''Waxworks'' (german: Das Wachsfigurenkabinett) is a 1924 German silent

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film, package film, or portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of several shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme ...

directed by Paul Leni. The film encompasses several genres, including a fantasy

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

, a historical film, and a

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

through its various episodes. Its stories are linked by a plot thread about a writer (

William Dieterle William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation. He worked in Hollywood primarily as a director for much of his ...

) who accepts a job from a waxworks proprietor to write a series of stories about the exhibits of Caliph of Baghdad ( Emil Jannings),

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584. Iva ...

(

Conrad Veidt Hans Walter Conrad Veidt (; 22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German film actor who attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and ''The Man Who Laughs ...

) and Jack the Ripper ( Werner Krauss) in order to boost business. The film's format may have influenced later horror anthologies such as the British '' Dead of Night'' (1945) and the Italian ''

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy metal music. The band helped def ...

'' (1963) by Mario Bava. Critic Troy Howarth mentions "Of all the later horror anthologies, it seems to have had the most direct effect on Amicus' '' Torture Garden'' (1968), which reused the waxworks motif". The film was also known as ''Three Wax Men''. The 1924 silent film supposedly inspired a 1988 "remake" of sorts, '' Waxwork'', but "any similarity between the two ends there."Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). "Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era". Midnight Marquee Press. p. 282. . This film would be director Paul Leni's last film made in Germany before he went on to make '' The Cat and the Canary'' (1927) in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Leni died of blood poisoning on 2 September 1929 at age 44. Some references list German screenwriter/producer

Leo Birinski Leo Birinski (June 8, 1884 – October 23, 1951) was a playwright, screenwriter and director. He worked in Austria-Hungary, Germany and in the United States. As a playwright in Europe, he gained his biggest popularity from 1910 – 1917 but ...

as a co-director, co-producer and editor of the film.

Plot

A young nameless poet (Dieterle) enters a wax museum where the proprietor works in the company of his daughter Eva (Olga Belajeff). The proprietor hires the poet to write a back-story for his wax models of

Harun al-Rashid Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar , أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...

(Jannings),

(Veidt), and Jack the Ripper (Krauss) in order to draw an audience to the museum. With his daughter by his side, the poet notices that the arm of Harun al-Rashid is missing and writes a story incorporating the missing arm.

Harun al-Rashid

The poet sees himself in his story as a pie baker, Assad, where he lives with his wife Maimune (played by Olga Belajeff) directly by the walls of the palace where Harun Al-Rashid lives. Smoke from Assad's bakery covers the front of the palace, where Al-Rashid loses a game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

, leading him to want the head of the baker. He sends his Grand Vizier to find the man, Assad, but in doing so, he finds Assad's wife with whom he is enchanted. After being captivated by her beauty and also captivating her with his status among the royals, he returns to tell Al-Rashid that he does not have the baker's head but rather something better – news about the baker's wife. Al-Rashid then resolves to go out that night, incognito, and visit the beauty. When he steals away from his castle, the ruler witnesses an argument between the jealous Assad and Maimune, who both seem dissatisfied with their poverty-laden life. Assad then says he will rob Al-Rashid's wishing ring to solve their problems. While Al-Rashid visits the bakery that night, Assad slips into the palace to steal the wishing ring from the finger of Al-Rashid by slicing his arm off (later it is revealed to be only a wax figurine). He is spotted by the palace guards and is chased to the rooftops where he escapes. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, the real Al-Rashid is in Assad's house trying to impress his wife. The returning Assad penetrates the locked house by force, while Maimune hides Al-Rashid in the baking-oven. The guards rush in to arrest Assad for the attack at the palace, but Assad's wife uses the wishing ring to wish that Al-Rashid spring forth unharmed, as he secretly comes out of the oven. She then wishes that Assad be named the official baker for Al-Rashid. Her wish is granted and the couple come under the caliph's protection. (40 minutes)

Ivan the Terrible

The second episode, treated in a slower and more somber vein, deals with the Czar of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, whom the poet describes as making 'cities into cemeteries'. The czar takes physical delight in watching his victims die, after poisoning them. Ivan's "Poison-Mixer" writes the name of the victim on an hour glass, and once they are poisoned, the glass is turned over, the man dying just as the last sand falls. The Poison-Mixer, who has taken pity on one of the victims, is singled out by Ivan as the next to be poisoned. But, unseen, the Poison-Mixer writes "ZAR IWAN" on the next hourglass. Ivan is supposed to attend the wedding of a nobleman's son; paranoid that he is being targeted, dresses the nobleman as himself, and drives the sleigh to the wedding. There, the nobleman is killed with an arrow, and his daughter (Eva) and her bridegroom (the poet) are in shock as Ivan takes over their festivities, eventually absconding with her and holding the groom in his torture chamber. On the wedding night, Ivan hears that he has been poisoned, and races to the torture chamber to reverse his fate by turning the hour-glass over; he does it again and again, and the final title says that Ivan 'became mad and turned the glass over and over til the end of his days.' (37 minutes)

Jack the Ripper

After the poet finishes the last two stories, he wakes up to find that the wax model of Jack the Ripper has come to life, but it is recognized instead to be

Spring-heeled Jack Spring-heeled Jack is an entity in English folklore of the Victorian era. The first claimed sighting of Spring-heeled Jack was in 1837. Later sightings were reported all over the United Kingdom and were especially prevalent in suburban Lon ...

