Vincent Price Movie of the Week | The Mad Magician (1954)

Shock-horror. The Great Gallico (Vincent Price) has almost made it as a top illusionist in the gaslit music hall. Then his ex-boss, Ormond, turns up - and impounds all Gallico's best tricks, saying he holds the copyright for the basic ideas. This makes the magician mad... very mad...

For his title role as the a vengeful illusionist in this 1954 Grand Guignol chiller, Vincent Price swotted up on a dozen real magician's tricks, and became quite accomplished at such things as making a stream of water run out of a sword, producing a girl from a flower pot and making a man vanish through a wall.

Originally filmed in 3-D, which accounts for all those bits and pieces thrown at the camera, it's not a magic patch on Price's big 3-D hit of the previous year, House of Wax, but in its own cheerfully lurid way it does the trick. Patrick O'Neal, later briefly to rival Price in the chillmaker field, makes his film debut as the goodie…  Watch it now…


The Mad Magician (1954) by MargaliMorwentari

House of Wax at 60 | New York Times Film Review | 11 April 1953

The House of Wax 60th birthday celebrations continue with this New York Times film review from 11 April 1953 by Bosley Crowther.

Happy 60th Birthday House of Wax!

1953’s box-office hit House of Wax is 60 today. It may not be a timeless masterpiece, looking a tad clunky in today’s clime, but it did provide Vincent Price with a springboard to fame, thanks to his brilliant performance as Henry Jarrod, a sculptor who gives into the public’s appetite for shock and sensationalism following a fire that leaves him disfigured. No longer able to create wax figures with his own hands, Jarrod resorts to murder and ‘waxing’ his victims, who then become displays in his new museum, the eponymous House of Wax. 

The colourful period melodrama also featured fantastic supporting roles from Carolyn Jones (later TV’s Morticia in The Addams Family) as giggling victim and future action star Charles 'Buchinsky' Bronson as Price’s mute assistant.

Here are 10 more fun things to know about the film.

1.     It was the first 3D film from a major studio (Warner Bros Pictures), as well as the first horror film shot using in the stereoscopic process. 

2.     After 14 years appearing in a range of character roles, House of Wax established Price as a horror star.

3.     Price’s make-up took three hours to apply.

4.     The cumbersome 3D cameras resulted in the actors performing many of their own stunts. Watch out for the collapsing balcony in the opening sequence where Price narrowly escapes serious injury.

5.     André de Toth, who directed the film, only had one eye.

6.     House of Wax took some US$5.5m at the North American box office, mainly due to the 3D gimmick, which was used the combat a new threat, colour television.

7.     A number of 3D films followed in its wake, not the least being The Mad Magician (1954), which was written by House of Wax scribe Crane Wilbur and again starring Price.

8.     Price gave up the opportunity to pay the lead in a Broadway play, My Three Angels, in order to star in House of Wax. Regarding this decision, Price said, years later, ‘It was a great hit [the play], but it didn’t help them in their careers. Whereas House of Wax changed my life.”

9.     Bela Lugosi was hired to go on a publicity tour for the film’s release. But the two horror stars never got the chance to meet during the tour.

10.   House of Wax inspired 1966’s Chamber of Horrors, starring Patrick O’Neal, which was intended as a pilot for a potential TV series; and also the Mario Bava horror Baron Blood (1972), which is getting a new Blu-ray/DVD UK release on 29 April 2013, from Arrow.