The Vincent Price remake is arguably the scarier of the two versions. Although it duplicates many scenes and sections of dialogue from the earlier film, it adds a couple of effective sequences involving the villain of the piece. In one, the scarred fiend chases heroine Phyllis Kirk through dark, rain-slicked streets in the dead of night; in the other, he commits a gruesome murder. Price is deliciously hammy in the role. He constantly threatens to go over the top, but pulls back just in time (at least until the end, when he lets go with relish). Miss Kirk, with her china doll beauty and deep modulated voice makes a wonderful heroine, and Charles Buchinsky (later Bronson) stands out as a muscled and menacing deaf-mute who lurks among the shadows of the museum. The production's color and lighting are outstanding ... the viewer is often left wondering which figures are human and which are wax, and there are several shocks and surprises along the way. The DVD offers an exceptionally fine film-to-video transfer, and don't forget to watch the Original Theatrical Trailer! It's an example of Hollywood ballyhoo at its best, and features some gorgeous color graphics.

The legendary 1933 original version was believed, for decades, to be a "lost film". Film buffs all over the world rejoiced when a surviving print was finally located in the late 1970's; unfortunately, (and unsurprisingly) the actual film was unable to live up to the hype that built up around it during its absence. Despite its considerable virtues, including great performances from Lionel Atwill as the villain and Fay Wray as the gorgeous screaming heroine, "Mystery of the Wax Museum" is marred by an over-abundance of comic relief. Playing a hard-boiled newspaper "dame" who delivers her peppery dialogue in machine gun fashion, Glenda Farrell is neither comic nor a relief. She's simply obnoxious. Still, she's lovely to look at in early two-strip Technicolor. This process, which registers color most heavily in hues of blue and orange, was a crude forerunner of the three-strip "candy-box" Technicolor that made its feature-film debut two years later in the 1935 production of "Becky Sharp". It should be noted that this DVD offers the best restored version of "Wax Museum" yet seen; the color is more vivid and the sound much clearer than that featured on any TV prints or on the earlier MGM VHS version.

All in all, this is a DVD package that should please both horror buffs and film historians alike; it's certainly a great value to receive the 1933 version as a "bonus feature". Here's a double feature made to order for a chilly evening; enjoy it with a bowl of popcorn ... and maybe a burning candle.


This Film is a Must!   February 25, 2001
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I saw this movie at my school in a somewhat theatre experience, but it was worth it. I wish that I could've seen this film in the original 3-D process, because then it would've been much better. But I thought that Vincent Price gave a really great performance as the mad curator of a wax museum that was burned down by his money hungry partner that wanted the insurance money. In a very creepy few minutes, all of the wax figures melt down as Vincent Price tries to get out. Then VIncent Price opens a wax museum that a woman recognises her friend as the Joan of Arc model. She then gets to suspecting, but we already know that Price uses real dead bodies for his models. I won't give away the ending, but I think that you must see this movie. Price is the best villan of all because he gives in more acting than anyone else in the film. I suggest that you see this movie because it shows 50's horror at its peak. Watch this movie. It shows Vincent Price when he first got into the horror market, which was made for him


The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is on Fire.. (dvd features below)   June 13, 2008
 8 out of 9 found this review helpful

We don't need no water let the mother fer burn said Vincent Price's partner in the unprofitable wax museum that he sets ablaze for the insurance money. The price of the insurance money is no match for Price's revenge which is priceless.
Prof. Henry Jarrod (Price), who was thought to be killed in the blaze was only badly burned and now wants to rebuild his wax museum with a little help from his friend (a jacked up, real life, Charlie Bronson named Igor), where art not only imitates life but also death.
This is a staple to any horror fans dvd collection and one of Price's best films and there are many. I've heard negative things about the transfer of this dvd but thought it to be very good.

