Mystery of the Wax Museum (film)
Encyclopedia
Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933
) is a mystery
/horror film
released by Warner Brothers in two-color Technicolor
and directed by Michael Curtiz
. The movie stars Lionel Atwill
, Fay Wray
, Glenda Farrell
, and Frank McHugh
.
This film is notable as the last dramatic fiction film made, along with Warners' Doctor X
, in the two-color Technicolor process. (Constance Bennett
and her husband filmed two documentaries Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1935) and Kilou the Killer Tiger (1936) in the old process.)
) is a sculptor
who operates a wax museum
in 1921 London
. When business is failing due to people's attraction to the macabre
, Igor's investment partner, Joe Worth (Edwin Maxwell
), tries to burn the museum down for the insurance money of £10,000. Igor wouldn't have it but Worth starts a fire anyway. Igor tries to stop him, and both he and Worth get into a fight. Worth knocks Igor unconscious, leaving the sculptor to die.
Igor survives, however, and reemerges 12 years later in New York City
, reopening a new wax museum. His hands and legs have been badly crippled in the fire, and he must rely on assistants to create his new sculptures.
Meanwhile, reporter Florence Dempsey (Glenda Farrell
) is sent out by her editor, Jim (Frank McHugh
) to investigate the suicide of a model named Joan Gale (Monica Bannister). During this time, a hideous monster steals the body of Joan Gale from the morgue. When investigators find that her body has been stolen, they suspect murder. The finger initially points to George Winton (Gavin Gordon
), son of a powerful industrialist, but after visiting him in jail, Florence thinks differently.
Florence's roommate is Charlotte Duncan (Fay Wray
) whose fiancé Ralph (Allen Vincent) works at Igor's newly opened museum.
While visiting the museum, Florence notices an uncanny resemblance between a wax figure
of Joan of Arc
and the dead model. At the same time, Igor spots Charlotte and remarks that she looks similar to his favorite figure in his original museum, a sculpture of Marie Antoinette
.
Igor employs several shady characters: Prof. Darcy (Arthur Edmund Carewe
), a drug addict, and Hugo, a deaf-mute
(Matthew Betz). Darcy, at the same time, is working for Joe Worth, who is working as a bootlegger
in the city, among whose customers is none other than Winton.
While investigating at an old house where Worth keeps his bootlegged alcohol, Florence discovers a monster who is connected with the museum, but cannot prove any connection with the disappearance of Joan Gale's body. Darcy is seen running from the house and is caught by the police. When brought to the station, he breaks down and admits that Igor is in fact the killer and that he has been murdering people, stealing their bodies, and dipping them in wax to create life-like statues.
Charlotte, going to visit Ralph at the museum, is trapped by Igor. When Charlotte tries to get away, she pounds away at his face, breaking a wax mask that he has made of himself, and reveals that he had been horribly disfigured. He also shows her the dead body of Joe Worth, who Darcy has been tracking down for him for some time. When she faints, he ties her up and sets her on a table, awaiting her to become his lost Marie Antoinette when she is doused with wax. Florence leads the police to the museum just in time: Charlotte is saved, and Igor is gunned down into a giant vat of wax.
When Florence reports her story in, Jim proposes to her. Having to finally choose between money (Winton) and happiness (Jim), she picks the latter.
, Mystery involved many of the same cast and crew, including actors Fay Wray
, Lionel Atwill
, Arthur Edmund Carewe
; director Michael Curtiz
; art director Anton Grot
; and cameraman Ray Rennahan
. The film also re-used Doctor Xs opening theme music by Bernhard Kaun.
Mystery of the Wax Museum was the last First National feature film under a 1931 Technicolor contract. Warner had already noted the public's apathy with the artificial color system. Technicolor was greeted with hostility by critics and public awash in its unreal hues and humdrum quality control since 1929. The considerable additional expense of the compromised two-color spectrum, which was a fine idea when color was a novelty, was now anathema. Warners had tried without success to get Technicolor to permit them to swap out the last feature commitment for a series of shorts, but when the studio violated the contract by filming Doctor X
with an additional black-and-white unit (thereby permitting them to process prints at their own lab and avoid paying Technicolor thousands of dollars) Technicolor dug in their heels and refused. Consequently, Mystery of the Wax Museum was the last studio feature in the two-color Technicolor system. It was also one of the very best, with Technicolor founder Herbert Kalmus declaring it "the ultimate that is possible with two components."
