...the film is still a crowd pleaser, its dusky shadows, turn-of-the-century setting, menacing villain, and bizarre museum as creepy as ever.
Others in the cast include Fay Wray as Flo's friend and neighbor, Duncan Charlotte, whom the professor wants to cast as his next Marie Antoinette; dead, naturally. Ms. Wray would shortly become even better known in "King Kong" the same year. And Frank McHugh plays Flo's hard-edged, wisecracking editor, Jimmy. The director, by the way, was Michael Curtiz, who would go on to fame and glory with "Captain Blood," "The Adventures of Robin Hood," "Casablanca" and a host of other big-name pictures. He moves "Mystery of the Wax Museum" along in commendable fashion, but I wish he had excised some of the characters, who tend to clutter up so short a film.
Video:
Presented in its original theatrical ratio of 1.37:1, edged minutely to 1.33:1 to fit a standard television screen, "House of Wax" in 2-D displays well-balanced WarnerColor. Hues are rich and bright and mostly natural. Unfortunately, the screen also displays an uncommon amount of grain, particularly in nighttime scenes, which are frequent. I applied the highest degree of DNR (Sony's Dynamic Noise Reduction) and mitigated the problem somewhat, but the grain was still noticeable. Most of it, no doubt, can be attributable to the print, some of it perhaps to the transfer, and some again to the original 3-D process, I don't know.
"Mystery of the Wax Museum," using an early, two-strip Technicolor process, doesn't have anywhere near the brilliance of its remake, yet because it conveys less grain it's actually easier on the eyes. For so old a film in color, the detail is remarkably good, if a bit soft and smooth (read blurred, if you like), so be prepared for dull, almost mono-toned color.
Audio:
"House of Wax" used stereo in what was called at the time "Warner-Sonic 3-D," obviously a promotional gimmick to tie the sound in with the three-dimensional image. Its most conspicuous feature today is its noise. The background noise is really quite high, noisier than I can remember hearing from any major studio release in years. How much of this noise can be attributed to the early stereo reproduction, and why Warner Bros. didn't apply at least a little noise reduction to the disc are questions we might well ask. Anyway, in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, the dynamics are good, and the stereo spread is reasonably wide for so old a film; there's even some rear-channel sound that makes its way to the back speakers on occasion. One advantage of two-channel sound, incidentally, is that voices will often move back and forth realistically across the sound stage with the movements of the actors, rather than always being centered as in so many new DD 5.1 releases. A disadvantage of straight two-channel sound, however, is that unless you're centered yourself between the two front speakers, voices will not always maintain their proper positions. Nothing is easy.
"Mystery of the Wax Museum," needless to say, is in a single-channel monaural. But Dolby Digital helps to clarify the sonics quite a bit, and the movie is much less noisy than its remake. Whilst being clear, however, the older film's sound is also edgier and harsher than "House of Wax" in its loudest passages. Don't expect a lot from either soundtrack.
Extras:
"House of Wax" comes with a pair of extras: a two-minute newsreel, "Round the Clock Première: Coast Hails House of Wax," featuring a load of Hollywood stars attending the movie's opening, and a theatrical trailer. Otherwise, there are thirty scene selections for the eighty-eight minute "House of Wax" and twenty-five scene selections for the seventy-seven minute "Mystery of the Wax Museum." English, French, and Spanish are provided as spoken language options, with English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese for subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
Considering that "House of Wax" was one of Warner Brothers' biggest, most-lavish productions of the early 1950s, the studio's audiovisual treatment of the movie on this DVD seems awfully shabby. When the sound quality of the twenty-year older "Mystery of the Wax Museum" surpasses the newer version in quietness and the video of the older film offers less grain, one has to wonder if Warner Bros. made the right decision allowing the public to note the differences.
In any case, both films are fun, but as a camp classic "House of Wax" would have benefited from being seen in its original 3-D. Alas, some things are not to be. I suppose having both horror films on the same bill is entertainment enough, and we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Video:
Presented in its original theatrical ratio of 1.37:1, edged minutely to 1.33:1 to fit a standard television screen, "House of Wax" in 2-D displays well-balanced WarnerColor. Hues are rich and bright and mostly natural. Unfortunately, the screen also displays an uncommon amount of grain, particularly in nighttime scenes, which are frequent. I applied the highest degree of DNR (Sony's Dynamic Noise Reduction) and mitigated the problem somewhat, but the grain was still noticeable. Most of it, no doubt, can be attributable to the print, some of it perhaps to the transfer, and some again to the original 3-D process, I don't know.
"Mystery of the Wax Museum," using an early, two-strip Technicolor process, doesn't have anywhere near the brilliance of its remake, yet because it conveys less grain it's actually easier on the eyes. For so old a film in color, the detail is remarkably good, if a bit soft and smooth (read blurred, if you like), so be prepared for dull, almost mono-toned color.
Audio:
"House of Wax" used stereo in what was called at the time "Warner-Sonic 3-D," obviously a promotional gimmick to tie the sound in with the three-dimensional image. Its most conspicuous feature today is its noise. The background noise is really quite high, noisier than I can remember hearing from any major studio release in years. How much of this noise can be attributed to the early stereo reproduction, and why Warner Bros. didn't apply at least a little noise reduction to the disc are questions we might well ask. Anyway, in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, the dynamics are good, and the stereo spread is reasonably wide for so old a film; there's even some rear-channel sound that makes its way to the back speakers on occasion. One advantage of two-channel sound, incidentally, is that voices will often move back and forth realistically across the sound stage with the movements of the actors, rather than always being centered as in so many new DD 5.1 releases. A disadvantage of straight two-channel sound, however, is that unless you're centered yourself between the two front speakers, voices will not always maintain their proper positions. Nothing is easy.
"Mystery of the Wax Museum," needless to say, is in a single-channel monaural. But Dolby Digital helps to clarify the sonics quite a bit, and the movie is much less noisy than its remake. Whilst being clear, however, the older film's sound is also edgier and harsher than "House of Wax" in its loudest passages. Don't expect a lot from either soundtrack.
Extras:
"House of Wax" comes with a pair of extras: a two-minute newsreel, "Round the Clock Première: Coast Hails House of Wax," featuring a load of Hollywood stars attending the movie's opening, and a theatrical trailer. Otherwise, there are thirty scene selections for the eighty-eight minute "House of Wax" and twenty-five scene selections for the seventy-seven minute "Mystery of the Wax Museum." English, French, and Spanish are provided as spoken language options, with English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese for subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
Considering that "House of Wax" was one of Warner Brothers' biggest, most-lavish productions of the early 1950s, the studio's audiovisual treatment of the movie on this DVD seems awfully shabby. When the sound quality of the twenty-year older "Mystery of the Wax Museum" surpasses the newer version in quietness and the video of the older film offers less grain, one has to wonder if Warner Bros. made the right decision allowing the public to note the differences.
In any case, both films are fun, but as a camp classic "House of Wax" would have benefited from being seen in its original 3-D. Alas, some things are not to be. I suppose having both horror films on the same bill is entertainment enough, and we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
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[release]11038[/release]