...if the musical films of the early 30's had not fallen in such ill favor. Warner Brothers had contracted with the Technicolor corporation to make two more color films, and these were always musicals in those days. When that didn't pan out as economically feasible Warners decided to make two color horror films instead - this one and "Doctor X".
Mystery of the Wax Museum is one of those rare depression-era films that availed itself of two-strip technicolor. It is a good example of a saucy pre-code film with dicey language that has a journalist investigating what turns out to be a horror story. In this way it compares well to 1932's "Doctor X". In this version, Glenda Farrell is really the lead as the fast-talking journalist who just knows that a recently opened wax museum is behind disappearances in the local morgue, and is out to prove it. She plays something you won't see for another 30 years in American cinema starting in 1934 - a hard-boiled girl with an equally hard-boiled mouth. For example, while searching for clues she walks up to a cop friend of hers, grabs the magazine from his hand and asks him "How's your sex life?". The now more famous Fay Wray actually has a minor role as the beautiful girl friend of the apprentice sculptor who plays the part of damsel in distress. Other than this small part at the end of the film she really has little to do here. Farrell carries the lead role well, but I kept thinking that if Ginger Rogers had been available perhaps she could have really made this role sizzle a bit more .
Mystery of the Wax Museum is one of those rare depression-era films that availed itself of two-strip technicolor. It is a good example of a saucy pre-code film with dicey language that has a journalist investigating what turns out to be a horror story. In this way it compares well to 1932's "Doctor X". In this version, Glenda Farrell is really the lead as the fast-talking journalist who just knows that a recently opened wax museum is behind disappearances in the local morgue, and is out to prove it. She plays something you won't see for another 30 years in American cinema starting in 1934 - a hard-boiled girl with an equally hard-boiled mouth. For example, while searching for clues she walks up to a cop friend of hers, grabs the magazine from his hand and asks him "How's your sex life?". The now more famous Fay Wray actually has a minor role as the beautiful girl friend of the apprentice sculptor who plays the part of damsel in distress. Other than this small part at the end of the film she really has little to do here. Farrell carries the lead role well, but I kept thinking that if Ginger Rogers had been available perhaps she could have really made this role sizzle a bit more .