Mystery of the Wax Museum - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Mystery of the Wax Museum or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Mystery of the Wax Museum

[liam]

The shot of the 'monster' lifting up the sheet in the morgue was, along with many other Warner Bros. films of the early 1930s, incorporated into the opening credits of their musical Mame (1974).

[ronnie]

To emphasize the similarities between the wax figures and the characters, some names are alike. For example, the suicidal Joan Gale inspires the statue of Joan of Arc. Charlotte, who should have been killed to recreate the figure of Marie Antoinette, was also the real name of the young lady who killed Marat, from the 'Assassination of Marat' depicted in the museum.

[mathew]

This film was produced before the Production Code. When it was re-made only 20 years later, as House of Wax (1953), all references to drug use were removed and a character was changed from a junkie to an alcoholic.

[janice]

Although the title had been changed to "Mystery of the Wax Museum", the leaders on the original release prints still gave the title as "Wax Museum".

[kristen]

This was the second time Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray worked for Michael Curtiz. As before whilst making Doctor X (1932), Wray didn't like the rigid approach the director employed upon his actors.

[phyllis]

Actress Monica Bannister is credited as playing Joan Gale, but she's never seen as a living person - only as a corpse and as Joan of Arc in the wax museum.

[caroline]

In an interview about the film, Fay Wray recalled how the scene where Lionel Atwill is unmasked was poorly rehearsed. After hitting the prop mask a couple of times, it failed to come off. In the finished film, Fay Wray pulls off what remains of the mask as it was the only way to make the scene work.

[miriam]

One of the cops addresses Florence as Mrs. Dempsey, leading some to believe this is her actual last name. In fact, it's a joking reference to Jack Dempsey, the heavyweight boxing champion.

[eli]

The morgue set was recycled from the laboratory set in the earlier Doctor X (1932), also a two-strip Technicolor horror film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray.

[kenzi]

The color version was believed to be lost until the late sixties, when Jack L. Warner's personal print was rediscovered at his home.

[sylvia]

The film begins in London in 1921, but most of the action occurs shortly after New Year 1933 in New York.

[stephanie]

The British video release of "Mystery of the Wax Museum" presented the film in rather murky colors, unrelated to the carefully created and blended colors from the film's release in 1933. However, the DVD release shows the film as originally intended, with the correct technicolor intact.

[nora]

Ivan Igor's named is pronounced "EE-van EYE-gor."

[wallace]

Fay Wray remembered Michael Curtiz giving the cast a difficult time during production.

[jesus]

The wax figures look like real people because they ARE real people. The original plan was to use actual wax figures, but they melted under the heat of the lights used at the time to film two-strip Technicolor.