Phyllis kirk house of wax1/14/2024 ![]() ![]() Seeing those wax figures begin to melt, to burn, to see their eyes pop out of their heads, to see their heads break off their bodies, and to see the bodies crumple in the flames, to me as a child, that was a very, very creepy scene! Jarrod tries to stop the inferno, but a part of the building collapses on him and after the fire is over, his body isn’t found. Burke then finds a flammable liquid to toss around the museum, and he also turns on the gas lights so that natural gas will fill the place! Jarrod awakens, tries to stop Burke, who does manage to flee. He and Jarrod have a fist fight and Jarrod is knocked out, falling onto the Joan of Ark display. Burke, ignoring Jarrod’s protests, sets the skirt of Marie Antoinette on fire and when Jarrod tries to put out the flames, Burke starts setting other exhibits on fire. Jarrod is horrified that Burke would suggest such a thing, decrying the plan because that would mean destroying “his friends” it is at this point that the audience knows that Jarrod is a bit crazy, as he refers to his statues as if they are real, treating them with kindness and respect as he displays them. He is an artist and doesn’t want to make such macabre displays! Burke then announces that if the museum were to burn in a fire, they would collect the insurance money. One evening, Burke visits the museum to appeal to Jarrod to make displays that depict infamous and evil people, to lure in more paying customers. He and a business partner, Matthew Burke (Roy Roberts) have opened up a wax museum in New York City. ![]() Professor Henry Jarrod (Vincent Price) is a creative, artistic genius when it comes to making wax sculptures of people. This newer version was the first film to combine technicolor with the 3-D filming technique. House of Wax was a remake of an earlier Warner Brother’s movie, 1933’s Mystery of the Wax Museum. Price’s co-stars were Frank Lovejoy, Charles Bronson, Carolyn Jones, and Phyllis Kirk. Warner Brothers distributed this film, directed by Andre de Toth and produced by Bryan Foy. My brother and I would tune in regularly and that is where I saw a horror movie that truly gave me a scare: 1953’s House of Wax, starring the wonderful Vincent Price. On Saturday afternoons at 3:00 p.m., Channel 50 would air Chiller Theater. 'House Of Wax' was made specifically for 3D, so there's a few gimmicky shots, but that doesn't spoil the movie, which to me is a horror classic that every fan of the genre should see.When I was a kid, growing up in the 1970s, we had a great cable television station to tune into, Channel 50, which beamed into our northwest Ohio home via Detroit, Michigan. The supporting cast also includes Carolyn "Morticia Addams" Jones, and an early appearance by Charles Bronson, who plays a deaf mute named Igor. Phyllis Kirk is good as the female lead, better in my opinion than Glenda Farrell in the earlier picture. In this, the policeman played by Frank Lovejoy ('In A Lonely Place') takes on a similar role. 'House Of Wax' sticks pretty much to the earlier movie, but with a few changes, most notably the absence of the girl reporter character that Fay Wray played in the original. Atwill was great but Price is even better, as is the movie overall. In that one Lionel Atwill played the Price role (different name, but same character). 'House Of Wax' is a remake of 'Mystery Of The Wax Museum' made twenty years earlier. ![]() He's terrific as Jarrod and he would draw upon this role for 'The Mad Magician', and later, the Phibes movies and 'Theatre Of Blood'. But you can see Vincent Price horror icon right here. He made non-horror pictures after this, it was a few years later that he made 'The Fly' and the William Castle movies which made him a horror star, something cemented later in the 60s with Roger Corman's Poe movies. This really is where the Price persona fans know and love began. 'House Of Wax' is an important movie in his career, because it was his first legitimate horror film, after thirty something pictures in a variety of genres. I love Vincent Price, my all time favourite horror actor. ![]()
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