HOUSE
OF WAX (1953)Director: André De Toth
Warner Bros.
HOUSE
OF WAX (1953)Although he had played in horror films earlier in his career, it would take Warner Brothers' 1953 production of HOUSE OF WAX to confirm Vincent Price as a true cinematic master of the macabre. The film utilized the 3-D technique--one of the great fads of the 50s--to great effect, and it was one of the top grossing films of the year when first released. It was so successful that the following year, Warner made a similar 3-D gothic extravaganza with PHANTOM OF THE RUE MORGUE, and Columbia virtually remade HOUSE as THE MAD MAGICIAN, also with Price.
Price plays Henry Jarrod, a waxworks
sculptor with a small museum in New York. Against Jarrod's will, his business
partner sets the place on fire in an insurance scam, and Jarrod is assumed dead.
Some months later he resurfaces, hands burnt and useless, and having to get
around in a wheelchair. A new, improved wax museum is built to great fanfare,
b
ut
people are being murdered by a horribly disfigured phantom, who is obviously
really Jarrod. Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk), a young woman whose boyfriend (Paul
Picerni) works for Jarrod, recognizes her deceased friend as the face of the
wax Joan of Arc--and she's convinced that her corpse is underneath the wax.
Jarrod has his sights set on Sue Allen as his new wax Mary Antoinette.
Due to its 3-D gimmick and numerous
theatrical re-releases and revivals, HOUSE OF WAX has been seen by many, and
has since become something of a mainstream horror classic. The vivid color photography
and period setting pre-dated the British Hammer films and Corman/Poe cycle by
years, and this almost looks like a blueprint for those films. Price is sinister,
menacing and campy and seems to be having a great deal of fun with the Grand
Guignol antics. The film is admittedly a lot more fun in 3-D (if you've 
never
seen it this way, try and catch a theatrical revival), but still works well
in 2-D on the small screen. Look for Carolyn Jones ("Morticia" on
"The Addams Family") and a young Charles Bronson (here billed as Charles
Buchinsky) as Price's mute assistant. I also must mention that director André
De Toth was blind in one eye, thus not being able to see the film in 3-D with
the special required glasses!
Warner Bros. has presented HOUSE
OF WAX on DVD not in 3-D (which doesn't seem to be perfected yet in terms of
the DVD format), but in a satisfying edition nonetheless. The image is full
frame, which is true to its original aspect ratio. Colors are nicely saturated
with good texture. The colors do lean towards the warm side, and there is a
good amount of grain in the picture for most of the show, but it's not excessively
overbearing. Most of detail remains sharp, while a few scenes are a bit on the
soft side. The audio track is given the Dolby Surround Stereo treatment, and
while dialog is always clear and sound effects are given a nice boost, there
is noticeable background hiss evident in quitter scenes. Mono French and Spanish
language tracks are included, as well as optional subtitles in English, Chinese,
French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai!
Warner has also has included the
77-minute feature MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM, which is viewable on the flip side
of the disc. Directed by Michael Curtiz (CASABLANCA) in 1933, the film was remade
20 years later as HOUSE OF WAX, with numerous scenes being very similar. It
stars the wonderful Lionel Atwill in the role that Price would later reinvent,
as well as Fay Wray (KING KONG) showing us why she is such a pioneering scream
queen. The film was made in the 2-strip Technicolor 
process,
giving it a unique look for a melodrama made in the early 30s. On DVD, the film
looks fairly decent. The 2-strip process usually appears a bit inky, like a
colorized black & white movie, but passable taken into the context of what
is. There are a number of lines, nicks, jumps and blemishes in the print source,
but being that this film was once considered lost, really nothing to complain
about. The mono audio is surprisingly sufficient.
Also included is some silent (with music) black & white newsreel footage entitled "Round-the-Clock Premiere: Coast Hails House of Wax." This is film of patrons outside the Paramount theater for a midnight premiere of HOUSE OF WAX. You'll see Bela Lugosi (in Dracula garb) with a guy in a gorilla suit, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Danny Thomas, Shelley Winters and others. Rounding out this DVD package is a theatrical trailer for HOUSE OF WAX which is more like a "teaser," not showing any actual scenes from the movie. (George R. Reis)
Related link: http://www.3dfilmfest.com