mystery of the wax museum

The full cast list of the film is as follows: Lionel Atwill as Ivan Igor When she faints, he straps her onto a table, intending to douse her with molten wax and make her his lost Marie Antoinette sculpture. Rod Crawford . The premise is solidly creepy.Glenda Farrell is hilarious as the young journalist. Screenplay by Don Mullaly, Carl Erickson. It was released by Warner Bros. in two-color Technicolor. When Charlotte tries to get away, she pounds away at his face, breaking a wax mask that he has made of himself, to reveal that he had been horribly disfigured. At the box office, the film did better in Europe than it did in the US, but still made a profit of $80,000. After hapless pianist and ex-con John Elman is framed for murder, he is resurrected by a scientist after his execution. Regarding his historical creations as his friends, Igor refuses the entreaties of his business partner, Joe Worth (Edwin Maxwell), to turn his labor-of-love museum into a more profitable "house of horror." An evil hyponotist/ventriloquist plots to gain an heiress' millions. Coincidentally, there’s been a series of bodies being stolen in the same town before the museum opened. Because of the intense light required for Technicolor photography, live actors stood in for the wax figures in some scenes. By the late 1950s, when the Warner library was being sold in a package for television to Associated Artists Productions,[9] Mystery of the Wax Museum was deemed lost. The disappearance of people and corpses leads a reporter to a wax museum and a sinister sculptor. 1933. In London, sculptor Ivan Igor struggles in vain to prevent his partner Worth from burning his wax museum…and his ‘children.’ Years later, Igor starts a new museum in New York, but his maimed hands confine him to directing lesser artists. Certificate: GP Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) Director Michael Curtiz' and Warner Bros.' Technicolored (two-strip colors of greens and reds), 79 minute expressionistic mystery-horror film was the next effort to capitalize on the success of the similar Doctor X (1932) ; it was the last significant feature film to be made with the two-color Technicolor process. If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be? The wax figures were obtained from a mannequin shop. R eleased at the tail end of the 1930s horror craze, “Mystery of the Wax Museum” (1933) delivered chills with its macabre plot (thought “too ghastly for comfort” and “unhealthy” by one New York Times critic) and effective use of the surreal two-color Technicolor palette, which was soon phased out for the more realistic three-color process. Years later, Igor starts a new museum in New York, but his maimed hands confine him to directing lesser artists. In a twisted way, you kind of feel for Igor as the joy in his life was snuffed out by an unscrupulous partner, but you obviously cannot condone the places his madness takes him. Made from different matrixes, the French workprint was less pleasing but yielded shots and ends of reels that were tattered, broken or missing in the main print, along with some lost lines of audio. Mystery of the Wax Museum was the last feature film under a 1931 Technicolor contract. The Warner print, with superior color but still exhibiting pickups at reel ends culled from different prints, was the primary resource. Only variations of green and red predominate. Film Deaths [edit | edit source]. Lionel Atwill's make-up is fantastic. Meanwhile, spunky reporter Florence Dempsey, on the verge of being fired for not bringing in any worthwhile news, is sent out by her impatient editor, Jim, to investigate the suicide of a model named Joan Gale. He reports that the print subsequently began to decay and was destroyed. Mystery of the Wax Museum A unique quality of the film is that it’s in early two strip technicolor. Drama, Certificate: Passed [1] Goetan; 8/30/13; An early technicolor, horror/ comedy. Charlotte is saved when Ralph pushes the table to which she is strapped away just before the wax is to pour onto her. A precious few negatives survived, including the Eddie Cantor musical Whoopee!, which was taken in by Goldwyn in their vaults. A French workprint with baked in subtitles of “Mystery of the Wax Museum” turned up in 2008. The two hues were red and green, which could approximate a certain hue for face tones. 9 of 9 people found this review helpful. The extremely bright light required for filming under the Technicolor process melted the wax figures, though many characters (Queen Victoria, Disraeli, Joan of Arc) were portrayed by actors. In New York City, it had its first airing in 1973 on WPIX-TV in a Sunday morning slot, cut by 15 minutes for commercials. But the response of most studios was to junk the two-color negatives (which had been stored at Technicolor) of their now-obsolete films. Other missing audio needed to be picked up from other Warner movies, including a line of Glenda Farrell's that was pulled in from Life Begins (1932). Svengoolie's "'Mystery of the Wax Museum" Mail Segment from March 13, 2021. Released at the tail end of the 1930s horror craze, Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) delivered chills with its macabre plot (thought “too ghastly for comfort” and “unhealthy” by one New York Times critic) and effective use of the surreal two-color Technicolor palette, which was soon phased out for the more realistic three-color process. Mystery of the Wax Museum – Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwill) is the owner/head sculptor of a decrepit wax museum that is losing business. The Mystery of the Wax Museum had a 30-day shooting schedule and a budget of $200,000. When brought to the station, he eventually breaks down and admits that Igor is, in fact, the killer and that he has been murdering people (including a missing judge whose watch was found on Darcy's person), stealing their bodies, and dipping them in wax to create lifelike sculptures. A unique quality of the film is that it’s in early two strip technicolor. Strikingly filmed in two-strip Technicolor, the 1933 production benefits from Michael Curtiz's directorial craftsmanship and Anton Grot's impressive set design. When Florence reports her story to her editor, Jim, he proposes to her. View production, box office, & company info. In 2019 the Film Foundation sponsored a digital 4K restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding from the George Lucas Family Foundation. [4]It was Warner's fifth top grosser of the year. He also shows her the dead body of Joe Worth, whom Darcy had been tracking down for some time. A mediocre color version of the film, woefully manipulated to look blue/pink, was released as an extra in standard definition on the Warner Bros DVD and Blu-ray for House of Wax. Yes, color films are older than sound films. People begin disappearing (including a corpse from the morgue); Igor takes a sinister interest in Charlotte Duncan, fiancée of his assistant Ralph, but arouses the suspicions of Charlotte's roommate, wisecracking reporter Florence. [10] The AFI made a new negative, rather unsuccessfully (cameraman Ray Rennahan told historian Richard Koszarski that it looked so dismal that he walked out of the screening room). Crime. Warner had already noted the public’s apathy with the more artificial color system. The Mystery of the Wax Museum is a fun little mystery/horror/gumshoe film that features many of the traits you’d want from a film of its respective era. Charlotte, visiting Ralph at the museum, is trapped there by Igor, who it is revealed can still walk. 709 submaster of the UCLA restoration. Mystery of the Wax Museum (Wax Museum) (1933) [Joan Gale]: Dies (off-screen) of a heroin overdose; her body is shown in the morgue (covered by a sheet) before Lionel Atwill steals it, then again several more times after Lionel encases her in wax to put on display in his museum. Mystery of the Wax Museum is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery-horror film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, and Frank McHugh. [7] The Variety reviewer said that the story was "loose and unconvincing" but liked the gruesome makeup and said that the film should do well at neighborhood cinemas.[7]. When the three-color process became available Warner Bros. was the first to use it for live-action shorts like Service With a Smile.[7]. Soon after, the addition of a blue strip created three strip technicolor. 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