Warner Bros released House of Wax in the United States on 25 April 1953. It premiered in New York on 10 April and Los Angels on 16 April.
Despite its reputation, House of Wax was a prestige production. Warner spent about a million dollars on it. Compare that to another Warner Bros release, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Producers got only a quarter of the budget for this special effects-heave film. It was also one of the first 3D features from a major studio. Warner expected a lot from the film. And it paid off. It made twenty times its budget.
The film is a remake of Warner Bros’ earlier Mystery of the Wax Museum. I actually prefer this earlier version. I love the fast-talking reporter and the romance. But House of Wax has one major advantage: Vincent Price. I love Lionel Atwill but he’s just not the same. It could just be that I grew up with Price.
The story is well known. Price plays Professor Henry Jarrod, a wax sculptor. His business partner burns down their museum leaving Jarrod for dead. But he isn’t dead. He returns to kill people who he covers in wax, which really is more efficient when you think about it.
Price returned the following year in The Mad Magician. It is pretty much the same plot. And depending on how much you want to stretch it, he was in other films with this plot. I think Theatre of Blood easily qualifies. The Abominable Dr Phibes is a bit more of a stretch. But in all of these films feature more sympathetic characters since they don’t kill many innocent people.
One interesting factoid about this film. It was directed by Andre de Toth, who was blind in one eye. No big deal, but suboptimal for anyone directing a 3D film!
Other 25 April Anniversaries
Filmmakers:
- Edgar Allan Woolf (1881-1943): Screenwriter known for his contributions to Freaks, Mad Love, and The Wizard of Oz.
- Paul Mazursky (1930-2014): Writer-director known for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Harry and Tonto.
- Al Pacino (1940-): Vigorous actor who a lot of people enjoy.
- Talia Shire (1946-): Actor known for The Godfather and Rocky franchises.
- Jeffrey DeMunn (1947-): Actor known for The Hitcher and The Blob.
- Ron Clements (1953-): Animator in many positions on various Disney features.
- Renee Zellweger (1969-): Actor known for Nurse Betty and The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
- Jason Lee (1970-): Actor known especially for Kevin Smith films.
Films:
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1908): Silent short based on the famous story; now lost
- Invisible Ghost (1941): Bela Lugosi kills people after his wife leaves him.
- Five (1951): Five people survive nuclear war.
- Burn, Witch, Burn! (1962): A skeptic’s wife is doing voodoo to help his career.
- Crimewave (1985): Sam Raimi comedy about very weird hit men with Louise Lasser and Bruce Campbell.
- Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997): Two clueless fashion nerds learn valuable lessons.
- Identity (2003): Stranded travelers are being killed starring John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, and John Hawkes.
- Dracula’s Curse (2006): Vampire hunters hunt vampires.
- Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008): The boys are mistaken for terrorists and go on a road trip.
See also: The Perfect Date!
House of Wax (1953) poster via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.
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I need to see this one — I love Price from this period!
One problem with the concept — it couldn’t work. Have you ever had a dead rabbit you found in the backyard, you triple-bagged it and put it in your outside trash bin waiting for the weekly pickup? Even a dead mouse?
That stuff smells SO BAD after about 36 hours. It’s beyond awful. No way a thin coating of wax would contain that smell of a decaying human corpse. And no way you could make a wax mold, let it dry/set, then take it apart, get rid of the body, then put the wax back together. The wax mold wouldn’t hold up. (Also, who thinks wax sculptures are art, anyways?)
But the story isn’t realistic, it’s a story about obsession leading to insanity. And that’s very believable, and that makes the 1934 version work, although I’ll bet Price is somewhat better than Atwill and Michael Curtiz is somewhat better than de Toth.
Unrelated, but I watched All About Eve because you said you hated Joseph Mankiewicz, and you were correct: https://librarydvdlove.substack.com/p/all-about-eve
Ben Mankiewicz is kinda the face of TCM, and that channel’s done some good! Its tastes are not often my tastes. But they’re great on film preservation, their history articles are mostly accurate, and I’ve interacted with multiple people in their 20s/30s/40s who are really learning about older movies from that channel. That’s a pretty cool thing.
Excellent point about decaying flesh. It had never occurred to me. But I have thought about the eyes. Obviously, the eyes would have to be changed out!
I love what TCM does. I think it really helps people to enjoy art for it to be put in context. The San Francisco Symphony started having lectures before concerts and people ate it up. Over the past decade, I’ve come to see art as primarily a conversation with all the art that has gone before. Thus, it’s hard to appreciate a film from the 1970s if you don’t know what came before and right after. I think most film fans have had the experience of seeing some iconic film and not understanding what the big deal is.
I look forward to your article. Bette Davis is great in the film. But the plot is stupid. And that tacked on “justice” ending doesn’t work.
It’s kinda like reading 19th-century novels. Once you’ve gotten a feel for how language was used at the time, it becomes easier to read the next one. Mrs. James was never into foreign films or really old movies but now she’d rather watch those than anything new. I used to think old Pabst and Lang were like doing homework but now I enjoy them.
I did a Movie Night on the baseball site every Friday during the off-season, and it was surprising when watching old baseball movies (most of which are bad, but fun to comment on) how many people knew things like what the Hays code was, the HUAC hearings, etc. And some were young people! And they specifically mentioned TCM for teaching them this stuff.
We’re talking a really tiny sample size, you could count them on one hand with a missing finger, but still that’s not zero. It kinda makes me think of the 80s when most mainstream rock was so bad, people were discovering Tom Waits and R.E.M. and The Pogues and such. Not a ton of people but they were out there. Now some people sick of the newest algorithm junk are discovering movies made in the 30s and 40s. Not a ton of people but they are out there.