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Overview for Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)
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Overview
Brief Synopsis
A disfigured sculptor turns murder victims into wax statues.
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Synopsis

In London in 1921, Mr. Igor's critically successful wax museum is burned down by his partner for the insurance money. Igor is trapped in the flames and all his work is destroyed. Twelve years later in New York, Igor watches from his window while the body of Joan Gale is taken to the morgue. Her rich young boyfriend, George Winton, is arrested for her murder, but when an autopsy is ordered, the police find the body has been stolen. Wisecracking reporter Florence Dempsey decides she will prove Winton's innocence. She accompanies her roommate Charlotte Duncan to Igor's new wax museum to visit Charlotte's fiancé Ralph Burton, Igor's assistant. There, Florence is struck by the resemblance between a wax statue of Joan of Arc and the dead Joan Gale. When Winton is released from prison on bail, he and Florence follow Igor's drug addict assistant, Sparrow, hoping to find out the truth about the museum. Meanwhile, Igor has trapped Charlotte in the museum. He tells her that because his hands were damaged in the fire, preventing him from sculpting, he has been killing people who resemble his burned statues, and once they are dipped in wax, he displays them. He plans to immortalize Charlotte as Marie Antoinette. She screams in response, and hearing her cries, Ralph breaks into the museum. He struggles with Igor, who falls into a vat of wax and dies. Florence gets her story and a surprise proposal from Jim, her editor.
Cast & Crew
Michael Curtiz
Director
Lionel Atwill
as Mr. Igor
Fay Wray
as Charlotte Duncan
Glenda Farrell
as Florence Dempsey
Frank McHugh
as Editor
Allen Vincent
as Ralph Burton
Gavin Gordon
as George Winton
Edwin Maxwell
as Joe Worth
Holmes Herbert
as Dr. Rasmussen
Claude King
 
Arthur Edmund Carewe
as Sparrow
Thomas [E.] Jackson
as Detective
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Release Date
18 Feb 1933

Color/BW
Color (2-strip Technicolor)

Sound
Mono

Production Dates
began week of 8 Oct 1932

Alternate Title(s)
Wax Museum

Duration (in mins)
72 or 75

Premiere Information
New York opening: week of 16 Feb 1933
began week of 8 Oct 1932


Distribution Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. The Vitaphone Corp.

Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.


Country
United States
Title is not currently scheduled.

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Mystery of the Wax Museum - Our records indicate this title is not available on Home Video. Vote below for it to be released on DVD.
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TCM's Not-On-Home Video Rank: 602
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