Taking a look at the Masters of Cinema Ernst Lubitsch box set,I discovered that a new score had been done for Die Puppe which was exclusively done for the collection,which led to me taking the doll out of the box.The plot:Fearing that his nephew Lancelot will be the last person to keep the family name alive, Baron Von Chanterelle tells Lancelot that he must get married to one of the villagers .Announcing to villagers that he wants his nephew to get married,Lancelot runs away from the village & Chanterelle to a monastery.After staying at the monastery for a few days with the monks,Lancelot spots a notice in the paper from Chanterelle,which says that if Lancelot gets married,he will receive a large sum of cash.Stuck between wanting to get his hands on the cash,but not wanting to get married,the monks decide to solve Lancelot's troubles,by suggesting that he gets married to a mechanical doll.View on the film:Before I get to the movie,I have to mention the excellent transfer that Masters of Cinema have done for the title,with the new score by Bernard Wrigley really capturing the warped fairy tale atmosphere of the flick.Crossing the sex Comedy & Fantasy genres over in their loose adaptation of A.E. Willner's operetta,the screenplay by co- writer/(along with E.T.A. Hoffmann & Hanns Kräly) cameoing actor/ director Ernst Lubitsch strikes a superb balance between surprisingly kinky shades with charming flights of Fantasy,as Lancelot's attempts to pass the "doll" off as his wife,leads to Lancelot finding out that a woman can't be treated like a wind-up toy,whilst the title dips into the off- beat,as Lancelot tries to find the right button combo to make the doll do his bidding.Setting the mood with the opening of a pop-up picture book, Ernst Lubitsch and cinematographers Theodor Sparkuhl & Kurt Waschneck give the movie a delightful warped children's fairy tale book appearance,with monks,dance moves and growing/receding hair popping out of the screen.Along with the surreal splashes,Lubitsch also displays an expert eye in using different tints,with the rusty tint used for scenes with Lancelot and the "doll" giving the flick a metallic shine,whilst the monastery is covered in a worn-out green.Searching desperately for a solution to getting hold of Chanterelle's cash, Hermann Thimig gives a wonderful performance as Lancelot,with Thimig keeping Lancelot away from being a slime-ball,by showing a real sense of innocent surprise at Chanterelle's sudden demands.Given the challenge of impersonating a doll, Ossi Oswalda gives an extraordinary performance as Ossi,thanks to Oswalda revealing expert comic timing in Ossi's sudden "robotic" movements,whilst making sure that the eyes of Ossi remain lit up & soulful,as Lancelot soon discovers that this "doll" is a women not to be put back in the play box.

This comedy from the hands of Ernst Lubitsch in 1919 is a joyride through a number of imaginative sets and situations. Even though its artificiality if ever apparent, the movie makes it work by playing with the costumes and sets, to create a whimsical world where everything can happen.Like other Lubitsch films the plot of this is build upon similar themes such as facade and identity. Although not my favourite of Lubitsch's films it hold a place in the top five. This movie is assured to put a smile on your face the whole way through, driven by Lubitsch's at times expressive directing.

All cinema is artificial, and there is no getting away from this no matter how much of a realist you try to be. And while authenticity and naturalistic performances are a necessity for drama, there are some types of picture in which a deliberate flaunting of artificiality is not only acceptable, it is a positive benefit.By this point in his career, German comedy director Ernst Lubitsch had developed a unique brand of slapstick, the hallmark of which was absurdity and exaggeration. In Lubitsch's world, almost anything can happen, and often does. The stories he dreamed up with his regular collaborator Hanns Kraly were always whimsical and fairy tale-ish, but the Doll is perhaps their most fantastical of all. In it we have a lifelike mechanical doll, and a flesh-and-blood woman pretending to be the doll. Rather than go overboard trying to make this look as convincing as possible, Lubitsch takes things the other way, and stages the whole thing in a phoney and theatrical land, complete with wooden sets, painted backdrops and pantomime horses. In such a setting, the premise of the picture becomes workable.Aside from this, the comic stylings of the early Lubitsch farces were becoming increasingly refined. As usual there are lots of jokes based around ridiculous numbers of people doing the same thing in unison, or the expressions of characters in reaction. Here Lubitsch shows the confidence to have many of these gags play out in long, unbroken takes, with hilarious results, such as the long shot of Lancelot being chased round the town by a huge gang of women, followed by his elderly uncle, followed by a servant with the uncle's medication. Often the careful placement of actors means our attention is drawn to the right spot at the right time, as oppose to overdoing a gag with a jolting cut. An example of this is the uncle's servant's very funny reaction to Lancelot's suggestion that the uncle get married. Lubitsch has the servant to one side of the screen, where it seems natural for him to be, but closest to the camera so his face is clear and we instantly notice when his expression begins to change.As the eponymous doll, we have here another triumphant performance from Ossi Oswalda. While individual actors were used almost like cogs in Lubitsch's machine, there is no denying that Oswalda was surely a great comedienne in her own right. Here she shows impeccable control and timing, as she is forced to instantaneously snap in and out of being herself and acting as the doll. She also has a lot of fun pulling faces in this one. Honourable mentions go to Hermann Thimig, who is clownish enough to make a lead man in this silly setting, and Gerhard Ritterband, who despite being a youngster manages to steal every scene he is in. It's a shame these two did not have more distinguished screen careers, but of course it's worth bearing in mind that many of these players were more successful on the stage.Speaking of which, it's possible that some viewers might be put off by the theatrical artifice of this picture. There is a rather depressingly naïve school of thought among some cineastes that film is film and theatre is theatre, and for film to make itself like theatre is to somehow straitjacket itself. But as we have seen, Lubitsch's creation of a self-confessed unreal world has given him greater freedom in staging his bizarre humour. Another German director, Fritz Lang, used a similar approach in his films of the 20s and early 30s albeit for a very different effect, whereby he created macabre and stylised art deco cities in which all kinds of comic-book adventures could take place. And in the Doll, when we see characters sleepwalking over rooftops or being carried away by a bunch of helium balloons, it is reminds me more than anything of the world of cartoons, in which the only limitation is the skills and imagination of the animators. With pictures like this, Lubitsch was really setting his genius free.

People speak of the Lubitsch Touch first showing up in THE OYSTER PRINCESS, but that movie always struck me me as a a good romantic comedy, dimmed by changes in fashion, creaking a bit in age.But this movie is the real thing: a silly story told with much flair and constant surprises. It begins with Lubitsch showing you a model of the set, like Penn and Teller showing you how they do the cup-and-ball trick, followed by a show that dazzles you: pantomime horses, venal monks and a little bit of E.T.A. Hoffman all fall under the thrall of Lubitsch and all of them, and the audience too, end up with smiles on their faces.This movie is too good to more than hint at its wonders. If you have never seen a silent feature, see this one.