The process combined red and green dyes to create a color image with a reduced spectrum. (Technicolor would introduce their three-negative process in 1932 with Flowers and Trees
, cutting an exclusive deal for animation only with Walt Disney
. Warner Bros. was the first to use the new process commercially for live-action on shorts like Service With a Smile
in 1934).
A similar storyline was also used for an episode of the hit radio mystery drama The Shadow
, with Orson Welles
. It was entitled The Murders In Wax and first aired on July 24, 1938.
The film was remade as House of Wax
(1953), directed by Andre De Toth
and starring Vincent Price
. Whereas the original was more of a mystery film
, the remake focused more on the horror
elements. However, the two films shared a common theme; while Mystery was shot in the early two-color Technicolor system, House of Wax used two other than-new film making techniques: 3-Dimension
and stereophonic sound
. A 1965 TV pilot, Chamber of Horrors, was released as theatrical feature in 1966 featured its own gimmick, a "horror horn" that would blare on the soundtrack as the image flashed red prior to scenes of violence and murder.
. In 1936, Technicolor-Hollywood ceased servicing two-color printing after issuing a "last call" to their customers for prints and converted the final imbibition rig for three-color. The response of most studios was to junk the two-color negatives (which had been stored at Technicolor) of their now-obsolete films. Warner Bros. seems to have kept the negatives for only their two-color cartoons.
William K. Everson reports that Warners' London exchange kept a 35mm color print on hand and that the film screened there in the late 1940s. A 35mm nitrate copy of Reel 1, the "lab reference" print, was still held by Technicolor-Hollywood and screened privately in the 1960s; that reel is today in the collection of the Academy Film Archive
. A 1970 check of Jack Warner's old personal vault on the Burbank lot, but uncovered a 35mm nitrate print of Mystery in very good condition. With much fanfare the film screened in the summer at Grauman's Chinese Theatre
in Hollywood (with Fay Wray in attendance), and then in October at Alice Tully Hall
as part of the 8th New York Film Festival. Oddly, no attention was paid at the time to the color print of Doctor X
found along with it.
A puzzled letter from screenwriter Ray Russell in Variety
reported that the film wasn't lost as far as he was concerned; he had screened the color print at the Warner lot in 1965 while working on the proposed TV series Chamber of Horrors. The then-current library owner, United Artists, copied the film and put it into television distribution, but lab work was so substandard that most of the color was drained away. In 1988, its new owner, Turner Entertainment, made a new, color-correct preservation negative of the movie, allowing it to play theatrical double bills with color prints of the previously restored color version of Doctor X
. The laserdisc
release was carefully transferred from the 35mm nitrate Jack Warner print (in the collection of the UCLA Film and Television Archives) and retained the essence of its unusual color. The current video version on DVD (where it was thrown away as a bonus to the Vincent Price remake, House of Wax
) and TCM is an utterly inaccurate and alarming rendering of the film in shades of blue and pink that bears no relationship to the original color scheme.
Circa 2007, film collector and King of the Sabu Cats, Jeff Joseph, located another, near-mint 35mm nitrate Technicolor print in Europe, with English soundtrack but etched French supertitles. This second print is now also at the UCLA Film and Television Archives.
magazine felt it was a good mystery film but was disappointed with the abrupt ending and lack of an explaining-it-all scene.
1933 in film
-Events:* March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey.* British Film Institute founded....
) is a mystery
Mystery film
Mystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of crime film and at times the thriller genre. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.The...
/horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
released by Warner Brothers in two-color Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
and directed by Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
. The movie stars Lionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill was an English stage and film actor born in Croydon, London, England.He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London in 1904. He become a star in Broadway theatre by 1918, and made his screen debut in 1919. He acted on the stage in Australia but was most...
