“I don’t know what he was, but he made Frankenstein look like a lily.”
In 1921 London, Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwill) is sculptor who creates historic wax figures for a small wax museum that he owns. He refers to his creations as his children. His works are detailed and lifelike. His financial backer, Joe Worth (Edwin Maxwell) says the business is hemorrhaging money. He wants to collect on the fire insurance but Igor is horrified at the idea. When Worth attempts to start a fire Igor attacks him. In the fight that ensues Igor is knocked unconscious. Worth abandons Igor to the burning building and locks the door.
Twelve years later it’s New Year's Day 1933 in New York City. Florence Dempster (Glenda Farrell) is a spitfire reporter who is under the gun to come up with a story for her paper. She gets a tip that Joan Gale (Monica Bannister), a model, who supposedly committed suicide, may have actually been murdered by her ex-boyfriend, George Winton (Gavin Gordon). She goes to the coroner’s office for the autopsy results. When she gets there she finds out that Joan’s body has been stolen.
In the meantime Igor has resurfaced and is preparing to open a new museum. He was severely hurt in the fire years before and is confined to a wheelchair with only limited use of his hands. He has assistants create new sculptures for him. Igor is mesmerized by his assistant's fiancée, Charlotte Duncan (Fay Wray). He tells her that she reminds him of a sculpture he once did of Marie Antoinette. He asks her if she would pose for one of his assistants. Charlotte is also Florence’s roommate. Florence is more interested in the wax figure that bears a striking resemblance to Joan Gale. Her suspicions lead to the discovery that Igor has been killing people and creating statues out of them. And Igor’s latest fixation is Charlotte.
“Mystery of the Wax Museum” was released in 1933 and was directed by Michael Curtiz. It is a pre-code movie. When it was remade as “House of Wax” in 1953 with Vincent Price all references to drug use were changed to alcohol and a character was changed from a junkie to an alcoholic. There are other moments that show the movie’s pre-code status; a few sexual jokes, sayings and/or double entendres. And the suggestion that some of the creepy artists are a little too familiar with their “artworks”.
The wax figures look like real people because they ARE real people. The original plan was to use actual wax figures, but they melted under the heat of the lights used at the time to film two-strip Technicolor. The color version was believed to be lost until the late sixties, when Jack Warner's personal print was rediscovered at his home.
There’s something about this movie I really liked. The Art Deco sets, the two-strip Technicolor, the “Old Dark House” feel. Of course there is the drawback of all the sexist tropes that permeated the movies of the 30’s. Kudos for making the main character a woman, but boos for doubling down on the sexist rhetoric. Still Florence is a smart talking, take no prisoners kinda gal with boundless energy. She makes the movie feel like there’s action going on even when there isn’t.