MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM ('33) in Golden Age Horror Forum

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MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM ('33)

Author	Comment
Babetician		#81	[-]
Aug 27 11 12:30 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	“The whole place is a morgue!” – Basic premise wouldn’t work! I love MOTWM and the remake, but Dead bodies dipped in wax would never succeed as an exhibit, even temporarily. It seems like a neat idea for a horror story, but is more like the illogic of a bad dream, rather than what could happen in real life. It depends on the ignorance of the public concerning artistic methods, (Makeup artists are sometimes asked “How do you put the clay on the actor?”) Bodies dipped in wax would look awful. No fine details like hair, fingernails, eyelashes, skin textures. You wouldn’t get the spiffy, nifty figures shown on display. If you sprayed the actual body with wax, you’d have to protect or replace the hair. The scene in House of Wax where Phyllis Kirk takes the wig off the Carolyn Jones statue revealing the blonde hair is effective dramatically, but it just couldn’t be that way. They’d have to be rigorously embalmed, and even then I don’t want to go into the problems caused by all the decay. I leave it to your imagination. Another gruesome thought is you’d have to replace all the eyes with glass ones. That’s one of the first things that bothered me. Was it Peter Cushing in Curse of Frankenstein who said “The eyes are the first to go.”? The scene were Atwill is about to cover Fay Wray with boiling wax shows he’s gone even more insane than was originally thought. I think that in both films there is a pretense of explaining the process, but that only involves the regular wax figures, not the problematic dead body non-process.
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DonM435		#82	[-]
Aug 27 11 2:33 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Right, you'd have so much work to do to the surface of the wax-dipped corpse that it'd be easier to sculpt it from scratch. I believe that there are freeze-drying techniques that can preserve formerly-living organisms in lifelike form by removing tht water content from the cells-- though the eyes are a problem. But it must be rather expensive, and not so dramatic as boiling wax.
scotpens		#83	[-]
Aug 27 11 6:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	DonM435 wrote: I believe that there are freeze-drying techniques that can preserve formerly-living organisms in lifelike form by removing the water content from the cells-- though the eyes are a problem. But it must be rather expensive, and not so dramatic as boiling wax. Not to mention that the process has been practical only for the last 30 years or so. It certainly didn’t exist in 1933 (Mystery of the Wax Museum) or 1953 (House of Wax) — let alone circa 1900, the time when House of Wax takes place! Last Edited By: scotpens Aug 27 11 6:22 PM. Edited 1 times.
DonM435		#84	[-]
Aug 27 11 10:16 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	They used the same silly idea in A Bucket of Blood -- a film that I love -- circa 1959. So you're a lousy sculptor? You just coat a dead something-or-other with clay, and you will be acclaimed! Just dop the work, hold your exhibition, get famous, repeat, collect your reward and get out of town before nature takes its course, which gives you a window of maybe six hours or thereabout.
scotpens		#85	[-]
Aug 27 11 10:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	^^ “Fantastic sculptures, but (sniff, sniff) what’s that smell?”
DonM435		#86	[-]
Aug 27 11 11:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I suspect that the statues would bloat and explode before too long.
todmichel		#87	[-]
Aug 28 11 12:02 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	DonM435 wrote: They used the same silly idea in A Bucket of Blood -- a film that I love -- circa 1959. So you're a lousy sculptor? You just coat a dead something-or-other with clay, and you will be acclaimed! Just dop the work, hold your exhibition, get famous, repeat, collect your reward and get out of town before nature takes its course, which gives you a window of maybe six hours or thereabout. It's true, but in A Bucket of Blood the statues really look like corpses covered of clay, much less detailed than the ones in the two other movies.
HalLane		#88	[-]
Aug 28 11 6:57 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	<< in A Bucket of Blood the statues really look like corpses covered of clay << Yes, and truthfully titled, too ~~ 'Dead Man' or something. << “Fantastic sculptures, but (sniff, sniff) what’s that smell?” << Folks, that's the modern miracle of Aromarama, state of the art in expressionist constructivism.
Babetician		#89	[-]
Aug 29 11 6:36 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The very funny Bucket of Blood was kind of a poor man's House of Wax, turned into a comedy. I think the moment of truth at the end occurred during a heat wave, which would make more sense for wax than clay. As I recall, dead bodies start getting nasty in 3 days, and remain so for a period of 3 months, during which you would get complaints from the neighbors. After that, they start to dry up into a kind of road kill. Source: The Ira Einhorn murder case.