, Fay Wray
Fay Wray
Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
, Glenda Farrell
Glenda Farrell
-Career:Farrell came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era. Farrell began her career with a theatrical company at the age of 7. She played Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin...
, and Frank McHugh
Frank McHugh
Francis Curray "Frank" McHugh was an American film and television actor.Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a stock theatre company and as a young child he performed on stage...
.
This film is notable as the last dramatic fiction film made, along with Warners' Doctor X
Doctor X (film)
Doctor X is a First National/Warner Bros. horror and mystery film based on the play of the same name. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Lee Tracy, Fay Wray, and Lionel Atwill....
, in the two-color Technicolor process. (Constance Bennett
Constance Bennett
-Early life:She was born in New York City, the daughter of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison, whose father was the stage actor Lewis Morrison , a wealthy performer of English and Spanish ancestry...
and her husband filmed two documentaries Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1935) and Kilou the Killer Tiger (1936) in the old process.)
Plot
Ivan Igor (Lionel AtwillLionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill was an English stage and film actor born in Croydon, London, England.He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London in 1904. He become a star in Broadway theatre by 1918, and made his screen debut in 1919. He acted on the stage in Australia but was most...
) is a sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
who operates a wax museum
Wax museum
A wax museum or waxworks consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses....
in 1921 London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. When business is failing due to people's attraction to the macabre
Macabre
In works of art, macabre is the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere. Macabre works emphasize the details and symbols of death....
, Igor's investment partner, Joe Worth (Edwin Maxwell
Edwin Maxwell
Edwin Maxwell was an Irish character actor in Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 1940s, frequently cast as shady businessmen and shysters, though often ones with a dignified bearing....
), tries to burn the museum down for the insurance money of £10,000. Igor wouldn't have it but Worth starts a fire anyway. Igor tries to stop him, and both he and Worth get into a fight. Worth knocks Igor unconscious, leaving the sculptor to die.
Igor survives, however, and reemerges 12 years later in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, reopening a new wax museum. His hands and legs have been badly crippled in the fire, and he must rely on assistants to create his new sculptures.
Meanwhile, reporter Florence Dempsey (Glenda Farrell
Glenda Farrell
-Career:Farrell came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era. Farrell began her career with a theatrical company at the age of 7. She played Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin...
) is sent out by her editor, Jim (Frank McHugh
Frank McHugh
Francis Curray "Frank" McHugh was an American film and television actor.Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a stock theatre company and as a young child he performed on stage...
) to investigate the suicide of a model named Joan Gale (Monica Bannister). During this time, a hideous monster steals the body of Joan Gale from the morgue. When investigators find that her body has been stolen, they suspect murder. The finger initially points to George Winton (Gavin Gordon
Gavin Gordon (actor)
Gavin Gordon was an American film actor.He was born in Chicora, Mississippi], and died in Canoga Park, California, on his 82nd birthday....
), son of a powerful industrialist, but after visiting him in jail, Florence thinks differently.
Florence's roommate is Charlotte Duncan (Fay Wray
Fay Wray
Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
) whose fiancé Ralph (Allen Vincent) works at Igor's newly opened museum.
While visiting the museum, Florence notices an uncanny resemblance between a wax figure
Wax figure
A wax sculpture is a sculpture made in wax. Often these are effigies, usually of a notable individual, but there are also death masks and scenes with many figures, mostly in relief....
of Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
and the dead model. At the same time, Igor spots Charlotte and remarks that she looks similar to his favorite figure in his original museum, a sculpture of Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
.
Igor employs several shady characters: Prof. Darcy (Arthur Edmund Carewe
Arthur Edmund Carewe
Arthur Edmund Carewe , was an Armenian-American actor in the silent and early sound film era.-Early life:Born Hovsep Hovsepian in Trabzon , Ottoman Empire, Carewe was from a prosperous family in his native country...
