House of Wax, filmed under the working title The Wax Works, was Warner Bros.' response to the unexpected success of the 3D film Bwana Devil, which premiered in November 1952.
Recognizing the potential of 3D technology, Warner Bros. adopted Julian and Milton Gunzburg's Natural Vision 3D system, the same system used in Bwana Devil.
They chose to remake their 1933 Technicolor thriller, Mystery of the Wax Museum, originally based on Charles S. Belden's play The Wax Works.
While Mystery included a newspaper subplot and was set in its release year, House of Wax, set around 1902, retained much of the original's plot and dialogue.
The Hollywood industry faced significant challenges in the 1950s. The 1948 Hollywood Anti-trust Case severed movie studios from their theater chains, leading to a sharp decline in attendance following a prosperous period between 1946 and 1948.
At the same time, television emerged as a new competitor, rapidly infiltrating American households. In this context of declining theater attendance and technological advancement.
Veteran cameramen, Lothrop Worth and Friend Baker, developed an innovative solution: an easy-to-operate stereo movie camera that mimicked human interocular movement. Teaming up with Milton and Julian Gunzberg, they formed the Natural Vision Corporation.
Their 16mm test films initially failed to gain traction in Hollywood, with Twentieth Century Fox's Darryl F. Zanuck notably dismissing the idea, doubting audiences would tolerate the required glasses. However, radio producer Arch Oboler saw potential and utilized the technology in his film Bwana Devil, which premiered in November 1952.
Despite critical panning, the film became a box-office hit. Recognizing the commercial potential of 3D, Warner Bros., a pioneer in sound and color, quickly partnered with Natural Vision on a two-picture deal.
towards the end, Scott enters a chamber of horrors in search of Sue. To his surprise (and that of the audience), Igor leaps from the negative parallax space to the positive parallax space, charging Scott and quickly overtaking him.
This movement from negative to positive parallax space creates the impression that Igor has sprung out from amidst the audience—an uncharacteristic twist in 3-D aesthetics. It seems as though “House of Wax” is urging the audience to rush in Igor’s footsteps and come to Scott’s aid. After all, Igor emerges from the negative parallax space, seemingly attacking Scott from among the audience.
Interestingly, this scene bears resemblance to Margot’s metaphorical call for help in “Dial M for Murder.” In both instances, the audience experiences frustration due to their inability to influence the diegesis.
The film’s narrative further emphasizes themes of powerlessness and the futility of actions. Male protagonists, despite their strength, often find themselves no match for antagonists, monsters, and challenging events. They rely on others for rescue, usually characters in positions of authority. For instance, in Creature from the Black Lagoon, bodily vulnerability is highlighted as the Gill Man overwhelms expedition participants.
Similarly, Scott in “House of Wax” rushes to save Sue but is swiftly overcome by Igor. Fortunately, the police arrive just in time to rescue him.
Warner Bros. selected Charles Belden's horror story The Wax Works for its first 3D film, which had been previously made as Mystery of the Wax Museum using early Technicolor. Filming began on January 19, 1953, under the working title The Wax Works. Despite the unusual choice of hiring monocular director André de Toth, he succeeded in creating a compelling film. Vincent Price, known for his diverse roles, starred in House of Wax, which solidified his association with the horror genre.
House of Wax was a major box office success, second only to The Robe in 1953. It firmly established 3D as a viable commercial format, despite the brief surge in 3D productions. The film remains a celebrated example of 1950s 3D cinema, with reissues in 1972 and 1981, continuing to draw audiences to this day.
The film prominently featured 3D effects, including scenes with fights, can-can girls, and a paddle ball-wielding barker. One of the most striking 3D moments involved a character's shadow seemingly emerging from the audience and running into the screen.
Ironically, director Andre de Toth, blind in one eye, could not perceive 3D effects. Vincent Price humorously noted the situation, recalling de Toth's confusion over the excitement for 3D: He’d go to the rushes and say 'Why is everybody so excited about this?' It didn’t mean anything to him. But he made a good picture, a good thriller.
Despite his inability to see in 3D, de Toth's direction was pivotal to the film's success. Some modern critics argue that de Toth's lack of stereo vision enhanced the film, as he focused on narrative and performance over visual gimmicks. This emphasis on story and character, rather than merely exploiting 3D technology, contributed to House of Wax being regarded as a superior film in the 3D genre.
