The Doll (1919 film)

Die Puppe
Theatrical poster to The Doll (1919)
Directed by	Ernst Lubitsch
Written by	Hanns Kräly Ernst Lubitsch
Based on	La poupée (operetta) by Edmond Audran Maurice Ordonneau Alfred Maria Willner "Der Sandmann" (short story) by E. T. A. Hoffmann
Produced by	Paul Davidson
Starring	Ossi Oswalda Hermann Thimig Victor Janson
Cinematography	Theodor Sparkuhl Kurt Waschneck
Production company	PAGU
Distributed by	UFA
Release date	5 December 1919 (1919-12-05)
Running time	70 minutes
Country	Weimar Republic
Language	Silent film

The Doll (German: Die Puppe) is a 1919 German romantic fantasy comedy film directed by Ernst Lubitsch. The film is based on the operetta La poupée by Edmond Audran (1896) and a line of influence back through the Léo Delibes ballet Coppélia (1870) and ultimately to E. T. A. Hoffmann's short story "Der Sandmann" (1816).

Plot summary

Lancelot is the nephew of the Baron, his uncle. The Baron is pressuring him to get married but Lancelot is afraid of women. He decides to fool his uncle by marrying a life-like mechanical doll instead.

Cast

• Ossi Oswalda as Ossi / The Doll
• Victor Janson as Hilarius
• Hermann Thimig as Lancelot
• Max Kronert as Baron of Chanterelle
• Marga Kohler as Wife of Hilarius
• Gerhard Ritterband as The Apprentice
• Jakob Tiedtke as The Abbot

DVD releases

The film was released in the US by Kino Lorber as part of the box set Lubitsch in Berlin (2007) with English intertitles. It was also released in the UK by Eureka's Masters of Cinema series as part of the box set Lubitsch in Berlin: Fairy-Tales, Melodramas, and Sex Comedies (2010) with German intertitles and English subtitles.

Bibliography

• Wosk, Julie (2015). My Fair Ladies: Female Robots, Androids, and Other Artificial Eves. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-6339-8.

External links

• The Doll at IMDb
• The Doll at the TCM Movie Database
• The Doll - with intertitles in English.