), a drug addict, and Hugo, a deaf-mute
Deaf-mute
For "deafness", see hearing impairment. For "Deaf" as a cultural term, see Deaf culture. For "inability to speak", see muteness.Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was both deaf and could not speak...
(Matthew Betz). Darcy, at the same time, is working for Joe Worth, who is working as a bootlegger
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
in the city, among whose customers is none other than Winton.
While investigating at an old house where Worth keeps his bootlegged alcohol, Florence discovers a monster who is connected with the museum, but cannot prove any connection with the disappearance of Joan Gale's body. Darcy is seen running from the house and is caught by the police. When brought to the station, he breaks down and admits that Igor is in fact the killer and that he has been murdering people, stealing their bodies, and dipping them in wax to create life-like statues.
Charlotte, going to visit Ralph at the museum, is trapped by Igor. When Charlotte tries to get away, she pounds away at his face, breaking a wax mask that he has made of himself, and reveals that he had been horribly disfigured. He also shows her the dead body of Joe Worth, who Darcy has been tracking down for him for some time. When she faints, he ties her up and sets her on a table, awaiting her to become his lost Marie Antoinette when she is doused with wax. Florence leads the police to the museum just in time: Charlotte is saved, and Igor is gunned down into a giant vat of wax.
When Florence reports her story in, Jim proposes to her. Having to finally choose between money (Winton) and happiness (Jim), she picks the latter.
Production background
Based on an unpublished short story entitled "The Wax Works" by Charles Spencer Belden (1904–1954), Warner Bros. optioned the story's rights after Belden started writing dialogue for the studio in the early 1930s. A follow-up to Warner's 1932 horror success Doctor XDoctor X (film)
Doctor X is a First National/Warner Bros. horror and mystery film based on the play of the same name. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Lee Tracy, Fay Wray, and Lionel Atwill....
, Mystery involved many of the same cast and crew, including actors Fay Wray
Fay Wray
Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
, Lionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill
Lionel Atwill was an English stage and film actor born in Croydon, London, England.He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London in 1904. He become a star in Broadway theatre by 1918, and made his screen debut in 1919. He acted on the stage in Australia but was most...
, Arthur Edmund Carewe
Arthur Edmund Carewe
Arthur Edmund Carewe , was an Armenian-American actor in the silent and early sound film era.-Early life:Born Hovsep Hovsepian in Trabzon , Ottoman Empire, Carewe was from a prosperous family in his native country...
; director Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
; art director Anton Grot
Anton Grot
Anton Grot was a Polish art director. He was born in Kelbasin, Poland and died in Stanton, California.-Awards:Grot was nominated for five Academy Awards for Best Art Direction:* The Sea Hawk...
; and cameraman Ray Rennahan
Ray Rennahan
Ray Rennahan, A.S.C. was a movie cinematographer.For his work in movies, he became one of the only six cinematographers to have a "Star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The other five are: Haskell Wexler, Conrad L. Hall, J...
. The film also re-used Doctor Xs opening theme music by Bernhard Kaun.
Mystery of the Wax Museum was the last First National feature film under a 1931 Technicolor contract. Warner had already noted the public's apathy with the artificial color system. Technicolor was greeted with hostility by critics and public awash in its unreal hues and humdrum quality control since 1929. The considerable additional expense of the compromised two-color spectrum, which was a fine idea when color was a novelty, was now anathema. Warners had tried without success to get Technicolor to permit them to swap out the last feature commitment for a series of shorts, but when the studio violated the contract by filming Doctor X
Doctor X (film)
Doctor X is a First National/Warner Bros. horror and mystery film based on the play of the same name. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Lee Tracy, Fay Wray, and Lionel Atwill....
with an additional black-and-white unit (thereby permitting them to process prints at their own lab and avoid paying Technicolor thousands of dollars) Technicolor dug in their heels and refused. Consequently, Mystery of the Wax Museum was the last studio feature in the two-color Technicolor system. It was also one of the very best, with Technicolor founder Herbert Kalmus declaring it "the ultimate that is possible with two components."
