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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rare Fay Wray vechicle available for us to enjoy, May 1, 2002
This review is from: Mystery of the Wax Museum [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This film had long intrigued me but I only viewed it for the first time last year. I had been familiar with the excellent Vincent Price remake "House of Wax" so I was eager to see the film it was based on. "Mystery of the Wax Museum" is I feel a superb example of early 30's film making. It has a theme not often used at that time and has assembled a great cast of performers for the story. The always interesting Lionel Atwill is in this instance perfectly cast as the sinister museum owner who has unusual methods of creating his visually "realistic and lifelike" wax figures in his display. Lionel had a way with portraying sinister and deranged characters and I think his best performance was in the superb "Murders in the Zoo" where his character was of a similiar deranged slant as this one. One of the joys of this film is also seeing a rare (for me) performance by the famed Fay Wray. So often totally identified with her most famous role in "King Kong" it is easy to forget she began in silent films as a child actress and appeared in the famed "Wedding March". Fay can certainly scream with the best of them and is given ample opportunity here to exercise her lungs!! She is the object of Atwill's rather unwelcome attentions here and almost ends up as part of the display dealing with Marie Antoinette. Glenda Farrell is also excellent as the wise cracking reporter who wont "stay in the car" so to speak and is determined to solve the riddle of what actually is going on in the museum. She has some terrific lines and adds a much needed light humour to the proceedings. The film is unusual for its time in that it uses a very unusual 2 strip technicolour techique , rare for the time which gives the film a rich and quite sinister glow in particular in the museum scenes. The overraul feel created in the film is exceptional and it can be seen that Warners lavished a good budget on it. The museum scenes in particular are beautifully created and have an eerie atmosphere and definately heighten the drama as it unfolds. Probably the highlight of the film is when in the final struggle Wray "demolishes" Atwill face mask which crumbles away to reveal the hideous scarring underneath. It is still a heart stopper...brilliant makeup work for the time which elevates "Mystery of the Wax Museum" to classic status.A film that should be in every horror fan's collection.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wray and Atwill Equals Big Shocks!, June 8, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Mystery of the Wax Museum [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Filmed in a beautfiul two-tone Technicolor in l932, Mystery of the Wax Museum is a fascinating horror film that actually delivers shocks. This is thanks to Lionel Atwill's impressive performance as the warped, evil creator of wax figures for his New York museum. Although Fay Wray doesn't have that much screen time, she looks gorgeous in a brunette bob and shrieks like a real Scream Queen. But stealing the movie with her hilarious wise-cracks and personality is B-actress champion, Glenda Farrell. Snapping her gum, spitting out one-liners, she keeps this dark, gruesome movie racing along. In one scene she tells cops who ask her to describe the human monster she just saw: "I don't know how to describe him but he makes Frankenstein look like a lilly!" Anton Grot and Hans Drier marvelous gothic sets are worth seeing. Even the opening titles,framed against a quaking New York City lit by an eerie greenish glow, sets the tone. Glenda later remembered that it got so hot under the primitive technicolor lights that everyone's makeup melted within 3 minutes after a scene began. Not to mention people fainting now and then from the hellish heat. But this contributed to a genuine horror classic. A must-have for any collection of fantasy or early Technicolor epics. It's also fun to see what the well-dressed reporters of the early 30s wore. The climatic scene when Fay Wray shrieks and breaks away the wax mask of the monster is one of the great fright scenes in movies. A must-have.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thrills, Wisecracks, and Fay Wray Screaming, March 18, 2002
This review is from: Mystery of the Wax Museum [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Lionel Atwill is the artist and owner of a London wax museum that is torched by his partner to get the insurance money. Years later, having been injured in the blaze, Atwill turns up in New York, preparing a new wax museum for opening. If only he could quickly re-create some of his lost masterpieces. But of course, he's gone a little mad and he comes up with a way .... Enter Fay Wray, the spitting image of his lost Marie Antoinette. Hmmm. I'm sure you get the idea. This is a most unusual Warner Brothers' early Thirties film. Filmed in an early, two strip Technicolor, the film has a remarkable, almost unreal feeling about it, much like the wax figures. It's an unusual subject and genre for the studio to have tackled, but director Michael Curtiz keeps the action moving, so the film never gets dull. Atwill is appropriately creepy, Wray screams with the best of them, and Glenda Farrell, as the wisecracking, adventurous reporter out to expose it all, steals the show with her lively, energetic performance. It's got the thrills and the humour necessary to entertain, plus a few memorable moments.
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