Tonight on MeTV- for the first time in my career- I am proud to be presenting one of the most famous horror films of the ‘50s- notable for being presented in 3-D ( but not here tonight!) and legendary as one of Vincent Price’s most memorable roles- be prepared as you enter the “House of Wax”!
It’s the early 1900s, and we visit the New York museum of Professor Henry Jarrod- a gifted sculptor who prefers to create historic tableaus instead of the sensationalistic type displays found in most wax museums. His business partner, Matthew Burke, however, feels these cultural displays don’t bring in enough revenue- and, when Jarrod refuses to go the more shocking horrific route, Burke decides the best profit would be via insurance money- and burns the museum down, with Jarrod trapped inside and thought to be killed in the conflagration!
Years later, we see that Jarrod has miraculously survived, though now wheelchair bound, his hands crippled and unable to sculpt any longer. He has, with the help of some assistants, including the mute sculptor Igor, built a new wax museum, but, this time, it includes the “house of horrors” type exhibits that Jarrod used to shun.
Meanwhile, a cloaked, disfigured killer has been lurking in the streets of New York. He kills Cathy, the fiancée of Jarrod’s old partner Burke- who appears to have committed suicide- and the young woman’s body mysteriously disappears from the morgue!
Cathy’s friend Sue, who found her friend’s body and came face to frightening face with the killer, joins her sculptor boyfriend Scott when he visits the new museum- and is bothered by the fact that the wax figure of Joan of Arc strongly resembles her late friend. Jarrod wheels up in his chair and explains that photos of the dead girl were used as reference in creating the figure. He also suggests that she- Sue- is the perfect model for a new figure of Marie Antoinette, since she has a striking resemblance to his original version that burned in the fire.
However, Sue is not convinced- and sneaks into the museum to inspect the Joan of Arc statue- leading to a shocking confrontation that could see her added as a permanent part of the museum collection- and subtracted from the land of the living!
This 1953 film has beautiful color, and an amazing cast, with, of course, Price as Prof. Jarrod, Charles Bronson ( as Charles Buchinsky) as his mute lackey Igor, Carolyn Jones, the future “Addams Family” Morticia , and more- we’ll tell you about the cast, and have plenty of information on the production, including an odd irony regarding the director Andre DeToth. And- yes, you’ll see the famed “paddleball” scene, which may have been impressive in 3-D, but now seems – oh- kind of silly!
"House of Wax" opens its doors on MeTV at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central time- if you need help finding where and when it airs in your area, check your local listings ,or at www.metv.com . The many fans live-Tweeting during the show ,using the hashtag #svengoolie , have been keeping our program among the top trending items nationally on Twitter every Saturday night, and MeTV encourages you to do the same! For our viewers in the Chicago area, at 11 am on WCIU, the U, we have an encore showing of “Dr. Cyclops” for you to enjoy.
Last weekend we had two great days at the C2E2 comics and entertainment convention- you’ll be seeing some of the fun we had in future shows. Next weekend, we’ll do our annual visit to the Brookfield Zoo Spaghetti Dinner event on Friday, and be the guest of the Discover Tinley Park Expo on Saturday. You’ll find information under the “appearances” tab on this site.
Please join us tonight for Vincent Price, ready to “wax on- wax off” as victims are offed when the wax goes on!
1854 Comments
post are vanishing on reading the blog about it 😱
YAY Brewers are up by a touchdown against da Cubs 13-7 in the 8th
It's almost time for the new blog.
MADave, I thought it had to be the Dr. Phibes movies, because those are the only ones he ever did that were a movie series, though I was wrong about him killing his wife-he was crazy, literally, about her in the show. Movies where his character was a murderous husband were Dragonwyck, House on Haunted Hill, and The Pit and the Pendulum. There were some extenuating circumstances concerning some of the killings; check them out for the details if you've never seen them.
“Goian bego”
May raycav friend rest peacefully
Among the non-genre 3-D films from that period, the most prestigious were the MGM musical KISS ME, KATE (based on Shakespeare's THE TAMING OF THE SHREW), the John Wayne Western HONDO, and the Hitchcock mystery DIAL M FOR MURDER.
where is that place
Coincidentally, another 3-D Hughes production that irked the censors was the 1954 musical THE FRENCH LINE, because of the film's flaunting of Jane Russell's bust in three-dimension. The film did eventually get a Production Code of approval, and, unlike SON OF SINBAD, ended up being released in 3-D after all.
"American burlesque ecdysiast"
BTW, no pun intended, in light of some of the well-endowed harem girls in SON OF SINBAD, was my statement about the film's eventually being released "flat "
“The House of Dracula” I think I’ll order a Siciliano Ricottà/Mozzarellà
Calzonè from The House of Calzone.
Kodak Kid sorry to hear that you won't be making B-day announcements. Take your time and hopefully you can come back to it. I know it's a lot of work.
I hope everyone waxed their floors to a Purr-fect shine. If not not don't worry cause tomorrow night Drac's in the House. And he won't be there to look at your floors.
returned the squirrel pictures
glad to see and have a good weekend enjoy the movie tomorrow night
It's nice to see you here and I do hope you will stay with us and be more proactive on the blog. Please have a nice weekend and enjoy the movie tomorrow night. I will be watching but do very little blogging during the movie. Buenas Noches, Senor! 💓🗽👍🕯🕯🕯
Will be away from home after giving a talk tomorrow afternoon; might be able to get a room at the HOUSE OF DRACULA around showtime, in the DC area. And then a concert to play on Sunday. Hoping it'll be a FULL HOUSE...
Clayton!
Is it just me, or did anyone else get the sense that some scenes in HOUSE OF WAX (filmed in three color red+green+blue Technicolor) were deliberately lit or tinted to mimic the ambiance of MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (filmed in two color red+green + shades of grey Technicolor)?
Have a nice day
everyone 💝 take
care!
See you later 👻
