Early TV

 

SUSPENSE:"Dr. Violet"-1949-An engaged couple go to a carny wax museum about murderers. The host Dr. Violet (Hume Cronyn) is an expert on murder. One exhibit isn't finished as the murderer hasn't been caught yet. The police suspect a nutty customer Mousey (Ray Walston). Violet leaves the girl (Anne Francis; 7 years before FORBIDDEN PLANET) alone in the museum and we learn a little more of his background. The ending is kind abrupt and awkward. Also with Frankie Thomas and Mike Kellin. 

Screenwriter Halstead Welles later wrote 3:10 TO YUMA and THE HANGING TREE. Director Robert Stevens later directed 44 episodes of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” and the very unusual personality change drama CHANGE OF MIND (1969).

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Jolly Old England

 

 (you tube)

MIDNIGHT AT MADAME TASSUAD'S-1936-Sir Clive Cheyne (James Carew) makes a bet with his friend that he will stay overnight alone at “The Chamber of Horrors” section of Madame Tassaud's wax museum. Meanwhile Cheyne has a problem with Nicholas (Kim Peacock; also one of the screenwriters) the philandering, neer do well fiancé of his niece Carol (Lucille Lisle). Nick is in cahoots with Newton (Charles Oliver), an associate of Cheyne's, who owns Cheyne money. Jerry Melville (Patrick Barr), a snooping reporter tries to get the low down on the engagement. He has a comical assistant named Stubbs (future first Dr. Who star William Hartnell). After Melville exposes Nicholas' illicit affair, he goes to the museum to save Cheyne who's going to be killed by Newton's gang. Wax figures of Mae West, Marie Antoinette and Lawrence of Arabia also appear. 

This British production was the second to last film directed by George Pearson who way back in 1914 made the first movie adaptation of a Sherlock Holmes story (A Study in Scarlet).

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Beware The Horror Horn!

CHAMBER OF HORRORS-1966- In Baltimore a nut named Jason Cravatte (Patrick O'Neal) mur-*ders a woman and then has a minister marry them at gun-point. Police detective Albert-son (Wayne Rogers) investi-gates. The cigar smoking Mrs. Perryman (Jeanette Nolan) calls in Wax Museum proprietors and "amateur" criminologists Anthony Draco (Cesare Danova) and Harold Blount (Wilfred Hyde-White) to catch her nephew, the murderer Cravatte. They are assisted by little person Pepe (Tun Tun). Draco figures out Cravatte is hiding out in a whorehouse run by Madame Corona (Marie Wind-sor). He's arrested, tried and sentenced to hang. On his way to the death house he manages to escape but has to chop off his own hand to do it. The chief inspector assumes he died but of course he didn't. 

In New Orleans he has a (fake) Chinese guy (Berry Kroeger) design a hook hand with several unusual extras. He uses Maria (Laura Devon), a hooker to set up his revenge on the judge (Vinton Haywood) who condemned him. Gravette uses a butcher knife attachment to kill him. He then sets his sights on Draco, once again using Marie. Meanwhile Draco takes time to romance old flame Barbara (Suzy Parker) while Gravatte does away with the doctor (Richard O'Brien) who said he was sane enough to stand trial. Later he kills Al-bertson, the arresting officer. They set a trap for Gravatte at the museum but he gets by it, terrorizing Maria and trying to kill Draco. They fight and Gravatte is killed. It ends with the duo stumbling upon a new murder right in their museum. 

CHAMBER OF HORRORS was originally made for TV and based on HOUSE OF WAX but it was thought too violent for TV and it was turned into a feature film and added two "William Castle like" gimmicks: "The Fear Flasher" and "The Horror Horn" which would warn the viewer a murder was coming. 

Tony Curtis has an unbilled cameo and for some reason Patrick O'Neal's name is omitted from the end credits! I'm sure the serial killers union had something to say about that!

Director Hy Averbach worked on many TV shows and TV movies but around this time made several other features with long titles: I LOVE YOU ALICE B. TOKLAS, WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT and SUPPOSE THEY GAVE A WAR AND NOBODY CAME?

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Atwill In Wax

MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM-1933-Eccentric and brilliant Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwill) owns a wax museum. His greedy partner burns the place down (with Igor in it) to collect the insurance money. A year later Igor is hiding out, a cripple. A disfigured guy in a long coat and top hat steals a dead female body from the morgue. Florence (Glenda Farrell) a wise talking reporter is practically fired from her job by her boss (Frank McHugh) unless she gets a story. 

Meanwhile Ralph (Allen Vincent), a sculptor who works for Igor introduces his girlfriend Charlotte (Fay Wray; the same year as KING KONG) to his boss. Igor believes she will be a perfect model for his Marie Antoinette figure. When she goes to visit Ralph at the museum at night Igor puts the moves on his “Marie”. She discovers his secrets. He can walk and has a wax mask covering his deformed face. Oh yeah, he's also mad (well, I wouldn't be happy about it myself). Fortunately, the police break in, Igor falls into a vat of wax and Charlotte is saved. Florence gets a great story and marries her boss. 

This classic horror tale from Warner Bros. was filmed in an early type of two tone Technicolor by director Michael Curtiz. Though the process was unpopular and costly it gives the film an eerie quality. Curtiz's other horror film from the year previous DOCTOR X was also filmed in the two tone process (with Atwill and Wray). MYSTERY was the last to use it.

