House of Wax (1953)

Director:

André De Toth

Writers:

Charles Belden (story)
Crane Wilbur (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 April 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU'VE SEEN BEFORE! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A horribly disfigured sculptor opens up the House of Wax in New York, using the wax-covered bodies of his victims as his displays. And he's now set his eyes on his Marie Antoinette...

Plot Keywords:

Wax | Sculptor | Morgue | Wax Museum | Fire

Cast

Vincent Price	...	Prof. Henry Jarrod
Frank Lovejoy	...	Lt. Tom Brennan
Phyllis Kirk	...	Sue Allen
Carolyn Jones	...	Cathy Gray
Paul Picerni	...	Scott Andrews
Roy Roberts	...	Matthew Burke
Angela Clarke	...	Mrs. Andrews
Paul Cavanagh	...	Sidney Wallace
Dabbs Greer	...	Sgt. Jim Shane
Charles Bronson	...	Igor (as Charles Buchinsky)
Reggie Rymal	...	The barker

Also Known As:

The Wax Works (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Warnercolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Stereo (WarnerPhonic/RCA)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Netherlands:12 | West Germany:16 (nf) | USA:GP (re-rating) (1971) | Argentina:13 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:(Banned) (1953) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 (re-release) | UK:PG (video rating) (1988) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:Approved (PCA #16385)

Company:

Bryan Foy Productions

Trivia:

Nedrick Young, who plays the alcoholic assistant Leon, was uncredited because he had been blacklisted during the McCarthy "Red scare" era in Hollywood.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Profesor Jarrod says that William Kemmler was electrocuted on August 3rd 1890 but in actuality he was executed on August 6th 1890.

Quotes:

Sgt. Jim Shane: [looking at the wax figure of Joan Of Arc who resembles Cathy Gray] That's a copy of her face alright , but she didn't look that way the night we saw her at Ma Flannigan’s rooming house.
Lt. Tom Brennan: Not so composed huh.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Muppet*vision 3-D (1991)

A horror classic, which every fan of the genre should see. Vincent Price's horror persona begins here!

I love Vincent Price, my all time favourite horror actor. 'House Of Wax' is an important movie in his career, because it was his first legitimate horror film, after thirty something pictures in a variety of genres. This really is where the Price persona fans know and love began. He made non-horror pictures after this, it was a few years later that he made 'The Fly' and the William Castle movies which made him a horror star, something cemented later in the 60s with Roger Corman's Poe movies. But you can see Vincent Price horror icon right here. He's terrific as Jarrod and he would draw upon this role for 'The Mad Magician', and later, the Phibes movies and 'Theatre Of Blood'. 'House Of Wax' is a remake of 'Mystery Of The Wax Museum' made twenty years earlier. In that one Lionel Atwill played the Price role (different name, but same character). Atwill was great but Price is even better, as is the movie overall. 'House Of Wax' sticks pretty much to the earlier movie, but with a few changes, most notably the absence of the girl reporter character that Fay Wray played in the original. In this, the policeman played by Frank Lovejoy ('In A Lonely Place') takes on a similar role. Phyllis Kirk is good as the female lead, better in my opinion than Glenda Farrell in the earlier picture. The supporting cast also includes Carolyn "Morticia Addams" Jones, and an early appearance by Charles Bronson, who plays a deaf mute named Igor. 'House Of Wax' was made specifically for 3D, so there's a few gimmicky shots, but that doesn't spoil the movie, which to me is a horror classic that every fan of the genre should see.