Mystery of the Wax Museum

Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)

Runtime: 78 minutes

Directed by: Michael Curtiz

Starring: Lionel Atwill, Glenda Farrell, Fay Wray, Frank McHugh, Allen Vincent

From: Warner Bros.

If you hear this described as “a Christmas movie”… that is in error. Unless you consider a brief scene on New Year’s Day in a police station where there’s a small fake tree still up to count, then the film should still be best known as the original for House of Wax’s remake. The film’s leaving the Criterion Channel at the end of the year plus my having seen the similar Doctor X from the same director-Michael Curtiz-meant that it was about time I discussed the film.

Those familiar with the Vincent Price House of Wax, not too much is different. Sure, there is a plucky newspaper reporter played by Glenda Farrell and there is more humor (not all of it successful) but otherwise expect the same: a talented sculptor is horrifically burned in a fire started by his partner as an attempt at an insurance scam, he returns in a wheelchair, has proteges, and corpses are used to create new wax statues.

My preferences are that House of Wax told this story better. It doesn’t mean that I’m slagging off on this movie. After all, Farrell was charming as the reporter and it’s always nice seeing Fay Wray. Plus, Lionel Atwill was fun as the villain. The aesthetic is for certain unique: the cinematography is in two-color Technicolor. It’d take way too long to explain the process but the result was a print dominated by reds and greens. At least those were Christmas colors… no matter the season, I was still glad to have finally crossed this off the list after knowing of it for eons.