A Filmmaker's Review: "Waxworks" (1924)

I have seen this film a few times in a few different forms. I have seen badly reproduced versions and I have seen the brilliantly reproduced versions but this one I own published by the 'Masters of Cinema' series is the best one I have seen. The lost German intertitles are filled with English ones and it definitely looks like the visuals have been played with so that the colours of night and day come through and the visuals themselves are also a little brighter and sharper. I just want to share with you how much I think that this film should be watched by many other people.

What is the film about?

Well, it's about a man who walks into a wax museum and sees three statues that are introduced to him by these two people. These two people wind up the statues and the statues proceed to tell a story, the entire world transforms and the sitter is pulled back into history. These stories include torrid love affairs, murder, heinous crimes and terrifying and chilling activities. Horrific and machiavellian leaders, criminals and all the evil of the world seems to be presented through these three people who are actual people from history. But that is not the best part about it.

The best part about the film is the following. It stars: Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt and Werner Krauss. You see?

I don't think there are many more exciting sentences than 'Conrad Veidt portrays Ivan the Terrible' if you ask me. It was such a captivating performance and just another reason why I think he is one of the greatest character actors of all time. His expressions, his body language and the ability to convey such an evil character without any form of sound is something that Veidt was more than well known for after his performance as the terrifying and haunting subject of the somnambulist - named Cesare - in Robert Weine's "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920).

The film's atmosphere is the exact atmosphere you would expect from a German Expressionist fantasy horror film. It's dark and has an eerie calm to it before (and mind my language) 'shit hits the fan'. It's like the build up is the most important thing about the film and the climax is just the result of it. But as the film's various storylines build and build, you feel this sense of overwhelming evil coming from these historical figures. Take it that Ivan the Terrible takes the former Czar's crown and places it on his own head. This is not a climactic point, it is part of the build up. We can see that through the speed at which it is done. It isn't dramatic. It's silent. It's slow. It's brilliantly performed. And then, we get even further build up to the climax through the speed being constantly slowed down with these small moments of quickening. The quickening being the part where the daughter leaves the dance to cry over the dead body of the murdered Czar. Then it goes back to being slow again.

Conrad Veidt is an absolute genius when it comes to his performances. It is clear that he knows exactly what are the precise moments of drama in which the audience will be at their most tense in order to present his character as more complexly evil. Resonant of the kidnapping of Jane in "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920), he makes his intentions well known by creating a particular body language for the character. This body language alters slightly at each point of drama and high-intensity tension in the film.

I absolutely freaked out that the performance was such high quality.