Tonight's Movies: The Doll (1919) and I Don't Want to Be a Man (1918) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

This has been a great year for admirers of director Ernst Lubitsch -- and who isn't? -- with Kino Lorber's releases of four of his silent comedies on Blu-ray.

I previously reviewed the set with THE OYSTER PRINCESS (1919) and MEYER FROM BERLIN (1919).

This second Kino Lorber "double feature" set contains THE DOLL (1919) and I DON'T WANT TO BE A MAN (1918). Like the previously reviewed set, the films are quite short and thus are paired on a single Blu-ray disc. (I'll add I liked that the disc is a pretty pink, a nice touch to go with THE DOLL.)

I saw the short 45-minute I DON'T WANT TO BE A MAN at UCLA in 2018, while THE DOLL, which runs 66 minutes, was new to me.

The surviving prints of both films only have German intertitles, although the Blu-ray's English subtitles can be turned on. Revisiting I DON'T WANT TO BE A MAN brought back a fun memory of the UCLA screening where the former head of the UCLA Archive, Jan-Christopher Horak, translated the narrative cards for the audience as we watched.

THE DOLL is a fanciful tale ("Four Amusing Acts From a Toy Chest") which opens with director Lubitsch setting up toy-sized backgrounds.

The film stars Ossi Oswalda of THE OYSTER PRINCESS in the title role. Her father (Victor Janson) has created a lifelike doll in her image which young Lancelot (Hermann Thimig) decides to pretend to marry.

Lancelot must marry in order to inherit his uncle's fortune, but he's dismayed to be chased by 40 maidens all anxious to marry him.

Unknown to Lancelot, Ossi takes the doll's place...which leads to some amusing situations and the expected conclusion.

THE DOLL is what might be termed a comedic fairy tale, a feeling which is enhanced not only by the opening with Lubitsch putting together sets but with art used in certain situations, such as a cardboard sun.

Like Lubitsch's other films of the era, it's tonally an odd mixture of ribald and sometimes distasteful scenes along with some truly funny moments. The latter are thanks chiefly to the amusing Oswalda as the stiffly moving "doll."

Oswalda returns as the lead in I DON'T WANT TO BE A MAN which is, if possible, an even stranger film. Ossi yearns to have the freedom enjoyed by men so when her uncle leaves the country, Ossi dresses as a man and goes to a party.

At the party, she runs into her temporary guardian Dr. Kersten (Kurt Gotz), who is quite taken with the young "man," not realizing it's his ward.

Ossi ultimately decides she's happy not to be a man after all, and Dr. Kersten is also quite happy to learn the truth!

Both movies were filmed by Theodor Sparkuhl, with Kurt Washneck also credited on THE DOLL. The prints are in very good shape considering their age, with some nice tints in THE DOLL.

THE DOLL has a new score composed by Meg Morley, while I DON"T WANT TO BE A MAN includes a 2005 score composed by Neil Brand.

Both films have an audio commentary by Lubitsch biographer Joseph McBride. The commentaries are the only extras, but they're more than enough considering McBride's expertise.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray collection.

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