Alfred Hitchcock Presents (TV Series) The Waxwork (1959) User Reviews

The power of imagination...or was it real?

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 2 April 2021]

Raymond (Barry Nelson) is an idiot. He was gambling and wrote a bad check to cover it. He's been caught and the man he cheated it threating to go to the police unless he makes good...and fast. So, he comes up with an interesting story idea he thinks he can sell to a magazine...and the money he gets should be able to cover the bad debt.

So what is the idea? To stay the night in a wax museum's 'Hall of Murderers' and write an article about this. At first, the owner refuses but ultimately agrees....with tragic consequences for Raymond.

While there isn't much in the way of a good twist, I do appreciate the message about the power of your imagination. Worth seeing.

What's your biggest fear?

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 24 November 2023]

Alfred Hitchcock Presents' "The Waxwork" (1959)

Opening thoughts: 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' may not have been a consistently great series, with some misses in all the seasons, but when it was at its best it was absolutely brilliant. While Robert Stevens was not always consistent in his output for the series, he did do some great work (as well as some real misfires). Absolutely loved the premise for "The Waxwork", as has been said here already, one of the most interesting and creepiest ones of the second half of Season 4.

"The Waxwork" could have executed the premise a good deal better than it did. It is not a bad episode at all and has a lot to recommend it. It is also very uneven, saved by a great on the most part second half but let down by that the episode is not easy to get into at first. When it comes to talking about Season 4, which was uneven like all the other seasons but generally solid, "The Waxwork" is not one of its best or one of its worst. The same goes for when ranking Stevens' 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' output, where it is slightly above middling.

Good things: Good things are actually many. Up to a point, the second half is great. Really liked the dark atmosphere and it was suspenseful and creepy in my view, as the premise sounded. Barry Nelson registers strongly in his role and even better is a quirky and at times unsettling Everett Sloane. Hitchcock's bookending is intriguing and amusing as ever.

Furthermore, "The Waxwork" is solidly made, the photography having some nice atmosphere, and "Funeral March of a Marionette" is never going to stop being memorable. The script is intriguing on the most part.

Bad things: It is a shame that "The Waxwork" is not easy to get into straightaway. The first half is pedestrian and feels far too padded and talky, with set up that takes too long.

Do have to agree as well that the ending is muddled, murky and also rushed. Stevens' direction has times where it is assured and also other times where it is very undistinguished and less than imaginative.

Concluding thoughts: Very uneven outing but above average thanks to the second half.

6/10.

"Something tells me that you are, shall we say, nervous?"

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 29 October 2021]

Aah,the power of suggestion and the impact of imagined fears. When writer Raymond Houston (Barry Nelson) persuades the owner of Marriner's Waxworks (Everett Sloane) to allow him an overnight stay at the museum's 'Murderer's Den', he gets more than his claustrophobic personality bargained for. Agonizing over a story he hopes will get him out of a financial jam, Houston gets frazzled to the point of his vision going wobbly, and believes the wax figures are beginning to move. Only problem is, the newest member of this rogues gallery isn't a wax statue yet, he's escaped from prison and has found the museum to be the perfect hiding place.

I can go with the idea of Houston dying of fright while confronted by the serial killer Bourdette (Shaike Ophir), but what doesn't make sense is how the criminal wound up being executed for his prior crimes the next morning. Given the minimal time frame in which the story took place, you would almost have to consider he went back to prison to await his execution. The story should have left well enough alone and allow Bourdette to make a clean getaway.

This story immediately reminded me of a fourth season episode in Rod Serling's 'Twilight Zone' series titled 'The New Exhibit'. In that one, Martin Balsam's character is the caretaker of Ferguson's Wax Museum, and is alarmed to find out the museum will be closing. So he takes the figures from Murderer's Row home with him, and very soon, his wife and a couple of guests wind up dead. I won't spoil the ending to that one, but the figure who bore the brunt of Balsam's ire was also named Landru!

Good Premise, Lesser Delivery

[dougdoepke · 1 November 2010]

The premise is a promising one—a writer spends the night locked in a wax museum with a murderer's row. Given all the creepy potential, the result is, nonetheless, a shade disappointing. The first half is the set-up where the writer (Nelson) gets over-night permission from the museum owner (Sloane). It's a good chance to see real wax figures up close, but it's also padded, probably to build up co-star Sloane's part.

The second half is Nelson inside and does have its creepy moments. The murderer's row looks like a medieval dungeon, however it's also not very spooky and fails to generate the menacing mood that's needed. Also, I'm a bit puzzled by the climax that seems unduly murky. Nelson's fine as the writer, looking a bit like JFK, while Sloane gets to show off his quirky side. But, all in all, the premise promises more than it delivers.

(In passing—IMDb lists Jackie Cooper as the writer, an evident mistake.)

Ending lost 4 stars

[Sonyarenee1 · 6/10 · 29 June 2020]

You would think an episode like this couldn't possibly be screwed up. This one was about fear, not an actual escape and murder. Would have been better if Bourdette had not been an illusion.

