Rent The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)

Technicolor Horror. - The Mystery of the Wax Museum review by Steve

With Dr. X (1932), one of a pair of horror films made by Warner Brothers in the early '30s, shot with mostly the same cast and crew and both in 2-strip technicolor. The greens and browns of this process give The Mystery of the Wax Museum an unusual and exotic look, allied to the striking deco sets (even in the morgue!). Fay Wray gets top billing, but is in a supporting role.

The film is carried by Glenda Farrell as the sort of fast talking girl reporter that got her typecast.  Lionel Atwill plays a waxwork sculptor in London whose creations are destroyed when his partner burns down the gallery in an insurance scam. These statues were the artist's closest confidents, and his face and hands are scorched in the blaze.

He reopens in New York years later and overcomes his disability by ordering corpses that look like his lost works and coating them in wax. Fay Wray looks the image of his long ago favourite, Marie Antoinette. The horror is mostly confined to the last ten minutes, particularly when Wray pulls off the maniac's wax mask to reveal the hideous distorted face beneath.

This is a wonderfully entertaining film. While we're waiting for the exotic horror of the climax, the tough, fast talking dialogue is a delight. Farrell is a blast and establishes a rapport with everyone she shares the screen with. The wax museum premise became a horror staple, but this is the best version and a marvellous swan song for the 2-strip colour process.