Jarrod's obsession with recreating Marie Antoinette and his fixation on Sue Allen as a living embodiment of the figure adds a Draculean element to his character. The wax museum itself is an extension of Jarrod's shattered psyche, with his creations reflecting his inner turmoil and hatred. House of Wax remains a classic for its macabre visuals, Price's compelling performance, and its significance in horror film history.
The film, featuring a strong supporting cast including Phyllis Kirk, Paul Picerni, and Carolyn Jones, was completed in 28 days, under budget at $680,000. Jack Warner celebrated its completion by sending de Toth a case of Jack Daniels. House of Wax premiered on April 10, 1953, at the New York Paramount, enjoying a highly successful engagement. Utilizing polarized 3D projection and WarnerPhonic sound, the film marked a technological milestone. It grossed over half a million dollars in New York alone and continued to attract celebrity audiences in Los Angeles.
UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU'VE SEEN BEFORE! (original print ad - all caps)
The ultimate dimension in TERROR!
StereoVision 3D ...the most realistic film process ever developed!
It Comes Off The Screen Right At You!
The half-man half-monster who stalked a panic swept city for the beauties he craved for his chamber of horrors!
The Most Astounding Motion Picture Since Motion Pictures Began! Warner Bros.' Amazing Feature Picture In Natural Vision 3 DIMENSION
The First Feature Produced By A Major Studio In 3D!
Warner Bros. bring you the first feature produced by a major studio in 3D...
Nothing that has gone before can compare with this!
You've never been scared until you've been scared in 3-D.
Beauty and Terror meet in your seat...as every thrill of its story comes off the screen right at you in NaturalVision 3 dimension
Now Warners Bros bring you 3 dimension natural vision unlike anything you've seen before! A feature picture! A story sensation!
The Wax Figures Also Looked Like Other People - People Who Had Disappeared..........
House of Wax, released in 1953 during the 3-D craze, surprisingly had one-eyed André De Toth as its director, who couldn’t appreciate the film's 3-D visuals. A remake of the 1933 Mystery of the Wax Museum, it stars Vincent Price as a scarred sculptor who opens a new wax museum after his original one is destroyed by his partner. Price’s performance is a highlight, despite some gimmicky 3-D effects and a mediocre supporting cast. The film is a minor classic, notable for its eerie atmosphere and historical significance in 3-D filmmaking.
The 1950s are often viewed as a conservative era in horror films, both aesthetically and politically. Critics tend to highlight their areas of study by contrasting them with the horror films of the 1950s. Robin Wood argues that horror's radical potential lies in showcasing the struggle for recognition of repressed or oppressed elements in society.
The monster in horror films symbolizes this struggle, challenging social norms and exposing society's repressive nature. However, Wood dismisses 1950s horror films as part of the genre’s reactionary wing. He argues that these films fail to realize the genre's radical potential, instead embodying reactionary values that resurfaced in the 1980s during the Reagan era. One characteristic of this reactionary approach is the portrayal of the monster as entirely nonhuman, limiting the audience's capacity for sympathy.
This trend is linked to the political climate of the time, particularly the McCarthyite perception of Communism as dehumanizing. Consequently, Wood views the 1950s as a reactionary period in the history of horror films.
1950s horror films are often seen as conservative, contrasting with post-1960s horror. Many 1950s invasion and outsider narratives opposed rationality, favouring emotion and intuition. However, there was growing anxiety that rationality was controlling these irrational aspects, especially through advertising, making resistance to rationalization seem impossible. Rather than breaking from the 1950s, post-1960s horror developed from its central themes.
House of Wax centers on Henry Jarrod, a wax museum sculptor whose priceless creations are destroyed in a fire set by his business partner for insurance money. Presumed dead, Jarrod reappears a year later, now creating lurid displays of murderers in a new museum.
Meanwhile, a deformed killer is stealing bodies from the morgue. This 1953 Warner Brothers horror, renowned for its 3D presentation and Stereophonic Sound, is a remake of the 1933 Mystery of the Wax Museum. The remake is notable for Vincent Price's performance, which elevates it above the original.
