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«The Mystery Of The Wax Museum»

Mystery of the Wax Museum is a mystery/horror Technicolor film released in 1933 and directed by Michael Curtiz. It stars Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, and Frank McHugh.

The setting of the film opens in 1921 London and switches to 1933 New York City, where reporter Florence Dempsey (Glenda Farrell) solves a series of murders that coincide with the opening of a new wax museum.

Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwill) is a sculptor who operates a wax museum in 1921 London. When business was failing due to people's attraction to the macabre, Igor's investment partner, Joe Worth (Edwin Maxwell), tries to burn the museum down for the insurance money of £10,000. Igor wouldn't have it but Worth starts a fire anyway. Igor tries to stop him, and both he and Worth get into a fight. Worth knocks Igor unconscious, leaving the sculptor to die.

Igor survives, however, and reemerges 12 years later in New York City, reopening a new wax museum. His hands and legs have been badly crippled in the fire, and he must rely on assistants to create his new sculptures.

Meanwhile, reporter Florence Dempsey is sent out by her editor, Jim (Frank McHugh) to investigating the suicide of a model named Joan Gale (Monica Bannister). During this time, a hideous monster steals the body of Joan Gale from the morgue. When investigators find that her body has been stolen, they suspect murder. The finger initially points to George Winton (Gavin Gordon), son of a powerful industrialist, but after visiting him in jail, Florence thinks differently.

Florence's roommate is Charlotte Duncan (Fay Wray) whose fiánce Ralph (Allen Vincent) works at Igor's newly opened museum.

While visiting the museum, Florence notices an uncanny resemblance between a wax figure of Joan of Arc and the dead model. At the same time, Igor spots Charlotte and remarks that she looks similar to his favorite figure in his original museum, a sculpture of Marie Antoinette.

Igor employs several shady characters: Prof. Darcy (Arthur Edmund Carewe), a drug addict, and Hugo, a deaf-mute (Matthew Betz).

Darcy, at the same time, is working for Joe Worth, who is working as a bootlegger in the city. Winton also purchases liquor from him.

While investigating at an old house where Worth keeps his bootlegged alcohol, Florence discovers a monster who is connected with the museum, but cannot prove any connection with the disappearance of Joan Gale's body. Darcy is seen running from the house and is caught by the police. When brought to the station, he breaks down and admits that Igor is in fact the killer and that he has been murdering people, stealing their bodies, and dipping them in wax to create life-like statues.

Charlotte, going to visit Ralph at the museum, is trapped by Igor. When Charlotte tries to get away, she pounds away at his face, breaking a wax mask that he has made of himself, and reveals that he is the horribly mutilated monster. He also shows her the dead body of Joe Worth, who Darcy has been tracking down for him for some time. When she faints, he ties her up and sets her on a table, awaiting her to become his lost Marie Antoinette when she is doused with wax. Florence leads the police to the museum just in time: Charlotte is saved, and Igor is gunned down into a giant vat of wax. When Florence reports her story in, Jim proposes to her. Having to finally choose between money (Winton) and happiness (Jim), she picks the latter.

Sierra Leone, 1997, «Mystery of the Wax Museum»