Ernst Lubitsch, The Doll (Germany, 1919)

Bizarre, surreal comedy by Ernst Lubitsch. I don't think I've watched any of his movies before and this sort of thing doesn't really interest me, but I was surprised at how much I liked it.

A Baron wants his nephew to marry so the family won't die out. The nephew takes refuge in a monastery. The monks are going broke and suggest that he marry a life-like mechanical doll so they can collect the 300,000 franc dowery the Baron is offering.

The doll is modeled on the inventor's daughter. The apprentice damages the doll. While he repairs it, the inventor's actual daughter takes its place and marries the Baron's nephew.

It's a little like the episode of South Park where Cartman disguises himself as Butters' robot friend. Because dolls don't eat. he doesn't feed her and she wolfs down food when she can. When the nephew returns to the monastery with his bride, they decide to store her in the junk room. He uses her as a clothes rack at one point.

15-year-old Gerhard Ritterband as the apprentice was the best one in it.