Special dvd features:
House of wax premier newsreel - interactive menus - theatrical trailer- scene access- mystery of the wax museum


Terrific Double Bill   January 20, 2005
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

This delicious double bill features "Mystery at the Wax Museum" and its remake, "House of Wax." Both tell the tale of a turn-of-the-century sculptor in a wax museum who develops an unusual attachment to his creations and becomes horribly disfigured when his partner sets fire to the museum in order to collect the insurance. Mad for revenge, the sculptor sets up a new wax museum, this time using the dead bodies of his murder victims beneath the wax glaze.

The best of the two great films is "Mystery at the Wax Museum" (1933). Among the many things it has going for it is Glenda Farrell as Flo Dempsey, a wisecracking, rapid-talking, saucy blonde reporter who suspects the nefarious goings-on and goes with gusto after her story. Farrell rated her own "Torchy Blaine" film series in the 30's and is ace here, providing lots of energetic fun. Also featured is exquisitely beautiful Fay Wray and a wonderful Lionel Atwill as Ivan Igor, the demented sculptor. The dialogue is sharp and vibrant, being pre-code. With the influence of German Expressionism, it's also great to look at with an early two-strip Technicolor process and interesting sets. Another fascinating aspect is the look at New York City in that period: Greenwich Village apartments with their skylights and fireplaces, and Times Square on New Years Eve 1933. The whole thing is a delight.

It's companion "House of Wax" is also a deliciously fun film, originally shown in 3-D, and worthy of a big bowl of popcorn and a rainy night. Vincent Price is priceless (honk honk) as the disfigured sculptor, Henry Jarrod, and gives one of his best performances. Also in the story are Phyllis Kirk as Sue Allen, a young woman who becomes suspicious of the sculptor when her roommate, Cathy Gray (Carolyn Jones), is murdered and a wax figure uncannily resembling Cathy turns up in Jarrod's exhibition. A very young Charles Bronson (listed in the credits as Charles Buchinsky) appears as Igor, a deaf mute, one of the professor's sinister assistants. The 3-D influences are still apparent throughout. A man advertising the opening of the new House of Wax, for instance, bangs away on elastic-tethered paddle balls in front of the building and in 3-D, these balls looked like they were coming right over the heads of the movie audience. With no blood and gore, only lots of atmosphere, it's also pure fun and not unpleasantly sadistic as some other Price horror films. Especially delightful is Carolyn Jones, best known as "Morticia" on "The Addams Family," as golddigger Cathy. She's a hoot!

This is a great combination. I only wish it was possible to see "House of Wax" in 3-D (as it appeared on the screen) through DVD, because that would make this double bill perfect.



Original 1933 MYSTERY is the real prize here-differences   March 24, 2005
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

The cleaned up and brightened WB print to the original 1933 MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM is the true find here. I compared it to WB's 1987 VHS release and the latter looks positively murky, compared to the brightness and cleanliness of this dvd transfer. It's a revelation and is still the supreme achievement in two-strip Technicolor.

Differences between the two films:

Original is set in both the past and the 1933 present. Remake is set solidly in the early 20th century past. Original takes place first in London, then NYC. The remake takes place continuously in NYC.

The characters of the newspaper reporter and editor, as well as the wealthy boyfriend of the first victim are scrapped. Phyllis Kirk in the remake absorbs both the Farrell and Wray characters of the original in being both the curious snoop and the sought after model for the Marie Antoinette.

In the remake the initial visits by the co-owner villain and the entrepreneurs are reversed. The remake has a gas explosion intensifying the supposed effects of the fire. In the remake the murder of the villain is actually seen and takes place early in the film.

The murdered girl who becomes the body of Joan of Arc becomes Kirk's roommate in the remake.

The morgue body stealing sequence is intact in both versions, down to the dialogue.

Among the new sequences added is the return of the original entrepreneur who is shown the waxing process in the basement.

There is an intermission in the remake, occurring 43:30 minutes into the film, just before the Wax Museum opening.

The sculpture boyfriend is new to the Museum in the remake, not an already established worker. In the remake the stoolie is an alcoholic, not a junky.

The police investigation is much more proactive in the remake. Nice added touch of the almost guillotined boyfriend in the remake.

Both are fun films - this is a great double bill dvd - especially with the restoration of the 1933 original.