Mystery of the Wax Museum

Saw the Vincent Price version, never heard of this version, I enjoyed this 1933 film

An impressive early horror movie that set standards for the genre. I saw it reference to TCM's highlighting it as influential. It was a bit cheesy, but entertaining. Saw on DM.

Excellent early 30s horror thriller, done in a 2 strip technicolor process that gives the film an eerie atmosphere. Atwill is an excellent warped antagonist and highly prolific and talented Michael Curtiz does a commendable job directing. Watch it!!

Wonderfully creepy and I appreciate that the fast talking dame reporter is the actual hero of the movie.

Movie is a fun, compelling genre mashup. Part horror, part newspaper story. I was surprised that the big epic showcase sequence, the wax museum fire meltdown happens at the beginning of movie. The newspaper detective story that follows has the right amount of comic tone. Movie has a strong cast, and lots of surprising pre - code dialogue, drug abuse, and gruseome images. But the MVP is Fay Wray. So appealing, so attractive, charming, and sexy.

It is interesting how the story for this movie was repurposed into the 1953 remake starring Vincent Price, which is the version I prefer over all the others. Don't forget there is also a 2005 remake of House of Wax. I enjoyed Mystery of the Wax Museum on its merit. It's a decent movie and an exciting look at hearing the bold dialogue in an era before the Hays Code was shortly enforced.

Rating: 6/10. 65/100

Mystery of the Wax Museum is a classic horror mystery that succeeds at capturing the suspense of the mystery that the story is about. I'm 18 years old so movies from the early 30s aren't really my kind of thing to watch but I wanted to try and get into the classics that inspired a bunch of my favorite horror movies and I can say that this movie still holds up to this day and I'm fascinated by the evolution of where technology in movies have changed. I believe the acting in this movie was really good for the time this movie was made. There were some parts where I felt worried for some characters or didn't know what was going to happen. The movie did drag a little bit towards the beginning of the second act but other than that the movie was well paced. The movie really did shine in the 3rd act near the conclusion and the ending of the movie was satisfying. Overall a great classic that I did have some nitpicks with but still a horror mystery that still holds up to today. I give Mystery of the Wax Museum a B- with 3/5 stars.

Wonderfully creepy and I appreciate that the fast talking dame reporter is the actual hero of the movie.

Mystery of the Wax Museum, an early talkie directed by Michael Curtiz, while far from perfect, is actually pretty entertaining. Centering around a newly opened wax museum in New York and a newspaper writer trying to solve the mystery of a corpse stolen from the morgue, the movie features some pretty decent cinematography, nice sets, and the novelty of no music score, which is refreshing since most films of that era were filled with distracting scores. On the downside, the plot meanders all over the place and the performance by Glenda Farrell as the writer may be one of the most annoying acting performances in the history of cinema.