- A classic example of a documentary whose subject merits a much better film, Susan Marks' Of Dolls and Murder tells the story of Frances Glessner Lee, a groundbreaking pioneer of forensic science. Born to a wealthy family that intentionally restricted her education, Lee devoted her life to constructing a set of realistic crime scene dioramas that would become the gold standard for training detectives in the burgeoning field of crime scene forensics. And let me just tell you -- these dioramas are absolutely amazing. The film appropriately spends a lot of time poring over their minute details, which the audience gradually realizes include hand-knit clothing, working doorknobs, and convincing artwork mounted on tiny walls. These are the best dollhouses you're likely to ever see, and it just so happens that they each contain a corpse or two.
- Speaking of corpses, the second half of the film finds its attention momentarily diverted by a facility called "The Body Farm" (which, in the film's only funny moment, a researcher explains almost went by the acronyms B.A.R.F. and A.R.F.). In short, The Body Farm is a place where scientists allow donated corpses to decay in order to better understand crime scenes in which decomposition plays an important role. Honestly, that entire situation, including the associated protests from people opposed to dead human bodies (I guess?), is interesting enough to deserve its own documentary, so it's a shame that it mostly gets relegated to the margins of this one.
- Of Dolls and Murder works best when it just aims its camera at various interesting talking heads, which include both a producer of C.S.I. and the author of the book "The C.S.I. Effect", in addition to a diverse collection of law enforcement and forensics experts. Less effective are the attempts by the filmmakers to amplify the film's weirdness with a cheap Angelo Badalamenti imitation soundtrack, and...John Waters as narrator? The film's missteps aren't a complete dealbreaker, but they are annoying enough to make me regret having to wait decades until somebody rediscovers Lee's great story and decides to do a better job.
