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Film: Waxworks (Das Wachsfigurenkabinett)
Year: 1924
Directors: Leo Birinsky and Paul Leni
Writers: Henrik Galeen
Starring: Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt and Werner Krauss
Review:
This was a movie that I discovered when searching for horror films from 1924 for my Centennial Club. The title was interesting, since I know there is the movie from 1988 that I watched years ago. I saw the cast that we were working with here of Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt and Werner Krauss, who I've seen in other films from the era. I was curious as to what we'd get here.
Synopsis: a wax museum hires a writer to give the sculptures stories. The writer imagines himself and the museum owner's daughter in them.
That synopsis is good in setting how this starts. The writer is played by William Dieterle and I believe he's credited here as the poet. He has a paper with the wanted information for a wax museum within a carnival. He enters and inquires about the position. His audition is to write stories for Harun al Raschid (Jannings), Ivan the Terrible (Veidt) and Jack the Ripper (Krauss).
This is an early anthology where we go into the first story about Harun. He is the ruler of Baghdad. He plays chess daily with his Grand Vizier (Paul Biensfeldt), to help keep him sharp mentally. Assad the Baker (Dieterle) is making bread outside of the palace and the smoke upsets Harun after he loses the game. He wants the baker's head. The Grand Vizier learns that Assad has a beautiful wife, played by Olga Belajeff. Harun has a different wife each day and he flirts with her to steal her away. She fought with Assad over ruining her only dress, so he made a pact to steal a ring from Harun to get back in her good graces. This starts a series of events that will change all their lives.
Then we jump over to the story written about Ivan the Terrible. He has a poison maker, played by Ernst Legal, who writes the name of someone on hourglasses. When the sand runs out, they die. Ivan has his name for good reason. He distrusts those around him and thinks that they're out to kill him. A friend asks him to the wedding of his daughter and Ivan thinks it is an assassination attempt. He hides as the driver of the chariot. This creates an issue as Belajeff is set to marry Dieterle. Ivan's name is also erroneously written on an hourglass when it should be the poison makers.
Our last story is interesting as our poet has a run in with Jack the Ripper or as he writes about him, Spring-Heeled Jack. This was clever as to what they do here.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that it was interesting to see an early horror anthology. Not all the stories fall into this genre, but I think the first one does flirt with it enough. There is something happens with Harun that makes Assad think he's killed him. I also love what they do here with our wraparound of the poet creating stories about these real characters. Even more so that the last one centers around the writer.
Since this has the same team behind all of them, I'll treat this just as a movie overall. The first story is more whimsical, but Harun is the only focal that isn't a tyrant or villain. He's not good though either as he is out to seduce the baker's wife. What he does though to save face as well as to prevent Assad from being killed though is good. It is clever and quick thinking by the wife. The Ivan story is a bit long, but I love how it ends. It shows how evil this character is and it fits where it concludes. It is like a mirror to the first one, but the lead is getting comeuppance.
Then for the last one, even though it feels rushed, I thought it was the most unique. I looked at the runtime and tried to figure out what they'd do. I don't want to spoil it, but it was creative to me. What I'll say is that after telling the first two stories, I could see the poet doing what he does here. It would also be terrifying to be pursued by Jack the Ripper. Being as early into cinema as we are, I like that this idea was used already. This is also not based off specific stories, but we are using historical figures in fictional ways from my understanding.
That should be enough for the story so let me go over to the acting. Our three leads are great. Jannings feels like this jovial Harun who can be quick to anger. It is a different role than what I'm used to from Faust. Veidt is amazing as this villainous Ivan. He does well with his body language and being menacing, if not downright evil. Krauss also works in his limited role as Jack the Ripper. I'd also say that I like Dieterle and Belajeff playing the characters who interact with these figures. They take on different roles so we're seeing their range. I'd also say that Biensfeldt, John Gottowt, Georg John and Legal, along with any other actors helped round this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. This falls into German Expressionism and I love that. It adds a surreal feel, especially since these are three tales that are being crafted by the poet. Since we aren't seeing real life, I love that the world doesn't match that. The last one feels like a nightmare as well. I'm just a fan of the sets when they use this. We don't get much of the way of effects, but this is early into the history of cinema, so they had to be in camera. The makeup to make the actors look like the characters or people from that time they existed worked. The last thing would be the soundtrack. I can't be fully sure if the music synced with the images was what they used originally. I did like what they used for the version on YouTube. It helped build the atmosphere.
In conclusion, I rather enjoyed this early anthology film. We have heavy hitter actors in my opinion with Veidt, Krauss and Jannings, especially for the horror genre. It is creative to have this poet who is writing stories for these historical figures. I thought this was well-made. The sets used capture the surreal thanks to expressionism made me smile. I'm a sucker for them. I also thought the makeup and costumes fit the characters to help capture that allusion. The soundtrack that we got also adds to the atmosphere. I'd recommend it if you are out to see silent era horror films or the history of this genre.
My Rating: 8.5 out of 10