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House of Wax (1953)
In Andre de Toth's classic horror film - created in "Natural
Vision" 3-D:
- the amazing scene of the burning of the wax museum
(deliberately set on fire by Jarrod's business partner Matthew
Burke (Roy Roberts)) and the melting of the historical figures,
with wax sculptor Professor Henry Jarrod (Vincent Price) presumably
dying in the burning building
- the scenes of a cloaked disfigured murderer killing
Burke (Roy Roberts) (made to look like a suicidal hanging in an elevator
shaft), then murdering Burke's now ex-fiancee Cathy Gray (Carolyn
Jones) (she was drugged, then strangled by a cord); also Cathy's
friend - leading lady Sue Allen (Phyllis Kirk), who had discovered
Cathy's corpse in her rooming house bedroom, was pursued along fog-shrouded
streets and alleyways of turn-of-the-century New York City
- Jarrod had survived the fiery blaze and appeared about
18 months later (although he claimed: "Jarrod is dead. I am
a reincarnation") - his face appeared normal, but he had scarred
and useless hands, and he was wheelchair-bound
- Jarrod rebuilt a new House of Wax museum, with assistance
from deaf-mute sculptor Igor (Charles Bronson) and student-artist
Leon Averill (Nedrick Young), that showcased a "Chamber of Horrors" -
commemorating famous and fresh "crimes of violence"
through wax figures (to give the people what they wanted: "sensation,
horror, shock")
- the 3-D effect shown off with the carnival barker's
(Reggie Rymal) bouncing paddle-balls, and his admonitions to the
crowd in front of the newly-opened House of Wax: ("Watch it,
young lady. Careful, sir, keep your head down or I'll tap you on
the chin. Look out! Duck. (He turned to other customers behind him)
Wow, that's a becoming hat you're wearing, madam. I wonder if I can
clip the flower off it. Hold steady now, don't move your head, or
you'll lose the powder off your nose. Wow, there's someone with a
bag of popcorn. Close your mouth. It's the bag I'm aiming at, not
your tonsils. Here she comes. Well, look at that, it's in the bag.")
- the dance hall scene with a line of dancers doing
the can-can kick
- the vengeful Jarrod (in the disguise of the cloaked,
face-disfigured killer and later wearing a facial mask to hide his
melted face) had been committing the many murders; he then stole
their corpses from the New York City Morgue and coated them with
molten wax to produce very life-like statues for his waxworks exhibits:
("Each subject must be taken from life")
- Cathy's body was used as a "model" for the
figure of Joan of Arc; Sue was amazed by the likeness: "Why
should it be so much like Cathy?" - Sue then made the shocking
discovery that her friend Cathy's corpse had been dipped in wax to
create a Joan of Arc wax figure: ("It is Cathy. It's Cathy's
body under the wax! I knew it! I knew it all the time!"); when
she confronted Jarrod, he admitted his hideous plan -- Sue was to
be his next "leading lady" for immortality - Marie Antoinette: "Everything
I ever loved has been taken away from me. Not you, my Marie Antoinette,
for I will give you eternal life"
- the shocking moment that Phantom-of-the-Opera-like
Jarrod had his face beaten by Sue and his wax mask broke off to reveal
his hideously-burned and disfigured face below
The Unmasking of Professor Jarrod
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- in the finale, set in the museum's cellar laboratory,
Sue was strapped and naked under a boiling vat of wax as he prepared
her to be his next exhibit victim as Marie Antoinette: "This
is where I recreated my Joan of Arc. It's an interesting process.
If you have patience with me, my dear, I'll show you how it's done...That
look of horror spoils your lovely face. What if it should show,
even through the wax?...The end will come quickly, my love. There's
a pain beyond pain, an agony so intense, it shocks the mind into
instant oblivion. We'll find immortality together, for they'll
remember me through you"
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Sue - Jarrod's New "Marie Antoinette"
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Jarrod's Death in His Own Cauldron of Wax
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- during a struggle with authorities who arrived at
the scene just in time, Jarrod wound up falling into his own burning
cauldron of tallow (at over 450 degrees F.) - his apt and richly-deserved
fate.
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Matthew Burke (Roy Roberts)
Wax Museum Fire
The Wax Museum's Burning and 'Death' of Prof. Jarrod
Cloaked Murderer
Carnival Barker with Paddle Ball in Front of New House
of Wax
Professor Jarrod With Igor (Charles Bronson)
Sue: "It's Cathy's body under the wax!"
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