Professor Henry Jarrod (Vincent Price) has a rare gift for artistry, particularly carving beautifully lifelike wax figures that he considers to be his friends. His museum is the toast of 1890s New York, but it's not enough for his greedy business partner, Matthew Burke (Roy Roberts). Burke wants more sensational, macabre waxworks to bring in even more audiences, which Jarrod refuses. In retaliation, Burke tries to burn down the museum to collect on the insurance, and although Jarrod tries to stop him, Burke succeeds in destroying the museum, leaving Jarrod to die among the flames with his creations. However, Jarrod survives, and years later turns up with a new wax museum, this time delivering the gruesome thrills Burke originally wanted. Despite having sustained serious injuries, Jarrod is able to once again create remarkably lifelike sculptures with the aid of his assistant Igor (Charles Bronson - yes, that Charles Bronson). However, a string of murders coincides with Jarrod's new museum, including Burke and his lady friend Cathy Gray (Carolyn Jones). When Cathy's body vanishes from the morgue and a wax sculpture that bears a remarkable resemblance to her shows up in Jarrod's gallery, her roommate Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) becomes suspicious. She naturally decides to investigate, leading her to a gruesome discovery.
A mad artist sets out to create his greatest masterpieces at a hideous cost in House of Wax, a classic horror flick starring Vincent Price. In the early 1950s, Hollywood had been dealt a serious blow by the advent of television, with box office attendance dropping by tens of millions between 1948 and 1951. Naturally, the studios went looking for new ways to lure back the crowds who could now enjoy entertainment from the comfort of their own home. One attempted gimmick was screening movies in 3-D, a fad which only lasted for the first half of the decade. 3-D movies had their first success with 1952's Bwana Devil, an independent production distributed by United Artists. In the wake of Bwana Devil's success, Warner Bros. decided to try their own 3-D project, a remake of Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), which had starred Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray. (Ironically, House of Wax's director, André De Toth, was blind in one eye, and couldn't actually see the 3-D effect.) The fad only lasted a few more years, but it's made a comeback these past few years. Personally, I'm indifferent to seeing something in 3-D, although for certain blockbusters such as How to Train Your Dragon and Doctor Strange, it works quite well. House of Wax is also significant for its impact on the career of legendary actor Vincent Price (1911-1993), who is no stranger to the INCspotlight, although I haven't had much of an opportunity to talk about his background until now. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Price was the son of a candy-making company president and grandson of the guy who patented tartar-based baking powder, which established the Price family fortune. Price first became interested in acting while attending Yale, and performed on stage for the first time in England, where he'd attended the University of London's Courtald Institute. He had a prominent role in the Gate Theater's production of "Victoria Regina," a play so successful that it ended up on Broadway, and Price along with it. Like so many of his contemporaries, Broadway led to Hollywood, where Price made his screen debut in Universal's Service de Luxe (1938), a comedy directed by Rowland V. Lee. He worked steadily in film over the next decade or so in a variety of genres, as well as on the radio. One of his more notworthy pre-superstardom roles was Simon Templar, aka The Saint, on the radio series The Saint from 1947 through 1951, succeeding Edgar Barrier and Brian Aherne in the role of Leslie Charteris's "Robin Hood of modern crime." (This is the same Saint that Roger Moore and Val Kilmer would later depict, although Kilmer's version has nothing in common with Charterisis' character other than the name.) He even shared the screen with big box office draws such as Boris Karloff, Bette Davis, and Errol Flynn, although not becoming one himself until House of Wax came along. For all of Price's acclaim as an actor, his off-screen activities are also interesting to note. In addition to his acting talents, Price was also a connoisseur of wine, art (his Bachelor's degree from Yale was in art history, and he spent a year as an art teacher), and gourmet food (and he authored several cookbooks). Price was also politically active, speaking out against racial, religious, and anti-LGBTQ bigotry and labeling them as poisons that emboldened America's enemies. He was an honorary board member of the organization Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). In 1957, President Eisenhower's administration nominated him to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board (much to the surprise of Price, who was a registered Democrat), and Price used his position to champion Native American rights. WARNING: Here be spoilers! Read further at your own risk! Professor Henry Jarrod (Vincent Price) has a rare gift for artistry, particularly carving beautifully lifelike wax figures that he considers to be his friends. His museum is the toast of 1890s New York, but it's not enough for his greedy business partner, Matthew Burke (Roy Roberts). Burke wants more sensational, macabre waxworks to bring in even more audiences, which Jarrod refuses. In retaliation, Burke tries