The Doll

Before he moved to Hollywood and became famous for applying the legendary "Lubitsch touch" to sophisticated comedies, German-born filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch had already made his name as both a popular actor and a silent film director in Berlin. This excellent DVD combines Lubitsch's delightful 1919 comedy The Doll with the superb new German documentary Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin, likely to remain the definitive documentary survey of Lubitsch's life from his birth in 1892 to his departure for Hollywood in 1923. Demonstrating Lubitsch's early knack for comedy, The Doll is a whimsical tale of a young man who must marry to inherit a fortune. Wishing to avoid the burdens of matrimony, he buys and weds a lifelike, full-sized doll instead, unaware that the doll is actually the doll-maker's daughter in disguise. Featuring German silent star Ossi Oswalda in a delightfully mischievous performance in the title role, this hour-long comedy offers ample proof that Berlin, and not Hollywood, was where the famed Lubitsch touch began to develop. The richly informative companion piece Ernst Lubitsch in Berlin provides a detailed account of Lubitsch's early career, and features a wealth of film clips, as well as interviews with Lubitsch's daughter, Nicola; prominent German film historian; and German director Tom Tykwer, whose thriller Run Lola Run won the Lubitsch Award for excellence in German cinema. Highly recommended. [Note: this DVD is also included in Kino's Lubitsch in Berlin, a five-disc boxed set of seven films from Lubitsch's pre-Hollywood career, priced at $79.95]. (J. Shannon)