(no subject)
Last night we watched Devil Doll (1936), starring Lionel Barrymore. A bank executive framed for robbery and manslaughter escapes years later in the company of a mad scientist, who wants to solve overpopulation and world hunger by shrinking everybody to doll size. They join his wife and fellow mad scientist, who's been carrying on their work, but her research ethics are pretty dodgy, and she still hasn't overcome the problem that miniaturization leaves the subject's mind a blank slate, effectively turning them into a doll-size controllable zombie. Dr. Mr. Mad-Scientist keels over mid-experiment, and Barrymore persuades Dr. Mrs. Mad-Scientist to help him with his revenge plot, which involves Barrymore disguising himself as an old lady who runs a toy shop and selling killer "dolls" to the families of the men who framed him....
Where to start? There's no real reason for Barrymore to don drag, since the police don't actually have any recent pictures of him, but I guess he's worried his daughter might recognize him otherwise. The "doll" is marketed as coming with accessories that include beautiful little jewels stiletto" -- handy for stabbing people, but you'd think it might arouse suspicion in a children's toy: "introducing Stabarbie, with eye-gouging action!" I thought for sure it had to be a pre-Code picture, given the weirdness and the ending in which Barrymore pretty much gets away with everything, but Wikipedia says it was made in 1936.
Where to start? There's no real reason for Barrymore to don drag, since the police don't actually have any recent pictures of him, but I guess he's worried his daughter might recognize him otherwise. The "doll" is marketed as coming with accessories that include beautiful little jewels stiletto" -- handy for stabbing people, but you'd think it might arouse suspicion in a children's toy: "introducing Stabarbie, with eye-gouging action!" I thought for sure it had to be a pre-Code picture, given the weirdness and the ending in which Barrymore pretty much gets away with everything, but Wikipedia says it was made in 1936.