IMDb > Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
Mystery of the Wax Museum
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Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) More at IMDbPro »

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Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) -- MyMovieScripts.com - Trailer (Flash)

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Overview

User Rating:
6.9/10   1,528 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 12% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Charles Belden (play)
Don Mullaly (writer) ...
more
Contact:
View company contact information for Mystery of the Wax Museum on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
17 February 1933 (USA) more
Tagline:
IS SHE WOMAN OR WAX??? Solve it -- if you dare! more
Plot:
In London, sculptor Ivan Igor struggles in vain to prevent his partner Worth from burning his wax museum... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
NewsDesk:
(3 articles)
Top Five Movie Screamers
 (From Alternative Film Guide. 30 October 2009, 7:09 PM, PDT)

Greatest Scream Queens
 (From SoundOnSight. 1 September 2009, 12:00 PM, PDT)

User Comments:
Colorful Horror Film more (61 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited 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
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
The Mystery of the Wax Museum (USA) (poster title)
Wax Museum
more
Runtime:
77 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (2-strip Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Vitaphone)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Although the title had been changed to "Mystery of the Wax Museum", the leaders on the original release prints still gave the title as "Wax Museum". more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: If you look closely at Ivan Igors burned hands you can tell that he's wearing gloves. more
Quotes:
Jim: [handing Florence a drawing] Here’s your portrait.
Florence: [looking at picture of a mouse riding a horse, mouse has hand in the shape of a gun] Which ones me, the horse?
Jim: Will you get out of here
[throws tobacco pouch at her]
Jim: .
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Carry on Screaming! (1966) more
Soundtrack:
Agitato more

FAQ

Can I watch this film online?
more
13 out of 14 people found the following comment useful.
Colorful Horror Film, 23 January 2000
10/10
Author: Ron Oliver (revilorest@juno.com) from Forest Ranch, CA

London after dark. A gallery of life-like wax figures. An argument, a fight & a fire. A man left to die in the flames. And as they melt, the figures seem to weep at their own destruction.

So starts MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM, credited as the first horror film with a modern urban setting - New York City. Glenda Farrell is the brash, blonde reporter trying to help her pal Fay Wray discover the secrets of a new wax museum just about to open, and those of its director Lionel Atwill, who is confined to a wheelchair due to a past accident. Murder & mayhem & wax-covered flesh will all figure into the plot before the mystery is solved.

This was one of Atwill's best roles, playing an artist driven to dementia by the destruction of the only things he ever really loved. His is a very special, nuanced performance.

Like DOCTOR X the year before, MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM benefits from wonderful Anton Grot sets (especially the wax bath) and from having been filmed in early two-strip Technicolor, which makes all the ghastly figures seem to come alive...

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (61 total)

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
DID ANYBODY ELSE NOTICE THIS? tdnh_2000
The ending (spoiler) FlamRatamacues
Glenda Farrell mkeller-8
As Good as 1953 version? mmpabbott
Eye-gore? LCShackley
(I know I know LOL) another list :) mrsramthun
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