9/21/2023 0 Comments Wax musuem 1933The sets are great, especially Atwill's art deco laboratory. It's a good-looking movie, filmed in two-color Technicolor with nice atmospheric direction from Curtiz. A few years later she would star in the Torchy Blane series and play a character very similar to the one she plays here. The scene stealer of the movie is Glenda Farrell as the fast-talking reporter heroine. Nice support from Frank McHugh, Gavin Gordon, and Edwin Maxwell, among others. Atwill is fantastic here and Wray is, as always, delightful. The last (and best) of the three horror movies Lionel Atwill did with Fay Wray. However, if viewed as a stand-alone product, Mystery of the Wax Museum represents a solid 30's horror movie and I can see why any horror fan wouldn't enjoy it.Ĭlassic horror movie directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Lionel Atwill as a deranged sculptor with an "interesting" method of making the statues on display at his wax museum. One thing that is unfortunate for this film is that it's seen as a second feature for the Price version, which will harm what some viewers think of it as the plot elements are very similar to the 1953 film, so it can, at times, feel as though you're simply watching the same film again. Both do well with their roles, and although this film isn't exactly an exhibition in acting (unlike Curtiz's masterpiece, Casablanca) the cast do well enough. Wray plays the girl that the unfortunate artist becomes obsessed with, and Farrell gives a slightly irritating, but very lively performance as a journalist. Joining him are Glenda Farrell and Fay Wray as the heroine's of the story. Lionel Atwill takes the lead role as the unfortunate victim of the flames, and while he's certainly no Vincent Price he does well with what he's got and helps to create a macabre surrounding around his character, which in turn helps the film in the atmosphere department. The plot line will be familiar to anyone who has seen the Vincent Price version, but here, aside from a museum proprietor that gets his life work melted away in an inferno we've got a press investigation into the affairs as well. The two-strip Technicolor style of the film gives it something of a unique feel and this again is to it's credit as the film has aged really, really well. Take the deformed face of the central character for example it won't keep you up all night, but considering the time when this was made the effects are good. The film is actually quite daring and inventive for the time when it was made and despite the fact that nothing too bad is graphically shown, for obvious reasons, some of the imagery on display does actually succeed in being quite disturbing. This is somewhat unfair, however, as although this film isn't a brilliant masterpiece, or even genre classic, it has a right to remembered in it's own right. Thanks to the meticulous new restoration presented on this disc, the film can now be experienced as intended.These days, Mystery of the Wax Museum has become best known for the fact that it was the film that spawned the 1953 classic starring Vincent Price. Filmed in the early Two-Color Technicolor® process, The Mystery of the Wax Museum was considered a lost film for decades, until a well-worn print was discovered nearly 50 years ago. Glenda Farrell plays a quintessential wisecracking newspaper reporter, and noted actor Lionel Atwill is the deranged artist who loses his studio to a fire set by his partner. Is there a connection? But of course! In this horror classic, Fay Wray (King Kong) stars as the intended next victim of a mad wax sculptor obsessed with her resemblance to one of his prior creations. Rode Audio Commentary by Scott MacQueen, head of preservation, UCLA Film & Television Archive Restoration Featuretteīodies are mysteriously disappearing all over town, and a new wax museum has just opened. Special Features: Documentary "Remembering Fay Wray" Audio Commentary by Author.Film Historian Alan K. ORIGINAL ASPECT RATIO - 1.37:1 4 X 3 FULL FRAME Funding provided by the George Lucas Family FoundationĪudio Specs MONO - English, DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 - English Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation in association with Warner Bros. Coming next month from Warner Archive Collection:
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