6 Face-Melting Facts About ‘House of Wax’ Starring Vincent Price
This week, Svengoolie takes us on a journey of murder, madness and wax dummies, with House of Wax on Saturday, Oct. 19, on his MeTV series Svengoolie Classic Horror & Sci-Fi Movie.
It’s a tale as old as time itself: Man has wax museum. Man’s business partner burns down wax museum to collect insurance money, leaving man for dead. Man, who has survived but is badly injured, vows revenge — and gets it, by turning his victims into wax figures for his new wax museum.
OK, maybe it’s not that timeless a tale — but House of Wax has been remade enough times to show it has serious staying power. The version from 1953, which introduced the world to 3D film (and reintroduced the world to Vincent Price as a malevolent horror maestro), was actually the third version of the story — it had already been a stage play and a 1933 film called Mystery of the Wax Museum. The film was then remade again in 2005, starring the truly frightening Paris Hilton.
But the 1953 version is the one worth melting over. Read on and find out what this film had to do with The Addams Family, Death Wish, Judy Garland and one very, very long screening.
1It Was the First Appearance of the Future Morticia Addams
Everett Collection
Carolyn Jones — most famous as the matriarch of a certain ooky spooky TV family — got her start in this film, which was her first credited role. Though some reviewers got confused and referred to her by her character’s name, Cathy Gray. That’s slightly less horrible than her character’s fate of being murdered and turned into a wax figure, but still … annoying!
2It Featured Charles Bronson (Yes, That Charles Bronson)
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Most of us associate Charles Bronson with his turns as tough-as-nails types in The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape and the Death Wish films. But when he started his acting career in 1951, he ended up in a broader range of supporting roles — including here, where he played Price’s evil assistant, Igor. And if you don’t remember seeing his name in the opening credits, that could be because he was still going by Charles Buchinsky, his birth name; he wouldn’t start appearing as Charles Bronson until the following year.
3It Was the First Studio 3D Film …
Courtesy Everett Collection
The 1952 independent film Bwana Devil was the first full-length color 3D film. That movie — which utilized its technology to have lions seem to jump into the crowd — was a surprise hit and motivated Warner Bros. to invest in a 3D film of their own. House of Wax was the first color 3D film released by a major studio, and though it didn’t have any jumping lions (audiences had to make due with 3D effects on can-can dancers and eerie shadows), it was one of the most popular movies released in 1953.
4… Made by a Director Who Couldn’t See 3D
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The director, Andre de Toth, was blind in one eye, so none of the film’s 3D effects were visible to him. Some think this was actually part of the film’s success — because de Toth couldn’t view 3D, he didn’t get caught up on the special effects, and instead focused on making sure he created a gripping film.
5The Premiere Lasted an Entire Day (and Involved Bela Lugosi)
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The studio pulled out all the stops to promote the film when it was released, including a “round-the-clock” premiere at a theater in downtown L.A., where the movie was shown 12 times in a row. The first showing, at midnight, had some celebs in the audience, including Judy Garland and Shelley Winters; it also had Bela Lugosi outside promoting the film. He didn’t appear in the movie or have anything to do with it; the producers just knew that it would create a sensation and thought that Lugosi would do it because he was known to be low on cash at the moment.
6It Made Vincent Price King of the Horror Movie Villains
Everett Collection
Though most of us today think of Vincent Price in relation to his phenomenal run of 1950s and ’60s horror movies, Price started out as a character actor, in films like 1944’s Laura and 1945’s Leave Her to Heaven. He did make horror films in the ’40s, including 1940s The Invisible Man Returns, but those were just two roles in a career that also included film noirs, period pieces and adventure films, as well as performances on Broadway.
But by 1953, Price was in a bit of a career lull; the success of House of Wax pulled him out of it. He was immediately recruited to star in another 3D horror film, 1954’s The Mad Magician. Though he did appear in non-horror roles afterwards, including in Cecil B. DeMille‘s 1956 The Ten Commandments, it represented a career shift: Instead of playing a supporting role in period pieces, he primarily played the lead in horror flicks. In 1959 alone, he appeared in House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler and Return of the Fly; the following year, he began his partnership with Roger Corman, which yielded a bevy of horror classics.
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