Of course this was remade as HOUSE OF WAX IN 1953 with Vincent Price!

https://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2008/07/this-price-is-right.html

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Chan The Man

CHARLIE CHAN AT THE WAX MUSEUM-1940-Gangster Steve McBirney (Marc Lawrence) is convicted of murder  thanks to the work of famous Chinese detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler). McBirney manages to get a gun and “shoot his way out”. He and his buddy hide in a wax museum run by Dr. Cream (C. Henry Gordon) and his female assistant Lily (Joan Valerie). He wants Cream to give him a new face (Cream used to be a surgeon). Later while Charlie confers with police inspector O’Matthews (Joe King), son Jimmy (Sen Yung) comes by. With him are Dr. Cream and reporter Mary Boland (Marguerite Chapman) who want Chan to be on a radio show where he and the pompous Dr. Von Brom (Michael Visaroff) will  try to determine if an innocent man Joe Rock was executed for a crime he didn't commit. It’s really just a trap set by Cream and McBirney to kill Chan. They gather for the broadcast but  unbeknownst to the rest, Joe’s widow is there too. McBirney and his friend convince the crazy caretaker to help electrocute Chan but Von Brom insists on sitting in Chan’s chair and seems to be electrocuted but Charlie deduces that he was shot with a poisoned dart and it is the work of Butcher Deegan, a criminal thought to be dead! 

This is a nice little whodunit with a cool wax museum backdrop but Jimmy's dumb antics (he faints twice) get a little annoying. Funny, unexpected final scene though. Director Lynn Shores was a little bit of a mystery man. He directed several short subjects and an early talkie THE JAZZ AGE (1929) with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and also THE SHADOW STRIKES (1937) but not too much else. He died in 1949.

Next installment: MURDER OVER NEW YORK

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Inner Sanctum #4

THE FROZEN GHOST-1945-Radio hypnotist Gregor the Great (Lon Chaney) believes he killed a man through his hypnotism act. After much soul searching he comes to believe he's losing his mind so his  manager George (Milburn Stone) suggests he take a job helping Madame Monet (Tala Birell) at her wax museum. Naturally trouble brews between Monet and Greg's girlfriend Maura (Evelyn Ankers) and then between Rudi (Martin Kosleck), the weird sculptor and Gregor over the affections of Monet's niece Nina (Elena Verdugo; Chaney's romantic lead in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN the year before). Later Monet disappears and Greg thinks he killed her. A cynical Shakespeare loving police captain Brant (Douglas Dumbrille) investigates and at one point says "I'm not paid to think". When Nina discovers her aunt's corpse in a wax display she's chased by a knife packing Rudi but comes to suspect Greg when she sees him with aunt's scarf. Soon it's revealed that George and Rudi are in league to drive Greg crazy. Fortunately Gregor and Brant devise a plan and arrive just in time to save Nina from being burned alive. 

This was the fourth of six “Inner Sanctum” miseries, I mean mysteries. It's ok but the story and direction are kind of slipshod. Harold Young had directed Chaney earlier in 1942's THE MUMMY'S TOMB and later made THE JUNGLE CAPTIVE (the last of the Paula Duree/ape woman series). A drunk at the beginning of the film is played (un-billed) by Arthur Hohl (Montgomery from ISLAND OF LOST SOULS).

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AAA: Another Amicus Anthology

 

 

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD-An obnoxious police detective (John Bennett) investigates the disappearance of film star Paul Henderson. A real estate agent (John Bryans) tells him strange things go on in the house where a woman has also vanished. He gives the detective the reports on the last few tenants for him to read. They comprise the stories.

In the first “A Method For Murder”, a horror writer (Denholm Elliot) creates a sinister character called Dominic (Tom Adams). It seems the character comes to life and the writer wonders if he's going insane. The twist ending makes no sense.

In the second “Waxworks”, Peter Cushing plays Phillip, a loner who listens to classical music and mourns the death of his lover. He and his friend Neville (Joss Ackland) become obsessed with a wax figure that resembles the dead woman. The museum's mad owner figures into the climax.

 

In the third “Sweets To The Sweet” (related by the real estate agent), Christopher Lee plays a stuck up businessman who treats his seemingly cute and innocent daughter in an overly strict manner. It turns out she's not exactly what she appears to be. Nyree Dawn Porter plays a teacher who tries to help.

In the final story “The Cloak”, Jon Pertwee plays pompous horror star Paul Henderson. When speaking of a film with Dracula in it he says “The one with Bela Lugosi. Not that new fella”. (This was an Amicus production) Henderson buys a mysterious cloak for his latest vampire role and it seems to turn him into a blood sucker. His co-star/lover Korla (Ingrid Pitt) turns out to be the real thing!

In the ridiculous finale Henderson and Korla attack the detective when he goes to investigate.

This is an ok anthology from Hammer Studios' chief English competition at the time and the script by writer Robert Bloch is clever in spots but I thought the stories could have been better. I wasn't really satisfied with the conclusion to most of them and the direction by Peter Duffell seems rushed in parts but it's always good to see a nice old fashioned anthology like this especially with a great cast.

Around this time Bloch was a busy writer doing more stuff for Amicus like ASYLUM and THE TORTURE GARDEN plus TV movies like THE CAT CREATURE and TV show episodes. It's also said that Vincent Price was first offered the role of Paul Henderson but his contract with AIP prevented him from accepting it.

 

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