Grant		#90	[-]
Sep 6 11 11:18 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	capmonte wrote: killer meteor wrote: i don't mind Farrell but couldn't stand Lee Tracy We're of the same mind. I think Farrell is pretty funny (and oddly cute), but I wish the moonlight killer (or whatever he was called) had gotten his synthetic hand on Tracy. I think she's VERY cute (and I just saw it again days ago, so I don't think I'm embellishing things). So even if I did agree about her being aggravating, I wouldn't admit it. Last Edited By: Grant Sep 6 11 7:54 PM. Edited 1 times.
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scotpens		#91	[-]
Sep 6 11 12:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Babetician wrote: As I recall, dead bodies start getting nasty in 3 days . . . Benjamin Franklin said the same thing about fish. And houseguests.
Scoundrel		#92	[-]
Sep 9 11 11:29 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Forest Gump visiting the local morgue: " A body is like a box of chocolates.....After three days they start to get gooey."
Rick		#93	[-]
Apr 26 12 9:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts
oneders63		#94	[-]
May 17 12 12:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Rick wrote: That photo of Charlotte (Fay Wray) in her lingerie and dressing gown is from a scene that was apparently cut, showing Charlotte and Florence (Glenda Farrell) in their apartment, getting ready to attend the grand opening of the Wax Museum. In the script, as the scene begins, the Monster is outside their window, peering in at the lovely Charlotte. From pages 111-112 of the annotated screenplay (as published by The University of Wisconsin Press, 1979, edited by Richard Koszarski): "EXT. ROOF OF VACANT BUILDING. We see a skylight forced open, the Monster clambers out onto the roof and creeps stealthily to the edge, peering into lighted window of apartment house. CAMERA FOLLOWS him. SHOOTING PAST him into room beyond, we see Charlotte just putting the final touches to her toilette, preparing to put on a dress. The Monster, gauging the distance carefully, springs across space separating buildings and clings to fire escape ladder like a huge monkey. He leans out from ladder and is about to raise window sash when the door of the room opens and Florence enters." This is followed by several lines of dialogue from Charlotte and Florence, as they discuss their plans for the evening. And then, from page 113 of the annotated screenplay: "The Monster has returned to the roof of vacant building. He shows a blind fury at the chance lost, and finally descends through skylight. FADE OUT." It's a pity that this scene was cut. It would have added some welcome tension and suspense (and cheesecake) to the film, showing Fay being stalked by the hulking monster. A scene like that was eventually used to great effect in the remake "House of Wax" (1953). oneders63 Last Edited By: oneders63 May 17 12 1:15 PM. Edited 1 times.
Rick		#95	[-]
May 17 12 2:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks for the info and the other photo, oneders. I didn't remember such a scene (and I thought I probably would), but the caption on the photo was WAX MUSEUM and the look was right. So thanks for filling in the blanks.
pulp novelties		#96	[-]
May 17 12 2:21 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's interesting that the scene you describe that was either deleted or never fully realized does in some variation occour in HOUSE OF WAX. I always felt cheated that you never get to see Atwill's former business partner get offed either. Is that in the script but not in the films as well? It seems like on more films that this (BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, WIZARD OF OZ), that the studios got cold-feet on some of the more horrific set-pieces, and scaled-back.
Tragg		#97	[-]
May 18 12 5:49 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	That's a shame, as the cut scene sounds great, with Atwill sounding like a monstrous Batman. I know that I'd certainly have rather seen more (much more) of Fay Wray and Lionel Atwill than Glenda Farrell.
pulp novelties		#98	[-]
May 18 12 10:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tragg wrote: That's a shame, as the cut scene sounds great, with Atwill sounding like a monstrous Batman. I know that I'd certainly have rather seen more (much more) of Fay Wray and Lionel Atwill than Glenda Farrell. It's funny, I fornd Farrell kind of a hoot as a kid, now I don't hate her, but I do find her a little grating at times. I certainly prefer her to DOCTOR X'S Lee Tracy.
Tragg		#99	[-]
May 19 12 8:03 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've always found her 90mph smart-gal routine incredibly wearing, and wish that Fay Wray had been given more screentime instead. I may be in the minority, but of all the, ahem, comedic heroes of the early 1930's I've never minded Lee Tracy in Doctor X, as he may be dopey but he's not grating in any way (unlike Glenda 'motormouth' Farrell), and he does put up a decent fight against Dr X in the finale.
bela lugosi		#100	[-]
May 19 12 8:21 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It's a real shame that scene was cut for many reasons. I wonder why as this was still pre-code and it seems to me a lot of pre-code films were always inserting scenes of dames in lingerie whenever possible! I will put a plug in for Glenda Farrell though. She's one of my favorites from the era. I love Fay of course, and never mind seeing her get more screen time, but I do love Glenda as well.
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MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM ('33)