Synopsis
The Doll (Die Puppe, 1919) is a silent fantasy comedy from Ernst Lubitsch, and you can watch online on iFILM. It's an early gem from the director long before Hollywood claimed him: hand-painted sets, cardboard horses and a deliberately toy-like world that Lubitsch literally assembles for the camera in the prologue.
Timid Lancelot must marry to claim his uncle the baron's fortune, but a mob of pushy brides terrifies him into hiding at a monastery. Once the monks catch wind of the dowry, they cook up a scheme: have him buy a lifelike mechanical doll from the craftsman Hilarius and wed that instead — the bachelor stays single, the money lands with the order. The catch is that the dollmaker's own daughter, Ossi, has stepped in for the doll she accidentally broke.
Ossi Oswalda is the whole show, playing both the mannequin and the girl pretending to be one. The result is featherlight, gleefully absurd and oddly modern in its wit — a delight from the very dawn of screen comedy. Stream The Doll (1919) online on iFILM.
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