Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) Review

"Yon can raise the kids, I'll raise the roof."

-Florence Dempsey

Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwill) is a sculptor at a wax museum in London that is struggling financially.  Igor's partner, Joe Worth (Edwin Maxwell), burns the museum down to collect the insurance money, but Igor is severely injured in the process.  Years later, in New York City, bodies have started to disappear from the city morgue and reporter Florence Dempsey (Glenda Farrell) starts the investigation, which leads her to Igor's new wax museum and the horrors that lie within.

What Works:

Glenda Farrell does a fantastic job as the protagonist.  Florence is a wonderful character and pretty progressive for such an early film.  Glenda doesn't take crap from anybody, she drinks, and talks about sex.  She delivers in every scene she is in and is a blast to watch.  She a great lens to view the movie through and even though her decision in the final scene of the movie doesn't make much sense, she's still the best part of this movie.

The set design for Igor's laboratory is really cool.  It reminds me a bit of Dr. Frankenstein's lab or the evil lair of a James Bond villain.  It looks awesome and even has a giant vat of wax.  It's a great setting for the 3rd act of the film.

The opening sequence includes a fight between Igor and Joe Worth after the museum is set on fire.  It's an awesome sequence with the two men having a brutal brawl as the museum and wax figures burn all around them.  We get to see part of the museum collapse while Igor is still inside.  It's a well done sequence and very impressive for its time.

I love the twist involving Igor wearing a wax face himself.  I really didn't see it coming and when his mask finally comes off, it caught me off guard.  The makeup looks great and gives our villain a very memorable look.

What Sucks:

There are some extremely odd edits in this film.  Some scenes just end by cutting away immediately after a character finishes speaking.  Typically, in older movies like this, scenes end by doing a gradual fade out, but in this movie we cut to black and then get the next scene.  It's jarring and makes it feel like scenes are missing.

There are a couple of boring stretches in the middle of the film, especially when Igor is giving a tour of his new museum.  He takes his time explaining each and every one of his displays.  Only two of them have any bearing on the plot, so most of his explanation could have been cut and that would have helped the pace of the film.

Finally, the end is somewhat anticlimactic.  Igor is shot by a random police officer, not stopped by any character we care about.  It's a bit of a letdown.  I would have liked to see Florence be more active in Igor's defeat.  Her final scene ends with her deciding to marry her editor, and while I like their banter, I would have rather seen her keep her job and keep driving him insane professionally.  It's a lackluster ending to an otherwise solid film.

Verdict:

Mystery of the Wax Museum is solid film for its time.  It has a great protagonist, awesome set design, excellent fight scenes, and a surprising twist.  There are some odd editing choices, a few boring stretches, and I don't love the ending, but this is a fun movie and it has certainly got it going on.

 7/10: Good