Devil Doll

Unrated

9/1/19641h 21m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ Is it flesh or wood? Man or monster? Alive or dead? ~

Overview:

An evil hyponotist/ventriloquist plots to gain an heiress' millions.

Director:

Lindsay Shonteff

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

mind control
hypnosis
shrinking
ventriloquist

Cast

Bryant Haliday

~ as ~

The Great Vorelli

William Sylvester

~ as ~

Mark English

Yvonne Romain

~ as ~

Marianne Horn

Sandra Dorne

~ as ~

Magda Gardinas

Karl Stepanek

~ as ~

Dr. Heller

Francis de Wolff

~ as ~

Dr. Keisling

Nora Nicholson

~ as ~

Aunt Eva

Alan Gifford

~ as ~

Bob Garrett

David Charlesworth

~ as ~

Hugo Novik

Sadie Corre

~ as ~

Hugo the Dummy

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 3 year(s) ago
5
I remember being terrified of this when I saw it as child. "The Great Vorelli" (Bryant Haliday) is a successful, but distinctly dodgy looking, ventriloquist with his puppet "Hugo". When he meets the wealthy "Marianne" (Yvonne Romain) he sets his heart on her fortune, and to that end manages to render her comatose. Her journalist boyfriend "Mark" (William Sylvester) is suspicious and begins to investigate. These enquiries soon reveal that the entertainer's past is somewhat murky - made more so when his girlfriend "Magda" is found dead, and that's not the first corpse associated with the man. Thus far, the film is actually quite menacingly entertaining. The girl awakes from her coma, decides to marry "Vorelli" and it is soon clear that "Hugo" might not be quite as much of a dummy as his plastic exterior suggests, This is when the suspense drains away; the story loses it's way, becomes way too dialogue heavy and the ending is really weak and inconclusive. Haliday is quite effective, but the rest of the cast really don't deliver - lots of hysterics from them and the violins in the orchestra just don't cut it. The years haven't been kind to the sense of jeopardy here - pity.