We’re in the 50s now and cinema is at the crossroads of change. It’s during that time where they had a hefty competition with TV. You had a lot of movies try any sort of gimmick to get audiences into seats. One was with the musicals, which I’ve talked about when I did an overview of A Star Is Born. Another was using the extra dimension. This is where 3-D got its start around that period. With that, here’s what I think.
1. Mystery of the Wax Museum
What’s interesting about this film is that it’s a remake. Well, to be specific the 1930s version was an adaptation of the play The Wax Works. It follows the main gist of the story. Professor Jarrod is a sculptor who creates historical figures. I’ll elaborate more on that. His business partner Burke sets fire to the museum to get the insurance. After that, mysterious killings occur during a new wax museum being established.
What I like about this movie is that its mostly a period piece. Mostly every man and woman is dressed in a multi layered suit with the funny looking hat. Now it’s obvious that the set is inside the studio lot. You can’t close out an entire block of New York and configure it to look like the late 1900s. Particularly when the main character we focus on Sue, is chased by the mysterious cloaked figure. The chase is disorienting since there’s no clear direction with where she’s going.
Professor Jarrod is also an interesting character. As I mentioned earlier, he’s a dedicated wax sculptor whose motif is on historical figures. Albeit, sculpting when the figures have died. Such as him having on display Lincoln being assassinated. Already, there’s a weird aura of him since he designs something macabre. He considers them cheap but educates the tourists on the figures.
I won’t give away the twist ending since, the film makes us think that there’s more cloaked killers running around.
There is one sculpting that he loves, and its of Marie Antionette. He has infatuated with it since he sees it as his best work. After his museum is razed, Sue along with her friend talk to Jarrod. He mentions that she has the face that mirrors the Antoinette sculpting. It tips us off that he's very prideful and will do anything to rebuild his best work.
The best moment is when his museum his set on fire. When he fights Burke, we see the fire gradually build up. Intersperse with cuts to the various wax figures being melted away. Seeing all of them have their faces melted off looks cool. Now, I don’t have proof, but I believe Steven Spielberg saw this movie and used that sequence to have one of the villains in Raiders of the Lost Ark go the same way as the wax figures.
2. Vincent Price
Vincent Price steals the show for this movie. In fact, its with this one thought brought him back to the level of popularity within the horror genre. Within his early part of his career, he was only in secondary roles and didn’t have top billing. After the success of this film, he was in high demand. It’s one thing to be type cast as a recurring character role within the horror genre, but Price nailed all of them since he had a charisma about him. I think what attributed it was his distinct Missourian voice.
3. 3-D
You wouldn’t believe as to how this gimmick even got popular. Well, the whole idea of 3-D predated this film by about 50 years. It was experimented since the possibilities of showing anything in film was unimaginable in those times. To put it simply, for the effect to actually work, the theater literally needed a silver screen to have the effect work.
So yeah, it went mainstream after the success of this film since it was the first color 3-D film. And there’s this one moment where the film breaks the fourth wall. It’s when the promotor is playing with the paddle ball to get people into the museum. He paddles the stringed ball to the camera and its one of the memorable scenes in the film. I’ll excuse that the version I saw wasn’t in 3-D, since it’s just a product of its time.
4. Overall
House of Wax is an enjoyable mystery horror film. It has moments of levity with the humor, but watch it for Vincent Price.
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