The story premise is quite simple. The owner of a wax figures shop wants to hire a writer "for publicity work in a waxworks exhibition". The hired writer, or "Poet", (William Dieterle) then creates fictional stories for three of the wax figures: Haroun al Raschid, Ivan the Terrible, and Jack the Ripper.
The writer places himself and the owner's lovely daughter (who does little more than smile through the whole film) into his fictional scripts. And so what we get is a trio of short stories about these three historical figures with the writer as a central character.
The first story, about Haroun al Raschid (Emil Jannings), consumes about half of the film's runtime. The second story runs about thirty minutes. And the third story (about Jack the Ripper) is mostly just an afterthought.
The poet role (Dieterle) is fine. But the role played by Jannings is horrid; he's like something out of a nightmare. His bizarre clothing combined with bizarre facial expressions create a character that is quite repellent. Sans grotesque mustache, at times he resembles an inebriated fat old woman. This character is the most memorable image I have of this film, and it is not favorable.
Visuals are almost as bizarre ... heavy shadows and, though technically in B&W, hues range from brownish to greenish to bluish and even lavender in a few scenes. Shapes of dwellings trend round and resemble stereotyped imperial places in Russia. Acting is horridly melodramatic.
Viewers need to give very old films a lot of latitude. But "Waxworks" doesn't work for me, even making allowances for its age. Other films of the silent era are better.
The writer places himself and the owner's lovely daughter (who does little more than smile through the whole film) into his fictional scripts. And so what we get is a trio of short stories about these three historical figures with the writer as a central character.
The first story, about Haroun al Raschid (Emil Jannings), consumes about half of the film's runtime. The second story runs about thirty minutes. And the third story (about Jack the Ripper) is mostly just an afterthought.
The poet role (Dieterle) is fine. But the role played by Jannings is horrid; he's like something out of a nightmare. His bizarre clothing combined with bizarre facial expressions create a character that is quite repellent. Sans grotesque mustache, at times he resembles an inebriated fat old woman. This character is the most memorable image I have of this film, and it is not favorable.
Visuals are almost as bizarre ... heavy shadows and, though technically in B&W, hues range from brownish to greenish to bluish and even lavender in a few scenes. Shapes of dwellings trend round and resemble stereotyped imperial places in Russia. Acting is horridly melodramatic.
Viewers need to give very old films a lot of latitude. But "Waxworks" doesn't work for me, even making allowances for its age. Other films of the silent era are better.