This a fine little British horror film, with an engaging story, good to great acting, suspenseful music and wonderfully composed photography; it is only slowed down by a few too long sequences (Marianne on stage doing the Twist; English's frequent repetitive conversations with Doctors Keisling and Heller).At first you think, "Oh no, not another ventriloquist and his dummy story!" Even if living doll films haven't been ruined for you by 'Chuckie' movies, this one has a unique spin, though the main theme is really how the ventriloquist, the Great Vorelli (played with great sinister tones by Bryant Halliday), uses hypnotism to try to control (and marry) the rich and beautiful Marianne Horn (played by Yvonne Romain), originally in love with American newspaperman Mark English (well played by Dr. Heywood Floyd of '2001' (1968) himself, William Sylvester).Unlike the classic dummy story in 'Dead of Night' (1945), here Vorelli, after years of study of the arcane in Tibet and the Orient, has succeeded in transferring the soul of one of his stage assistants into the wooden frame of his dummy Hugo. English finally uncovers Vorelli's past in Germany where he had effected the transfer. After Vorellli puts Marianne into a hypnotic coma prior to transferring her to a new female dummy, Hugo leaps into the act when English suddenly bursts in upon Vorelli.The film is notable more for its well composed close up photography, suspenseful tympani playing that heightens the tension, and great acting by Halliday, who barely did any acting after this; he was one of the founders of Janus films, and then moved to France. Yvonne Romain can be seen in 'Circus of Horrors' (1960) and as the jailer's daughter in 'Curse of the Werewolf' (1961). And then there's William Sylvester, also in 'Gorgo' (1961) who does a fine job.Go with the film despite the cheap looking opening titles. I'll give it a 5.

Unlike most failed attempts at horror this film actually does succeed in being creepy (if you're as creeped out as I am at a living ventriloquist dummy)... Its not nearly as terrible as most of the films done on the hilarious show Mystery Science Theater 3000 in that it's actually 'scary' and is one of the earliest examples of the animate doll/dummy/toy concept in film. It has an eeriness about it that can get to you a little. The acting isn't awful, the dialog isn't always awful, and the film is creepy thus my giving it an almost passing grade of 5 out of 10...The movie may not be completely terrible, but its not good either as the MST3K version points out... And what's with his assistant's constant lack of pants, it might make sense if she were a stereotypically attractive magicians assistant but they apparently couldn't afford on of those...If you get really bored, watch it, if you can't find a copy there's always the MST3K version...

Movie is an Associated Film Dist. Corp. release of a Galaworld Ldfilm-Gordon Films production, directed by Lindsey Shonteff, and tells the story of a ventriloquist who is outwitted by his dummy. This plot has been done better many times before including the "Twilight Zone's" version, "The Dummy," The Great Gabbo (1929)," and "Michael Redgrave's segment in the chilling, "Dead Of Night" from 1949. You know it's going to be bad, though, because picture takes place in England, and the headliner is the pale, gaunt, pock-mocked loser from "The Projected Man," Bryant Haliday, the poor man's Anthony Cardoza. Also on the menu is the pudgy, laconic William Sylvester, who has appeared "Riding With Death" and "Gorgo," as well as "2001: A Space Odyssey." Haliday plays "The Great Vorelli," a ventriloquist with a tacky beard and a dummy named Hugo that can perform amazing routines, such as walk towards the audience and eat ham. The act basically consists of Vorelli berating the dummy and arguing with it like a second-grader (saying things like "The sawdust in your stomach will explode," and "You're ugly."). Vorelli then ingratiates himself into a rich family with an above-average-looking daughter (for Britain), Marianne (Yvonne Romain). He hypnotizes her to fall in love with him, which makes her "boyfriend," reporter Sylvester, pout like a little baby. Here's my gripe with that. It seems in a lot of these films, the hero is someone who doesn't deserve it. Like the reporter is "Teenagers From Outer Space," among others. They get the girl with no effort, while the villain, or alien, in some cases, in much more interesting. Here, Vorelli is homely, deeply disturbed and psychotic, but he's light years more intriguing than the dullard Sylvester - which makes me wonder what a normal-looking woman would see in him in the first place. And as much pawing and groping as Vorelli does to his assistant, the brief make out scene between Sylvester and Romain is nauseating beyond description. Anyway, Sylvester, with the help of several pug-ugly Brits, discovers that Hugo is embodied with the spirit of a murder victim from Berlin. However, Sylvester's obsession with Hugo borders on the perverted and makes you want to slap him around, especially during the scene where he sneaks in a room to fondle it. A lame fight at the end (not unlike the one that concludes "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians"), however, causes Hugo to become "alive" and take Vorelli's place, while the audience is left feeling sad and empty, not unlike Vorelli's sex life or Hugo's cranium.

I don't think I will ever regard "Devil Doll" as a classic or even a "good" film, but I have to admit that there is, in spots, some decent film making going on here. The obvious comparisons for this movie would be to "Magic", "Child's Play" or even (for the real film buffs among us) "Dead of Night". Indeed this movie works many of those same visual aspects and themes. "Devil Doll" does have a good twist, though in that the dummy, who initially seems to be a sinister, evil figure, turns out instead to be a victim of the the ventriloquist (the "Great Vorelli"), rather than the usual way around. And Hugo (the dummy) manages to turn the tables on Vorelli at the very last moment (in an unintentionally hilarious fight scene that will make you snort milk out your nose). "Devil Doll" also reminds me of "She Creature", another black and white horror manqué about a hypnotist/magician using his Svengali like powers to make a beautiful woman his slave. Same grainy black and white noir photography, same dreary staging and pacing, and the same morally repulsive villain locked in a struggle with a rather bland 'hero' for the soul of a beautiful woman.I know all this sounds good, but alas, the execution is somewhat lacking. In spite of a very energetic opening orchestral introduction and enigmatic credit sequence, and some interesting acting choices and creepy individual scenes and close-ups, "Devil Doll" soon bogs down into an endless succession of scenes of people talking, smoking, talking, smoking some more, talking some more, mixed in with disturbing moments of Vorelli taunting the dummy, both on-stage and off. Bryant Haliday and William Sylvester (as Vorelli and the chain smoking reporter hero "English", respectively) give this material their best shots. Unfortunately, Vorelli is an amoral creep, and English is bland and uninteresting. Every other character in the story is either a victim (the man whose spirit is stuffed into "Hugo" and his family, the girlfriend) or a dupe (all the audience members, Vorelli's stage assistant). So there isn't a whole lot here to root for. If Sylvester's character had been written to be more effective and interesting, maybe the movie might have had more energy to it. Or maybe not. While some of the individual shots and closeups of Hugo, VOrelli, and English are quite effective, and while Haliday does a great magician/slime-ball, there is an aura of seediness and dreariness over all the proceedings that is compounded by smeared lighting and photography , and muffled, garbled sound design.(This might have been the fault of a bad print, I can't tell.) Seediness and dreariness might have been the feelings the filmmakers were trying to create - as I said, Vorelli is a human hairball, and the movie is essentially about him and his attempts to enslave a woman via hypnosis - but 90+ minutes of this atmosphere and pacing doesn't go down well to my modern American palette. Still, if you keep your eyes open and your attention tuned, you will find some nice acting and some moody moments buried among the smothering farina of the screenplay. I wouldn't spend any money to buy this, but I would watch it on late night cable if nothing more interesting was on.