The Doll

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). Lubitsch considered The Doll possibly his favorite film and one of his three best German comedy films, along with The Oyster Princess (1919) and Kohlhiesel's Daughters (1920). However, it was shown in America only in a few places and in 1928. Director Peter Bogdanovich saw the film in 1977; he wrote that it was "one of the five funniest pictures I've ever seen".