House of Wax
by André de Toth
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Carolyn Jones, Frank Lovejoy, Paul Picerni, Phyllis Kirk, Vincent PriceDirector: André de Toth
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Dubbed), Unknown; Spanish (Dubbed), Unknown
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 165 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-08-05
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of House of Wax
Movie Review: A twofer worth picking up
Summary: 5 Stars
God bless Vincent Price. If I made a short list of the individuals most influential in shaping the American horror film genre, this actor would sit near the top. His filmography alone testifies to his massive influence on the genre: "House of Wax," "Tomb of Ligeia," "The Oblong Box," "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Haunted Palace," "Pit and the Pendulum," "House of Usher," "The Tingler," "House on Haunted Hill," "The Fly," "Return of the Fly," "Tales of Terror," "Diary of a Madman," "Scream and Scream Again," "Cry of the Banshee," and "The Abominable Dr. Phibes." These are only a sampling; I could go on and on with the great and not so great horror movies containing the indomitable Vincent Price. His physical presence, his ability to transform his face into horrific countenances, and that memorable voice all combined to deliver thrills and chills to millions of viewers. I recall hearing that Price often felt his horror films typecast him, that desperately yearned to become a serious actor in serious roles. It's unfortunate he felt that way, but he should have taken comfort in the fact that the horror medium would not be as important as it is today without him.
Take "House of Wax," for example. Fans consider director Andre De Toth's 3-D remake of Michael Curtiz's 1933 film "Mystery of the Wax Museum" Price's best horror film performance. It's difficult to disagree. Price plays the sensitive sculptor Professor Henry Jarrod, a man more at home constructing elaborate wax mannequins than dealing with people. When his business partner Matthew Burke (Roy Roberts) sets the museum on fire in order to collect insurance money, the conflagration scars Jarrod's body and mind. He returns years later in an elaborate mask to rebuild his museum, a museum that becomes a raging success with the public thanks to the sordid and sensationalistic sculptures of infamous criminals, but this time he murders and steals bodies from the morgue to use as building materials. With the help of his morose assistant Igor (Charles Bronson), Jarrod terrorizes Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) because she resembles his greatest work of art, Marie Antoinette, and because she learns his horrible secret. "House of Wax" becomes a race against time as Sue's boyfriend and the police work speedily to uncover the sculptor's true identity as well as rescue Allen from a fate worse than death. To say Price's performance in "House of Wax" is sublime is an understatement.
Even better, the other side of this DVD contains Michael Curtiz's "Mystery of the Wax Museum," a film that achieves great success in its own way. Made in 1933 but lost for some thirty years, Curtiz's movie introduces us to Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwill), a wax sculptor whose benefactor torches the museum in order to collect insurance money. Igor reemerges in New York years later to rebuild a new museum, and it isn't too long afterwards that Joan Gale's body disappears from the morgue. The missing body piques the interest of a smart aleck reporter by the name of Florence Dempsey (Glenda Farrell), who needs a front-page blockbuster if she wants to keep her job. Her investigation soon turns up Igor's museum, and she also discovers that her roommate Charlotte Duncan's (Fay Wray) boyfriend works with the tempestuous artist. Before you know it, Igor abducts Charlotte in order to create a new Marie Antoinette statue. It's up to Dempsey, Duncan's boyfriend, and the police to sort everything out. By watching Curtiz's film, it is possible to see how many scenes De Toth lifted, shot for shot, for his 3-D remake. I find it difficult to say which version is better.
"House of Wax" has a lot going for it. Price is amazing and riveting as the damaged sculptor. He puts so much into the performance that the viewer finds it difficult to condemn his scurrilous actions. Look for a young Carolyn Jones as Sue Allen's gold digging friend Cathy Gray, who ends up on display in Jarrod's new museum, as well as an even younger Charles Bronson as the brooding and lumpy Igor. Sadly the DVD format prevents us from watching the film in 3-D, but it's not hard to notice which scenes would have leaped off the screen. That sequence with the barker and the paddleball outside the museum must have looked absolutely fantastic on the big screen. Whereas Price stole the show in the remake, it's Glenda Farrell's world in "Mystery of the Wax Museum." As good as Lionel Atwill is as the unbalanced sculptor, he pales in comparison to the mouthy Farrell. Fay Wray doesn't even try to keep up with this wonderful gal. Farrell's Florence gets all the best lines, most of the screen time, and she's pretty darn beautiful in a sort of in your face way. Curtiz filmed "Mystery of the Wax Museum" in an early, experimental Technicolor format that reminds me all those films Ted Turner worked his nefarious magic on a few years back.
Regrettably, there are few extras for either film. "House of Wax" comes with a rather melodramatic trailer and footage from the film's big screen premiere. "Mystery of the Wax Museum" gets nothing in the way of extras, a big disappointment when one considers the early Technicolor treatment and the fact that the movie disappeared for three decades. Couldn't someone throw in a documentary about these two items somewhere on the disc? How about a documentary concerning "House of Wax" and its influence on the 3-D craze? Oh well, it's not the end of the world. Both films are great fun to watch and that's all the matters ultimately.
Summary of House of Wax
IN ORDER TO REBUILD HIS WAX MUSEUM AFTER A FIRE, PROFESSOR HENRYJARROD HAS RESORTED TO USING HUMAN BODIES COVERED WITH WAX...Similar DVD Movies
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