| Bert I. Gordon, the producer known for alternately making people and animals really big or small, was the brains behind this film, which is one of the best of the genre. It is a Black and White production from 1958 featuring John Hoyt as the mad doll maker, John Agar in his typical hero role, and a fairly bland performance by June Kenney as the love interest. The plot is fairly typical, Hoyt kidnaps people and shrinks them to doll size so he will never be lonely; after authorities get onto his trail he loses control of his life and the dolls. The movie is actually very well done, and the split screen shots are pretty decent, particularly of the cats and dogs. I was initially leaning toward a five star appraisal of the film, but the ending is somewhat abrupt and anticlimactic, so I give the film four stars for being an entertaining B-Movie genre period piece, and also for the performances of the two male leads. John Hoyt is genuinely creepy in his role of Mr. Franz the doll maker, and John Agar was born to play the hero in period pieces like this and the later "Zontar, The Thing From Venus", a film that definitely needs to be released on DVD soon. My favorite scene in the film is when Agar and Kenney go to the drive in to see "War of the Colossal Beast", another Bert I. Gordon 'human of improbable size' film with an astronaut who grows to enormous proportions. Don't miss it; it's a B-Movie classic! |