The process combined red and green dyes to create a color image with a reduced spectrum. (Technicolor would introduce their three-negative process in 1932 with Flowers and Trees
Flowers and Trees
Flowers and Trees is a 1932 Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Burt Gillett, and released to theatres by United Artists on July 30, 1932...
, cutting an exclusive deal for animation only with Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
. Warner Bros. was the first to use the new process commercially for live-action on shorts like Service With a Smile
Service With a Smile
Service with a Smile is a novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on October 15, 1961 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on August 17, 1962 by Herbert Jenkins, London...
in 1934).
A similar storyline was also used for an episode of the hit radio mystery drama The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
, with Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
. It was entitled The Murders In Wax and first aired on July 24, 1938.
The film was remade as House of Wax
House of Wax (1953 film)
House of Wax is a 1953 American horror film starring Vincent Price. It is a remake of Warners' Mystery of the Wax Museum without the comic relief featured in the earlier film, and was directed by André de Toth...
(1953), directed by Andre De Toth
André De Toth
André de Toth was a Hungarian-American filmmaker, born and raised in Makó, Csongrád, Kingdom of Hungary Austro-Hungarian Empire. He directed the 3-D film House of Wax, despite being unable to see in 3-D himself, having lost an eye at an early age. He is known for his gritty B movies in the western...
and starring Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
. Whereas the original was more of a mystery film
Mystery film
Mystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of crime film and at times the thriller genre. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.The...
, the remake focused more on the horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
elements. However, the two films shared a common theme; while Mystery was shot in the early two-color Technicolor system, House of Wax used two other than-new film making techniques: 3-Dimension
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
and stereophonic sound
Stereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
. A 1965 TV pilot, Chamber of Horrors, was released as theatrical feature in 1966 featured its own gimmick, a "horror horn" that would blare on the soundtrack as the image flashed red prior to scenes of violence and murder.
Preservation status
Mystery was never reissued formally and over time was considered a lost filmLost film
A lost film is a feature film or short film that is no longer known to exist in studio archives, private collections or public archives such as the Library of Congress, where at least one copy of all American films are deposited and catalogued for copyright reasons...
. In 1936, Technicolor-Hollywood ceased servicing two-color printing after issuing a "last call" to their customers for prints and converted the final imbibition rig for three-color. The response of most studios was to junk the two-color negatives (which had been stored at Technicolor) of their now-obsolete films. Warner Bros. seems to have kept the negatives for only their two-color cartoons.
William K. Everson reports that Warners' London exchange kept a 35mm color print on hand and that the film screened there in the late 1940s. A 35mm nitrate copy of Reel 1, the "lab reference" print, was still held by Technicolor-Hollywood and screened privately in the 1960s; that reel is today in the collection of the Academy Film Archive
Academy Film Archive
The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of motion picture history...
. A 1970 check of Jack Warner's old personal vault on the Burbank lot, but uncovered a 35mm nitrate print of Mystery in very good condition. With much fanfare the film screened in the summer at Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Grauman's Chinese Theatre is a movie theater at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. It is on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame.The Chinese Theatre was commissioned following the success of the nearby Grauman's Egyptian Theatre which opened in 1922...
in Hollywood (with Fay Wray in attendance), and then in October at Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. It is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall...
as part of the 8th New York Film Festival. Oddly, no attention was paid at the time to the color print of Doctor X
Doctor X (film)
Doctor X is a First National/Warner Bros. horror and mystery film based on the play of the same name. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Lee Tracy, Fay Wray, and Lionel Atwill....
found along with it.
A puzzled letter from screenwriter Ray Russell in Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported that the film wasn't lost as far as he was concerned; he had screened the color print at the Warner lot in 1965 while working on the proposed TV series Chamber of Horrors. The then-current library owner, United Artists, copied the film and put it into television distribution, but lab work was so substandard that most of the color was drained away. In 1988, its new owner, Turner Entertainment, made a new, color-correct preservation negative of the movie, allowing it to play theatrical double bills with color prints of the previously restored color version of Doctor X
Doctor X (film)
Doctor X is a First National/Warner Bros. horror and mystery film based on the play of the same name. It was directed by Michael Curtiz and stars Lee Tracy, Fay Wray, and Lionel Atwill....
