Devil Doll (1936)

A supposedly unjustly incarcerated escapee (Lionel Barrymore) discovers his jail-break partner is a mad scientist.

He (Henry B. Walthall) and his crazy looking wife (Rafaela Ottiano) intend to solve world hunger by shrinking people.

Only problem with this is that by reducing mammals, their brains become no good for other than becoming telepathically controlled puppets.

Yes, this is really the basic plot, as nonsensical as it sounds.

The raison d'être, however, seems to be as a showcase for Barrymore’s acting chops in successfully impersonating someone of the opposite sex, (there are many common elements with The Unholy Three, including a Christmas setting.)

The premise could be as horrifying as all get out, but instead the character is played for audience sympathy (the man is innocent and simply looking for justice/revenge,) with the first victim being a mentally deficient woman we are supposed to simply disregard (and not one of his victims,) and the rest of them the evil team who put him in jail.

Weird, fetishistic (the miniatures and superimposed effects are a bit of a letdown; see for example how Attack of the Puppet People used simple cut out photographs in a mostly very successful way,) ultimately disappointing for someone looking for horrific content, but still entertaining in its weird, offbeat manner.

For something considered a Horror Classic it very carefully sidesteps the genre with its concluding, very emotional father-daughter conversation and goodbye.

With Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Lawton; directed by Tod Browning.