. Spring-Heeled Jack stalks both the poet and the waxworks owner's daughter. The Poet and the girl flee but find that they can't escape Spring-Heeled Jack through the dark, twisted halls of the museum. As Jack draws close enough, multiple versions of him appear, and as his knife begins to slash, it provokes the poet to wake up to realize that the last experience was a dream. (6 minutes)

Cast

* Emil Jannings as

: Jannings plays the role of the pot-bellied Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the

Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

tale. Jannings' take on the character of the lecherous, child-like caliph is a rare comedy role for the actor, who usually starred in more dramatic roles. *

: Veidt plays the role of the

n czar

. Russian director

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, scree ...

br>would later use Veidt's model
for his own rendition in ''

'' (1946). Veidt later appeared in another Leni film, ''

The Man Who Laughs ''The Man Who Laughs'' (also published under the title ''By Order of the King'' from its subtitle in French) is a novel by Victor Hugo, originally published in April 1869 under the French title ''L'Homme qui rit''. It takes place in England beg ...

'' (1928). * Werner Krauss as Jack the Ripper /

Spring-Heeled Jack Spring-heeled Jack is an entity in English folklore of the Victorian era. The first claimed sighting of Spring-heeled Jack was in 1837. Later sightings were reported all over the United Kingdom and were especially prevalent in suburban Lon ...

: Krauss plays the role of both killer figures in the film, referred to twice by different names. Krauss earlier had starred with actor Conrad Veidt in the popular horror film '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920). *

as The Poet / Assad the Baker / A Russian noble (Boyar): Dieterle plays various roles in the film as the poet: his character writes himself into each of his own stories. *

John Gottowt John Gottowt (15 June 1881 – 29 August 1942) was an Austrian actor, stage director and film director for theatres and silent movies. He was born as Isidor Gesang in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary (present-day Lviv, Ukraine) into a Jewish family. A ...

as the waxworks proprietor * Olga Belajeff as Eva / Maimune / Boyar bride *

Georg John Georg John (born Georg Jacobsohn; 23 July 1879 – 18 November 1941) was a German stage and film actor. Early life Georg Jacobsohn was born into a Jewish household in Schmiegel, Province of Posen, Imperial Germany. Career John began his c ...

* Ernst Legal

Production

The film's script by Henrik Galeen was shortened by Leni, mainly by dropping the fourth tale in the anthology, about the character Rinaldo Rinaldini who was to be played by

, a story based on the 1798 novel ''Rinaldo Rinaldini, the Robber Captain'' by

Christian August Vulpius Christian August Vulpius (23 January 1762 – 25 June 1827) was a German novelist and dramatist. His sister married the noted German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Biography He was born at Weimar, and was educated at Jena and Erlangen. In ...

. Leni decided to substitute the short tale of

instead. The statue of Rinaldini is still viewable however in the scenes with the wax figures (he's the character with the large black hat).

Home media

Kino International released ''Waxworks'' on DVD in 2002. This edition has been mastered from a restoration print produced by the Cineteca del Comune di Bologna, with restoration lab work by L’Immagine Retrovata. English language intertitles from a 1924 British print have been inserted for this edition. (These give the name of the baker's wife as Zarah. The other characters played by Belajeff are not named.) The film is accompanied by a piano score composed and performed by Jon C. Mirsalis. Running time 83 minutes.

Live score

In 2013, vocalist Mike Patton and three percussionists: Matthias Bossi, Scott Amendola, and William Winant, performed a live score for the

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

, the performance of which was filmed.Loyal followers of the Museum, the following will stop your bloody and beating heart. Mike Patton, Matthias Bossi, Scott Amendola, and William Winant will perform a live score to the 1924 film "Waxworks" on May 7th at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

. Posted 9 March 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2013.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waxworks (Film) 1924 films 1920s German-language films 1924 horror films 1920s fantasy films German horror anthology films German fantasy films Films of the Weimar Republic German silent feature films Films directed by Paul Leni German black-and-white films German Expressionist films Films based on One Thousand and One Nights Cultural depictions of Ivan the Terrible Films about Jack the Ripper Silent horror films 1920s German films