The Magnificent Vincent Price

I nabbed the 1953 edition of House of Wax starring Vincent Price a few days ago and finally popped the DVD in last night. On the cover in small font read, "Mystery of the House of Wax included (1933)." I hadn't realized Price's version wasn't the original. Unfortunately, the 2005 version of House of Wax, starring Paris Hilton, is a painful belly flop on a leech-filled lake.

Back to the 1953 Wax, Price portrays an artist obsessed with beauty, his figures as living history, and above all, his beloved Marie Antoinette. His business partner and financial backer urges him to leave history in the past. 'There should be shock value!' he said. But Price's character disagreed, and continued reassuring Marie Antoinette that she is his esteemed pleasure. The business partner lights a match, saying that the insurance money ($25,000) would make them rich. A fight broke out between the two of them while the gallery went up in flames. Price's character was said to be dead. Years later, with hands disfigured, the wax artist starts again with a new gallery. This time, he highlights the tormented souls of history instead of the gentle and beautiful. The new gallery also features recent crimes that one would read in the newspaper, such as his old financial partner hanging himself in an elevator shaft.

It's interesting that Price's character shifts from a gentle artist to a man of grim shock in this film, especially when Price himself is a man of showmanship. What we would now consider cheap gimmicks, the audiences considered awe-inspiring. The 1953 House of Wax, for example, was one of the first 3-D movies to be a success at the North American box office. In House on Haunted Hill (1959), a skeleton jumps out to attack the wife of Price's character. While the film was traveling the country, theater to theater, a 12-foot blow-up skeleton was released swinging into the audience. Of course, all of the younger boys loved this, told their friends, and saw the film again.

Oh Vincent, if only the remakes of your films were half as good as yours...