While the 1933 version focuses more on murder mystery elements, the 1953 film emphasizes horror, revealing its monster early on, which slightly diminishes the suspense. Price's portrayal of Jarrod marks the beginning of his iconic horror career, leading to roles in The Mad Magician, The Fly, Return of the Fly, and House on Haunted Hill. His transformation from a respectable artist to a monstrous figure, driven by physical and psychological scars, is central to the film. The fiery destruction of his wax figures symbolizes his own descent into madness.
The 1950s are crucial in horror history, influencing contemporary horror and popular culture, with many 1950s films being remade and appreciated by modern audiences. The Supreme Court's 1948 decision to sever studios from their theaters led to the rise of independent producers like AIP, catering to teenage audiences and shaping the New Hollywood. Thus, the 1950s were a dynamic period that laid the groundwork for later developments in horror cinema.
House of Wax resembles early Hammer Studios films with its period setting, fantastic production design, and old-fashioned horror approach. Vincent Price's darkly humorous performance as a wax museum curator is central to the film's appeal. Despite unnecessary 3D gimmick scenes, the film remains brilliant for its aesthetic and influence on future horror.
The economic narrative of the 1950s 3-D cinema often intertwines it with other technological advancements of the era, attributing its emergence to declining box office sales and the threats posed by television, the Paramount anti-trust consent decree, and suburban migration. As Warren Buckland notes, the film industry’s response to television included innovations like CinemaScope, 3-D, and increased use of color.
This narrative aligns 3-D films with the broader Hollywood mode of production aimed at achieving greater realism. Bordwell and Staiger argue that synchronized sound, color, widescreen, stereoscopy, and stereophony were justified as progress toward better storytelling, realism, and enhanced spectacle .
Genre scholarship, particularly Chris Dumas, links 3-D cinema with horror and science fiction, suggesting these films reflected social anxieties of the 1950s. For example, Dumas analyzes "Robot Monster" in the context of concerns about atomic warfare, femininity, television, and fatherhood . Despite these insights, these narratives often overlook the unique aspects of stereoscopic images. The economic narrative, though setting the stage for Hollywood’s technological experimentation, does not fully contextualize the rise of 3-D films. Initially, Hollywood showed little interest in 3-D technology. Twentieth Century Fox’s lukewarm response to Milton Gunzburg’s "Natural Vision" 3-D rig exemplifies this disinterest, which led Gunzburg to independently produce "Bwana Devil" with Arch Oboler .
The unexpected success of "Bwana Devil" sparked Hollywood’s interest in 3-D, prompting studios to produce their own 3-D films despite not being equipped to quickly capitalize on its hype . The story of "Bwana Devil" highlights the economic hardships and lack of initial interest in 3-D technology. Lothrop Worth, a cinematographer involved in the film, recounted the financial struggles in making the film independently, relying on personal investments and minimal funding .
While economic factors played a role in Hollywood’s eventual embrace of 3-D cinema, they alone do not fully explain its popularity. The second narrative links 3-D cinema with the quest for greater realism in moving images, associating it with other technological innovations. However, this perspective often fails to recognize the unique characteristics of 3-D cinema, as Miriam Hansen suggests, viewing it as a creative disturbance and a deviation from conventional Hollywood practices .
During World War II, 3-D technology was extensively utilized by the U.S. military across three main devices: the Polaroid Machine Gun, Vectographs, and the View-Master. Polaroid, which later provided 3-D glasses for the 1950s boom, played a significant role in the war effort. Edwin Land, Polaroid’s co-founder, emphasized the company’s commitment to the war, noting that their purpose was solely to win it. By 1944, Polaroid's contributions included equipping every U.S. fire-control instrument with filters and providing goggles for soldiers.
The Polaroid Machine Gun Trainer allowed trainees to fire at a 3-D screen displaying enemy aircraft, with sounds mimicking battlefield conditions. The system simulated optical firing, with tracers appearing
Finally, genre-based analyses of 3-D films often focus on allegorical and thematic elements, such as the monster in The Creature from the Black Lagoon being interpreted as a metaphor for post-holocaust humanity or the bomb . These interpretations, while insightful, frequently neglect the specific poetics of 3-D films, emphasizing thematic content over the unique visual and experiential aspects of 3-D cinema.
House of Wax (1953)
Directed by André De Toth
Genres - Horror, Mystery-Suspense | Release Date - Apr 16, 1953 | Run Time - 88 min.