Germany, 1924
65m, 84m, 93m, reels, 1681 metres, 2018 ft (at 16 fps)
35mm film, black and white, 1.33:1
silent
A German anthology horror film directed by Leo Birinsky and Paul Leni.
Plot Summary
The owner of a waxworks museum hires a writer to pen tales about three models he has also employed. In the first, he casts himself as a baker who is threatened with execution when the smell of his bakery drifts into the Sultan’s palace; the second features Tzar Ivan the Terrible who orders the execution of a chemist; and in the third, the writer casts himself as a young man on the trail of Jack the Ripper.
Credits
Crew
Director: Leo Birinsky, Paul Leni
Neptun-Film
Script: Henrik Galeen
Assistant Director: Wilhelm Dieterle
Director of Photography: Helmar Lerski
Costume Designer: Ernst Stern
Art Director: Paul Leni, Fritz Maurischat
Assistant Art Director: Fritz Maurischat
Cast
Emil Jannings (Harun al Raschid)
Conrad Veidt (Ivan the Terrible)
Werner Krauss (Jack the Ripper)
Wilhelm Dieterle (the poet/the baker/Russian prince)
Olga Belajeff (Eva/Maimune/nobleman)
John Gottowt (panopticon owner)
Georg John
Ernst Legal
Alternative Titles
El hombre de las figuras de cera – Spanish title
Three Wax Men
The Three Wax Works
Tre amori fantastici – Italian title
Waxworks
References
Periodicals
- The Bioscope vol.76 no.1136 (11 July 1928) p.33 – review
- Classic Images no.334 (April 2003) p.25 – DVD review (Video views by John Nangle)
- Film Society History (1938) – note
- Kine Weekly no.1108 (12 July 1928) p.56 – review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.46 no.546 (July 1979) p.161 (UK) – credits, synopsis, review (by Tim Pulleine)
- The Movie p.2400 (UK) – credits
Books
- Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror (2nd edition) by Phil Hardy (ed) pp.33-34 – illustrated credits, review
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.17
- Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby pp.25, 29, 44, 65
- Horror and Science Fiction Films III by Donald C. Willis p.306
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.492 – credits
- Serial Killer Cinema: An Analytical Filmography by Robert Cetti p.499
Other Sources
- BFI Southbank Guide May 2019 p.21 – illustrated listing
- Film Society Programmes no.1 (25 October 1925) p.25 – note
