Sorry, telegonus, but I just think you're trying to read in deliberate connections that strike me more as either coincidence or as similarities that many films share. THE MAD MAGICIAN is obviously influenced by HOUSE OF WAX and probably wouldn't have been made without the success of HoW.

I can see the House Of Wax influence on Hammer in its use of color, its period setting, its A level actors, admittedly not big box-office but good quality performers,
If Hammer really was influenced by HOUSE OF WAX, there's a good chance they would have tried to hire Vincent Price for their foray into Gothic horror (American backers usually insisted upon a recognizable American name actor in the lead of many of their films). With CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, though, Hammer actually broke precedent and chose not to use an American star (no Brian Donlevy or Dean Jagger this time). Cushing was a TV star in Britain, but he didn't have a big profile in movies and was virtually unknown in America.