House of Wax (1953)

An associate burns down a wax museum with the owner inside, but he survives only to become vengeful and murderous.

Director:

André De Toth

Writers:

Crane Wilbur (screenplay), Charles Belden (story)

Stars:

Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

Professor Henry Jarrod is a true artist whose wax sculptures are lifelike. He specializes in historical tableau's such a Marie Antoinette or Joan of Arc. His business partner, Matthew Burke, needs some of his investment returned to him and pushes Jarrod to have more lurid exposes like a chamber of horrors. When Jarrod refuses, Burke set the place alight destroying all of his beautiful work in the hope of claiming the insurance. Jarrod is believed to have died in the fire but he unexpectedly reappears some 18 months later when he opens a new exhibit. This time, his displays focus on the macabre but he has yet to reproduce his most cherished work, Marie Antoinette. When he meets his new assistant's beautiful friend, Sue Allen, he knows he's found the perfect model - only unbeknown to anyone, he has a very particular way of making his wax creations.

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Plot Keywords:

wax | sculptor | fire | wax museum | morgue | 

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Taglines:

Beauty and Terror meet in your seat...as every thrill of its story comes off the screen right at you in NaturalVision 3 dimension

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

GP

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 April 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Wax Works

Filming Locations:

Stage 12, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$658,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$23,750,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bryan Foy Productions, Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Stereo (WarnerPhonic/RCA)

Color:

Color (Warnercolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first 3-D color movie ever to be produced by a major American studio. Shooting took place January 19-February 21 1953, for release April 9.

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Goofs

During the opening scenes when the camera is showing the inside of the museum before Prof. Jarrod's friends arrive, you can see all the lights over the displays are already on and Booth's figure already has his head turned in a certain direction, Booth's figure also changes position in several different shots.

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Quotes

Prof. Henry Jarrod: Jarrod is dead. I'm a reincarnation.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are in 3-D

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Connections

Featured in Precious Images (1986)

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Soundtracks

"On the Rue de la Paix"
(uncredited)
Music by Werner R. Heymann
Danced by the can-can dancers

User Reviews

When horror films were fun for everybody!

HOUSE OF WAX established Vincent Price as a horror film icon. He's never hammy here. He's best when describing gruesome details (like torture or murder) with a slight grin, as if he's building to a punchline. Crane Wilbur's screenplay has well researched details (regarding how wax sculpting works, the effects of chemical burns for example) improves on the 1933 original. Here Vincent Price plays Henry Jerrod, a wax sculptor whose first try at a wax museum meets the same infernal end as Atwill's museum in the first film. 12 years later, Jerrod opens a new museum. One of his intern sculptors dates a model, Sue (Phyllis Kirk) who is hounded by a mysterious man with a distorted face. In the original film version, made in 1933, Fay Wray plays a beautiful, but uninteresting damsel in distress. Phyllis Kirk fills Fay Wray's part here, and man, is she even more boring! But don't worry, you have plenty of Vincent to make this DVD worthwhile. It's easy to find in a bit part, young Charles Bronson (billed here as Charles Buchinsky) as one of Jerrod's s interns. HOUSE OF WAX's most famous element is that it was made in 3-D. This new gimmick, meant to lure television viewers back to the box office was novel, but it had it's kinks. (Warner Brothers improved the process a year later with the 3-D release of Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER, and yet another period horror film, PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE.) The most amusing 3-D moment in HOUSE OF WAX has almost nothing to do with the story. A carnival barker, (played with crowd-pleasing energy by Reggie Rymal) constantly whacks a paddle-ball outside the wax museum, while heralding the museum's opening night thrills. He faces the camera (meaning us) and says `You! With the popcorn. Hold still.' and he proceeds to repeatingly whack the ball at the camera. HOUSE OF WAX is a lot of fun, and was a big hit at the time. The DVD does not come with a 3-D Process, but it does come with coverage of HOUSE OF WAX's Hollywood Premier. It's attended by Bela Lugosi and friend, Jack Warner, and Ronald Reagan (See, even Presidents watch horror movies!)