House of Wax 1953, and Mystery of the Wax Museum 1933 (DVD)
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While most movie fans think of Vincent Price as a master of the macabre, prior to House of Wax he was known mainly as a straight dramatic actor who starred in several mainstream films. He cemented his place in the hallowed halls of genre legend with The Fly, a few years after House of Wax was released and it was pits, pendulums and scissorhands from there on out.
Here, Price plays Professor Henry Jarrod, a nineteenth century whiz with wax who is driven insane when his partner burns down their gallery of creepy creations for the insurance money. Disfigured in the blaze and out for revenge on the world, Jarrod sets up a new wax museum — this one peopled with his victims and made to pose as notorious figures from infamous history (Marie Antoinette, Jack the Ripper, Joan of Arc, et al). At his side is his deaf mute assistant, Igor, played by a young Charles Bronson (listed in the credits as Charles Buchinsky).
The best thing about House of Wax is, of course, the casting — there’s a wonderful palette of characters played by actors who are just right, including a beauty played by Carolyn “The Addams Family” Jones — but it’s also a wonderfully creepy, shadowy, dark and atmospheric film with a wonderfully inventive, demented plot.
At the time, the most amazing thing about House of Wax was its amazing 3-D format — a lot of the shots were specifically designed to pop out at moviegoers, from busty babes in push-up corsets to dead bodies falling from great heights. The DVD does not come with 3-D glasses, so some of the more obvious setups aren’t very effective, but it’s still fun to watch.
Mystery of the Wax Museum, made in 1933 is set at the time of its making rather than at the turn-of-the-century but it has more striking set design, with distinct elements of dark and spooky German Expressionism. The movie is also a bit sexier and saucier than its remake; as the tagline says, “Images of wax that throbbed with human passion! Almost woman....what did they lack?”
The plot is basically the same as described above — the professor/wax sculptor is named Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwell), and he runs afoul of a hardheaded, hard-drinking newspaperwoman named Flo Dempsey (Glenda Farrell) who becomes suspicious of the prof’s dastardly doings. Supporting cast includes Fay “King Kong” Wray and Frank McHugh. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, who would later go on to helm such classics as
The House of Wax double-bill disc comes with just a few extras — a two-minute newsreel, Round the Clock Premiere: Coast Hails House of Wax, featuring a fascinating look at Hollywood’s best and brightest on the red carpet for the 1953 opening, plus the theatrical trailer.
Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson