The Devil Doll (1936)

 The Devil Doll (1936) 

Paul Lavond was a respected banker in Paris when he was framed for robbery and murder by crooked associates and sent to Devil's Island. Years later, he escapes with a friend, a scientist who was working on a method to reduce humans to a height of mere inches (all for the good of humanity, of course). Lavond however is consumed with hatred for the men who betrayed him, and takes the scientist's methods back to Paris to exact painful revenge. (IMDB Ken Yousten)

Director:

Tod Browning (uncredited) 

Writers

Garrett Fort ... (screen play) &

Guy Endore ... (screen play) and

Erich von Stroheim ... (screen play) (as Eric Von Stroheim)

Tod Browning ... (story)

Abraham Merritt ... (novel "Burn Witch Burn")

Richard Schayer ... (contributor to dialogue) (uncredited) 

Madame Mandilip's special dolls are costumed as members of vicious street gangs known as the Apache (pronounced ah-PAHSH), who were involved in theft, prostitution, and the occasional murder in pre-World War I Paris. The dolls even perform the Apache dance popularized by the gangs, in which extremely close steps alternate with seemingly brutal punches, kicks, hair-pulling, spins, and throws.