Respected Parisian banker Paul Lavond is framed for robbery and murder by crooked associates and sent to prison. Years later, he escapes with a friend, a scientist who was working on a method to reduce humans to a height of mere inches (all for the good of humanity, of course). Lavond, however, is consumed with hatred for those who betrayed him, and takes the scientist's methods back to Paris to exact painful revenge.
Direction
Browning's final horror film returns to his 'Freaks' obsession with bodily difference.
Practical Effects
Ingenious miniature effects that still outshine some modern CGI.
Acting
Barrymore commits fully to elderly drag while voice-crackling with rage.
Director
Tod Browning
Lionel Barrymore
Paul Lavond
Maureen O'Sullivan
Lorraine Lavond
Frank Lawton
Toto
Rafaela Ottiano
Malita
Robert Greig
Émile Coulvet
Lucy Beaumont
Madame Lavond
Henry B. Walthall
Marcel
Grace Ford
Lachna
Pedro de Cordoba
Charles Martin
Arthur Hohl
Victor Radin
Juanita Quigley
Marguerite Coulvet
Claire Du Brey
Mathilde Coulvet
Rollo Lloyd
Inspector Maurice
E. Alyn Warren
Préfect of Police
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Lionel Barrymore performed most scenes in a wheelchair due to severe arthritis, making his physical transformation into 'Madame Mandelip' even more impressive.
This was Tod Browning's last horror film and his attempted comeback after the commercial disaster of 'Freaks' (1932)—note the shared themes of miniaturization as spectacle and exploitation.
US
