UNUSUAL DRAMA

Evening Star, Issue 22578, 20 February 1937, Page 21

UNUSUAL DRAMA

‘DEVIL DOLL' AT ST. JA&IES For those who like the unusual in screen entertainment, ‘ The Devil Doll,’ which opened a season at the St. James Theatre yesterday, should be a thoroughly satisfying film. So unusual is it, indeed, that it departs entirely, at times, from the reality _of everyday life into the realms of fantasy. An atmosphere charged now with wonder, now with a touch of horror, combines with many tense situations to produce a film which grips the attention from first to last. The leading roles _ are taken by three popular stars, Lionel Barrymore. Maureen O’Sullivan, and Frank Lawton. The story concerns a scientist and his wife, obsessed with an amazing discovery which enables them to reduce living things to one-sixth their normal size, when they can be motivated on.y by the will of some other person. A banker, escaping from Devil’s Island, uses the discovery to carry out his one wish, to revenge himself on his partners, who had him unjustly imprisoned. The weird scenes in the amazing laboratory, where human beings are reduced to Lilliputian size are relieved by the quaint and amusing antics of the tiny creatures, in incidents that call for some brilliant trick photography. In the guise of an old woman, Lavond, the escaped convict, opens a doll shop in Paris and waits his time. A mroal twist is given to the eerie story by the emphasis placed on Lavond’s motive for revenge. He wants to clear the family name for his daughter, Lorraine, so that she may marry her taxi-driver sweetheart, To to. Lionel Barrymore, in whom the acting tradition of the theatre is more deeply imbued than in any other screen actor, brings consummate artistry to his task, both as the banker and in his disguise as an old doll seller. Maureen O’Sullivan and Frank Lawton are well cast in the chief romantic roles, while Henry B. Walthall and Rafaela Ottiano give compelling performances as the crazed scientist and his wife. Grace Ford and Arthur Hold are two of those who appear first as normal human beings, and then as the “ devil dolls.’’ and others in a strong cast include Robert Greig, Pedro de Cordoba, and Claire du Brcy. In essentials, however, the spectator’s interest is centred on the “ old lady ” of Montmartre and her “ dolls.” Few more original ideas have ever been exploited for a film. The story first appeared as a novel which A. Merritt titled ‘Burn. Witch, Burn,’ while the picture was directed by Tod Browning, sometimes called “ the Edgar Allen Poo of the screen.” Browning’s direction is said to have been performed with a precise knowledge of the necessary atmosphere. The spectacular scenes in the scientist’s weird laboratory are claimed to comprise one of the outstanding feats of studio photography. A strong supporting programme contains scones of topical interest, including Joey, the sea linn at St. Clair, and demonstration of the transmission of photographs by wireless and an impression of Los Angeles.