The Devil-Doll

The Devil-Doll (1936) is a horror-fantasy from Tod Browning that you can watch online on iFILM. Parisian banker Paul Lavond is framed for robbery and murder and locked away for a crime he never committed.

Years later he breaks out alongside a dying scientist who has cracked a way to shrink people down to a few inches tall — and bend them to his will. Lavond carries the formula back to Paris and opens a quiet doll shop, disguised as a sweet old woman. One by one, he hunts the partners who betrayed him. Lionel Barrymore spends most of the film in a wig and skirts; Maureen O'Sullivan plays the daughter who believes her father is dead.

Browning made this right after Dracula and the notorious Freaks, and his odd mix of pity and dread runs all through it. The shrunken "dolls" creep across floors and freeze on shelves until a stray thought sets them moving — effects that felt like magic in 1936, built with oversized sets and forced perspective. At 78 lean minutes it's a smart way into pre-war horror. Stream The Devil-Doll (1936) online on iFILM.