Not Such a Bad Story

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 20 March 2013]

Barry Nelson arrives at a wax museum and asks to spend the night, locked up in a display of the world's worst murderers. He needs to write a story in order to earn enough to pay off a gambling debt from some pretty bad guys. He eventually talks the curator into allowing him to stay, but there are some problems. He must be locked for the night (to protect the property from thieves). It is also made clear to us that he is extremely claustrophobic. As he does his thing, he senses that the wax figures are moving. One in particular, a mesmerist who hypnotized and killed people with a straight razor, seems to slip between the other figures, moving to him with his murderous eyes. I won't ruin the fun, but it is an example of how the mind outdo the body. It's ultimately about fear.

Close Shave

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 30 November 2012]

***SPOILERS*** Creepy Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode based on a 1931 A.M Burrage short story about this down and out American reporter Raymond Huston, Barry Nelson,in London who gambled away his last dollar and comes up with this get rich quick and fool proof plan to bail himself out. He takes up a bet, here he goes gambling again, with a friend of his that he can survive a night locked up in the famous London Wax Museum without as much as wetting his pants much less dying from fright in him doing it!

Warned by the museum curator Mr. Marriner,Everett Sloane, that he's taking his life in his hands in doing it Huston goes on with his plan feeling that one night in the museum is no worse then a night in his London hotel room to spend the evening in. As Huston was soon to find out before the evening was over he was wrong in his assumption; Dead Wrong!

****SPOILERS*** Being locked up in the museum's notorious "Murderers Den" Huston at first seemed to hold out quite well not being scared or intimidated by the wax figures of the famous murders he was spending the evening with. That's until the latest entry to the den the just execrated barber killer Bourdette, Shaike Ophir, started to show signs of life. Whaever it was Huston's imagination or Bourdette's wax figure coming to life the results turned out to be fatal for him!

***MAJOR SPOILER***By the way the next morning when Mr.Marriner and his workers found Huston Bourdette wasn't yet among the wax figures in the museum. He in fact was executed, the last man to be executed in the UK before it suspended for good the death penalty, at the London prison at almost the exact moment that Huston supposedly met him with deadly results in the wax museum!

Atmospheric and unexpected

[sheepandsharks · 9/10 · 20 July 2023]

A creepy wax museum isn't anything new in the horror genre, and there are only so many ways the story can go -- which is why I was pleasantly surprised that this episode didn't end up going down any of the expected paths.

Will we discover that the eccentric museum owner is harvesting actual humans to create his wax creations? We are certainly led to believe that it's going that way in the first half of the episode, but... Nope! (Admittedly, this would have been less cliche and also more shocking in 1957.)

Will the waxworks come to life in the night, attacking our protagonist? Well... Not quite. There is actually great restraint on this front, with only a few minor movements (which are believable as tricks of Huston's mind) before our understated confrontation.

The horror in this episode is purely psychological, and watching Huston quickly feel the effects of being locked away (first in a room, and then in his mind) are thrilling and uncomfortable -- particularly if you suffer from claustrophobia yourself.

I can't end this review without mentioning the fantastic waxwork effects on display. The makeup applied to the dummies (and then to the "live" Bourchette) isn't overdone, and falls perfectly into the uncanny valley of a corpse prepared for a viewing. A few well-placed, truly brilliant shots -- holding on blank wax visages, an eyeball being removed from a wax head, a leg bent unnaturally beneath the trouser -- are enough to make your skin crawl without being forced. There is also a distinct lack of the obvious "dummy was just switched out with a real actor and now looks completely different and is also noticeably wobbling" shots that plague this genre. The effects alone bump this from an 8 to a 9.

Museum Piece

[telegonus · 4/10 · 6 August 2018]

This one is truly a sub-par entry in the usually excellent Hitchcock half-hour series. There aren't too many this bad,--and there are much worse--but it truly lacks originality, pacing, good dialogue and a good story.

On the surface it's a promising idea: an American journalist in London, who also has some gambling debts, wants to spend a night in a wax museum for, among other reasons, a good true life magazine story.

So far, so good; and a promising cast, too, including two capable veteran players, Barry Nelson, as the journalist; and Everett Sloane as the museum owner. Yet the set-up at least is if nothing else promising.

Once the journalist is alone the museum for the night, as one might expect, strange things start happening. Or are they figments of the man's imagination? He appears normal enough, yet he seems easily spooked by the eerie atmosphere, as he's surrounded by wax figures of well known murderers.

Alas, the story unfolds as one might expect, as wax museum tales, like ventriloquist dummy ones, tend to feature similar themes and resolutions. This one is disappointingly conventional, especially as it's a Hitchcock entry.

Yet it's by no means all bad, just not very good. The actors help, as does the art direction, which nicely suggests sinister things lurking right around the corner. The episode does have a few modest virtues.

Robert Stevens was a capable director, yet he failed to bring much to the table with this one, which might have benefited from being handled by a more seasoned movie man with some experience handling macabre yarns such as this one.

I think of Robert Florey and John Brahm, who were active in American television around the time this one was made; and I suspect that either would have made a better job of it, with inventive camera placement, stronger pacing, shadows in all the right places.