 

[Capt D McMars]

Rank.

 

[lark144]

I can't believe you guys are accusing old Lionel of being a ham.

I don't know if ham is the right word. It's too too much, more than is needed for that character. He should vanish into the woodwork in order to achieve his goals. Instead, he stands out. And that's scary. His performance punches a hole in our sense of the everyday. It agitates. It makes the skin crawl. It's similar to how Tod Browing directed Lon Chaney, larger than life, dominating the frame and our hidden fears. Except Chaney was in silents, which existed in a world of light and shadow, of dreams, whereas THE DEVIL DOLL is a sound film, and has this sense of realism, of everyday conventions, which Lionel Barrymore bursts every-time he opens his mouth. It's terrifying, that sense of obsession, the larger than lifeness which goes against the sound track with its natural sounds; footsteps, doors opening, bathtubs filling, and that "white telephone" slickness of the MGM style, that pale imitation of reality which is nonetheless comforting. Lionel Barrymore's performance obliterates that sense of comfort. It's purposeful, I think, on Browning's part.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I don't know if ham is the right word. It's too too much, more than is needed for that character. He should vanish into the woodwork in order to achieve his goals. Instead, he stands out. And that's scary. His performance punches a hole in our sense of the everyday. It agitates. It makes the skin crawl. It's similar to how Tod Browing directed Lon Chaney, larger than life, dominating the frame and our hidden fears. Except Chaney was in silents, which existed in a world of light and shadow, of dreams, whereas THE DEVIL DOLL is a sound film, and has this sense of realism, of everyday conventions, which Lionel Barrymore bursts every-time he opens his mouth. It's terrifying, that sense of obsession, the larger than lifeness which goes against the sound track with its natural sounds; footsteps, doors opening, bathtubs filling, and that "white telephone" slickness of the MGM style, that pale imitation of reality which is nonetheless comforting. Lionel Barrymore's performance obliterates that sense of comfort. It's purposeful, I think, on Browning's part.

I guess you haven't noticed that Lionel Barrymore has been heavily criticized by several people on this forum as a "ham" actor. With that said, it was an attempt at humor with my previous comment.

 

[lark144]

I guess you haven't noticed that Lionel Barrymore has been heavily criticized by several people on this forum as a "ham" actor. With that said, it was an attempt at humor with my previous comment.

He is a ham actor. His wheezing and operatic gestures are pretty over the top, and have been parodied in plenty of Warner Brothers cartoons. it's easy to make fun of him, and I have done it too. But I think that haminess is used well, and frighteningly so, by Browning here, and being in drag increases that sense of the uncanny.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I love Lionel Barrymore in just about every film role.

 

[Malcolm R]

As bad as this?

 

[bujaki]

Lionel Barrymore was better suited to the silent screen. So was Wallace Beery. Their voice mannerisms were so grating that they detracted from what might have been tolerable performances.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Lionel Barrymore was better suited to the silent screen. So was Wallace Beery. Their voice mannerisms were so grating that they detracted from what might have been tolerable performances.

In your opinion.

 

[lark144]

Lionel Barrymore was better suited to the silent screen. So was Wallace Beery. Their voice mannerisms were so grating that they detracted from what might have been tolerable performances.

I love him in Duel in the Sun. Barrymore's performance is the only one that matches the excess of the production. He revels in the overwhelming absurdity of it, and in this context, makes it believable. When he's on the screen, that insane bricolage comes together, and becomes absurdly moving because of his presence. Of course, Duel in the Sun is in many ways a silent film. The images have a logic the story and characters lack.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Warner Archive has changed the release date for The Devil Doll. It's now October 24th instead of October 31st.