. The laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
release was carefully transferred from the 35mm nitrate Jack Warner print (in the collection of the UCLA Film and Television Archives) and retained the essence of its unusual color. The current video version on DVD (where it was thrown away as a bonus to the Vincent Price remake, House of Wax
House of Wax (1953 film)
House of Wax is a 1953 American horror film starring Vincent Price. It is a remake of Warners' Mystery of the Wax Museum without the comic relief featured in the earlier film, and was directed by André de Toth...
) and TCM is an utterly inaccurate and alarming rendering of the film in shades of blue and pink that bears no relationship to the original color scheme.
Circa 2007, film collector and King of the Sabu Cats, Jeff Joseph, located another, near-mint 35mm nitrate Technicolor print in Europe, with English soundtrack but etched French supertitles. This second print is now also at the UCLA Film and Television Archives.
Cast (in credits order)
- Lionel AtwillLionel AtwillLionel Atwill was an English stage and film actor born in Croydon, London, England.He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London in 1904. He become a star in Broadway theatre by 1918, and made his screen debut in 1919. He acted on the stage in Australia but was most...
as Ivan Igor - Fay WrayFay WrayFay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
as Charlotte Duncan - Glenda FarrellGlenda Farrell-Career:Farrell came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era. Farrell began her career with a theatrical company at the age of 7. She played Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin...
as Florence Dempsey - Frank McHughFrank McHughFrancis Curray "Frank" McHugh was an American film and television actor.Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a stock theatre company and as a young child he performed on stage...
as Jim - Allen Vincent as Ralph Burton
- Gavin GordonGavin Gordon (actor)Gavin Gordon was an American film actor.He was born in Chicora, Mississippi], and died in Canoga Park, California, on his 82nd birthday....
as George Winton - Edwin MaxwellEdwin MaxwellEdwin Maxwell was an Irish character actor in Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 1940s, frequently cast as shady businessmen and shysters, though often ones with a dignified bearing....
as Joe Worth - Holmes HerbertHolmes HerbertHolmes Herbert was an English character actor who appeared in Hollywood films from 1915 to 1952.Born as 'Horace Jenner', Holmes Herbert emigrated to the United States in 1912. He was the first son of Ned Herbert , who worked as and actor/comedian in the English Theatre...
as Dr Rasmussen - Claude KingClaude KingClaude King is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for his million selling 1962 hit, "Wolverton Mountain".-Biography:...
as Mr Galatalin - Arthur Edmund CareweArthur Edmund CareweArthur Edmund Carewe , was an Armenian-American actor in the silent and early sound film era.-Early life:Born Hovsep Hovsepian in Trabzon , Ottoman Empire, Carewe was from a prosperous family in his native country...
as Sparrow - Professor Darcy - Thomas E. Jackson as Detective
- DeWitt JenningsDeWitt JenningsDeWitt Clarke Jennings was an American film actor. He appeared in 153 films between 1915 and 1937.-Biography:...
as Police Captain - Matthew Betz as Hugo
- Monica Bannister as Joan Gale
Reception
Upon its release, TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine felt it was a good mystery film but was disappointed with the abrupt ending and lack of an explaining-it-all scene.
See also
- List of American films of 1933
- List of early color feature films
- List of rediscovered films
- House of Wax (1953 film)House of Wax (1953 film)House of Wax is a 1953 American horror film starring Vincent Price. It is a remake of Warners' Mystery of the Wax Museum without the comic relief featured in the earlier film, and was directed by André de Toth...
- House of Wax (2005 film)House of Wax (2005 film)House of Wax is a 2005 horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. It shares the name of a 1953 horror film, which was a remake of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum. It was released in theaters on May 6, 2005 to negative reviews, but a financial success...
External links
- Mystery of the Wax Museum at the "Missing Link" web site..