Waxworks was the final film to be made in Germany by Paul Leni, prior to being whisked away to Hollywood by legendary horror producer Carl Laemmle. Of the three segments, this one is barely five minutes and – spoiler alert – is clearly a dream sequence anyway, serving more as an excuse to use optical effects in a present day setting if anything, to end things on a happy note as the poet and Eva get together. Realising his fate, the poison mixer writes Ivan’s name on an hourglass, leading Ivan to take drastic measures to avoid death.įinally, a bit of a bait-and-switch as the waxwork of Jack the Ripper aka Spring-Heeled Jack (Werner Krauss) comes to life and stalks the poet. But when Ivan learns that his poison mixer (Ernst Legal) was lenient towards a victim, he orders his execution. His favourite game was to have them poisoned then watch an hourglass count their final minutes of life. Story number two concerns Ivan the Terrible (Conrad Veidt), an evil Russian Czar who enjoyed torturing people and watching them die. Meanwhile, Maimune is fed up with their poverty, so the baker vows to make amends by stealing the Caliph’s Wishing Ring. Instead, the Vizier returns gushing about Maimune, and the Caliph plans to pay her a visit.
When smoke from the oven distracts the Caliph of Baghdad Harun al-Rashid (Emil Jannings) and causes him to lose a game of chess, he sends his Grand Vizier (Paul Biensfeldt) to bring him the baker’s head. In this tale, an impoverished baker (Dieterle) is married to Maimune (Belajeff). The poet notices that Harun al-Rashid’s arm had fallen off, giving him the inspiration for his first story, along with Eva as his muse as the two seem bewitched with each other. The proprietor (John Gottowt) and his daughter Eva (Olga Belajeff) welcome the writer and to test him, ask him to write a story for three waxwork dummies – Harun al-Rashid, Ivan the Terrible, and Jack the Ripper – to increase visitor’s interest. If not, why not make up your own story?Ī poet (William Dieterle) answers a job ad, finding himself at a waxworks museum.
Have you ever wandered through a museum or art display, looked at the exhibits, and ever pondered the stories behind them? There must be something exciting about their history to warrant public display in the first place that we don’t always know about. Waxworks (Das Wachsfigurenkabinett) Germany (1924) Dir.
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