Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Charles Belden (play)
Don Mullaly (writer) ...

Release Date:

17 February 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

IS SHE WOMAN OR WAX??? Solve it -- if you dare!

Plot:

In London, sculptor Ivan Igor struggles in vain to prevent his partner Worth from burning his wax museum...

Plot Keywords:

Secret Room | Waxfigure | Reference To Frankenstein | Arson | Corpse

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Oct. 20

3:45 AM

TCM

Cast

Lionel Atwill	...	Ivan Igor
Fay Wray	...	Charlotte Duncan
Glenda Farrell	...	Florence Dempsey
Frank McHugh	...	Jim
Allen Vincent	...	Ralph Burton
Gavin Gordon	...	George Winton
Edwin Maxwell	...	Joe Worth
Holmes Herbert	...	Dr. Rasmussen
Claude King	...	Mr. Galatalin
Arthur Edmund Carewe	...	Sparrow (Prof. Darcy)
Thomas E. Jackson	...	Detective (as Thomas Jackson)
DeWitt Jennings	...	Police captain
Matthew Betz	...	Hugo (the deaf-mute)
Monica Bannister	...	Joan Gale

Also Known As:

The Mystery of the Wax Museum (USA) (poster title)
Wax Museum

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (2-strip Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Vitaphone)

Certification:

UK:PG | USA:Unrated

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The wax figures look like real people because they ARE real people. The original plan was to use actual wax figures, but they melted under the heat of the lights used at the time to film two-strip Technicolor.

Goofs:

Continuity: In one scene showing the front of the wax museum you see a man in the back ground walking by, the shot shifts a little bit and you see the same man walking by again.

Quotes:

Florence: [talking about a case] Can I handle this my way?
Jim: You cannot, I'm still editor of this newspaper.
Florence: Fine you said I was fired... well I quit, you give the assignment to somebody else.
Jim: Wait a minute, come here.
Florence: [crying] No, I'm through.
Jim: Come here sob sister, alright go ahead do it your own way.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Agatha Christie: Poirot: The King of Clubs (#1.9)" (1989)

Soundtrack:

Agitato

A horror and color masterpiece. . .

But one must consider its time period. 1933. Not a really sophisticated period in our history, nor particularly graphic. But the cast does a wonderful job, and the script is good--again, considering the year it was made. One cannot compare this movie to anything made even at the end of the 30s (SON OF FRANKENTSTEIN, for example.) It's a product of its time, and it succeeds as such. For my taste, it is far superior to any number of the no-plot slasher pics made in the past 25 years, the original HALLOWEEN being the exception. MYSTERY is not for everyone--but for fans of genre films of years past, this one ranks right up there with FRANKENSTEIN, KING KONG, and DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE--all of the same era.