Mystery of the Wax Museum

An entertaining little pre-Code, early Technicolor suspense/thriller/horror/comedy. Although the two-color Technicolor, cinematography, and the art design help create a creepy Gothic atmosphere, the movie's few moments of tension and horror feel few and far between, as if they were interrupting this other quirky rom-com/mystery movie, making everything feel a little thin or muddled at times. However, it all comes together enough to be worth the watch.

Excellent pre-code horror film, lacking the gothic menace of the Universal classics but imbued with a frantic pace, fun performances and a quirky visual style not too disimilar from The Black Cat; a style uniting german expressionism with art deco. Atwill is outstanding, one of the great, unsung boogeymen of old Hollywood.

Mystery of the Wax Museum is for sure an interesting piece of movie making. The imagery in this horror movie is really cool, helped by the 2-strip Technicolor and live people as wax figures. Lionel Atwill is the creepy wax-maker and as always he's perfect at home in these kinds of roles. Fay Wray was the lady in distress did her thing, but the real lady of the movie was Glenda Farrell as the drunken fast-mouthed reporter and stole all the scenes she was in and was both the comedy and the heroin.

Interesting and entertaining oldie with strong story and some creepy gothic atmospherics. Tries to settle a weird balance between horror, thriller, comedy and romance which doesn't completely work. Individual performances are fine but don't always play well together. The early technicolor looks rough but intense.

The inspiration for the later 3-D _House of Wax_, future _Casablanca_ helmer Curtiz's early two-strip Technicolor outing boasts great sets, swift pacing, pre-Code candor, and a vivid performance by the ever dependable Atwill as the mad sculptor, with Fay supplying the screams and Glenda the wisecracks. This endures as a Golden Age fright film worthy of the name.

Reasonably enjoyable early color flick. Not particularly scary, and if it intended to be it could have easily added more tension and danger. It seemed to be aiming more towards mystery than horror until the end, but it wasn't particularly mysterious either. I wanted it to build more horror, and mystery; I wanted more to happen in general. But in all it was entertaining. And the final scene I never saw coming; I had to laugh out loud.

just awesome. magnificent atmosphere, good characters, nice creepy factor.

All around, it's a good movie. If it wasn't for the last scene, normalizing women abuse, I'd give it a 90.

Glenda Farrell's charming performance steals the show with her fast talking and witty pre-code barbs. There's some pretty nice horror too, made haunting by the combination of early technicolor and solid direction. It all holds up pretty well.

Viewed October 22, 2020.

Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, and Lionel Atwill all put in good performances. The two-strip Technicolor adds to the atmosphere. If you enjoy "House Of Wax" (1953), you should watch this film as well.

Once again Lionel Atwill menaces Fay Wray in an equation that's always proved to be most successful, this time with a very tantalizing scene of a nude Fay about to be doused in hot wax. The DVD is digitally manipulated though to give Wray a stunning blue dress in a breath taking scene but I'll stick with the original color timing on the LD thank you.

The remake, the 1953 _House of Wax_, is actually better. Mainly notable for its pre-Code glimpse of female pubic hair

The best part about this is the crazed Art Deco two-tone look of it.

Rewatch. Getting through the plethora of 30s horror/comedies and this one gets rougher each time I see it. Several plotlines are extremely inconsequential, Wray is wasted on everything except her scream, and the titular mystery ain't much of a mystery. I love Glenda Farrell, but her Torchy Blaine is smarter and funnier in every way.

84.50

Pre-code in colour, and the format is beautifully-used, with genuinely eerie visuals. After a splendid opening it’s disappointingly paced, moving along rather sluggishly until the tense final moments, but it does have one major asset: a terrific performance by Farrell as an early example of the spunky, fast-talking female journalist. Her timing is immaculate, and she storms away with the movie effortlessly. By comparison, Wray is merely adequate, although her legendary lungs get a good workout.

79.000

One need not bother with any other versions of this story. This is the definite article.

Slightly better than the 50s version. But it's still not good. Fay Wray was the best thing in this.

This one is all over the place, trying to hit all the major genres. Ferrell keeps the comedy going with her The Front Page-speed wisecracks; the movie seems glacial when she's not on screen. There's a mystery of who is stealing bodies, and a revenge story that doesn't quite get fully realized or explained. Let's not even mention the creepy eyes in the wax museum that don't turn out to be anything after all.... The best (and most horrifying) scene was the wax dummies melting.

78.500

The strong pre-code flavour and blatant attempt to cash in on THE FRONT PAGE is pretty enjoyable--"How's your sex life?" asks Glenda Farrell's brassy reporter of her cop source, as we see a girlie mag open on his lap--but combined with the utter lack of atmosphere and static performance from Lionel Atwill, it doesn't make for much of a horror movie. The '53 remake is an improvement in every way (humour included).