to burn down the museum to collect on the insurance, and although Jarrod tries to stop him, Burke succeeds in destroying the museum, leaving Jarrod to die among the flames with his creations. However, Jarrod survives, and years later turns up with a new wax museum, this time delivering the gruesome thrills Burke originally wanted. Despite having sustained serious injuries, Jarrod is able to once again create remarkably lifelike sculptures with the aid of his assistant Igor (Charles Bronson - yes, that Charles Bronson). However, a string of murders coincides with Jarrod's new museum, including Burke and his lady friend Cathy Gray (Carolyn Jones). When Cathy's body vanishes from the morgue and a wax sculpture that bears a remarkable resemblance to her shows up in Jarrod's gallery, her roommate Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk) becomes suspicious. She naturally decides to investigate, leading her to a gruesome discovery. I've always had something of a soft spot for House of Wax. It was one of those films that kept popping up on classic movie stations when I was younger, and I'd watch it with my dad when it did. However, fond childhood nostalgia aside, House of Wax is an enjoyably entertaining film, even if it's predictable as hell and not the least bit scary. (I didn't even think so when I was a kid.) Vincent Price's performance is mostly what carries this movie, and it's no wonder he specialized in these types of roles of most of the rest of his career. His drawling, cultured tones and his low-key malevolence make him as much fun to watch as he's clearly having performing this role. However, for all his delightfully hammy malevolence, the opening scenes successfully establish him as a tragic figure, someone you can empathize and feel sorry for, even as he does terrible things. It helps that Roy Roberts plays Burke as utterly detestable, blind to Jerrod's artistry and consumed by greed, making it easier to sympathize with Jarrod. The rest of the cast is mostly forgettable - even Carolyn Jones, who would later play Morticia Addams on The Addams Family didn't leave much of an impression (other than annoying me with her high-pitched giggle). So it's a good thing Price has the talent to pick up the slack. Phyllis Kirk, however, does what she can with what is basically a throwaway role. Given her ambivalence to being in this film in the first place (she kept trying to get out of it, not wanting to be type-cast as a scream queen), I have to give her credit for putting some genuine effort into her performance. (She later admitted that once shooting actually started, she had a lot of fun making this movie.) House of Wax also holds up technically, even without the 3-D effect. The makeup effects are decent (to the point where Price lamented he was banned from the studio commisarry while wearing it), and the cinematography makes good use of shadows during the scenes that are supposed to be creepy. One of the scenes that still stands out for me is Burke's destruction of Jarrod's gallery. The way the camera lingers over every immaculately-crafted sculpture as it's consumed by fire, backed by David Buttolph's score, is heart-rending, and does as much to make you feed for Jarrod as Price's acting does. (You'd never even know that the spot fires on the set got out of control when shooting this scene. De Toth had the cinematographers keep filming to avoid the expense of recreating the set and wax sculptures from scratch.) Also, while House of Wax isn't scary, it does create some exciting tension during the big climax. The weakest moment in the film is the scene from before Jerrod reveals his new wax museum, consisting of a carnival barker aiming a paddle-ball at the audience, accompanied by some dancing girls - a scene that only exists to show off 3-D technology. If you're not watching this in this format, it does nothing but bring the narrative to a screeching halt for a few minutes. (I've never seen it in 3-D, so I don't know if I'd feel any differently if I saw it in that format.) I don't know whether it was on account of the 3-D or the film's own considerable merits, but either way, House of Wax was a blockbuster success at the box office, Warner Bros's biggest hit in years. (Price attended a screening and freaked out the people sitting in front of him when the movie was over when he asked if they liked it.) Contemporary critics deem House of Wax to be among the best horror films of the 1950s, if not the genre as a whole, and I can see why. Even if it's not scary, it's enjoyable to watch, in no small part thanks to Vincent Price. Price, naturally, went on to play numerous villains in film and television over the next few decades, his favorite roles including Egghead on the Adam West Batman series, and Professor Ratigan in Disney's The Great Mouse Detective (1986). Director Tim Burton was a huge fan of Price, and not only did Price provide voice work for his short film Vincent (1982), but Burton wrote the role of The Inventor in Edward Scissorhands (1990) specifically for him. His last on-screen appearance before his death was the TV movie The Heart of Justice (1992). After his death, The Thief and the Cobbler (1993), for which he'd provided voice work, was released after a decades-long troubled production history. House of Wax will most likely be campy fun for modern audiences, rather than chill-inducing horror, but it's definitely worth seeing. Vincent Price's engaging performance will surely keep you entertained, even if nothing else does.
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