Waxworks

Waxworks (original title: Das Wachsfigurenkabinett) is an 1924 fantasy/horror silent film directed by Paul Leni. The film is about a writer who accepts a job from a waxworks proprietor to write a series of stories about the exhibits of Caliph of Baghdad (Emil Jannings), Ivan the Terrible (Conrad Veidt) and Jack the Ripper (Werner Krauss) in the museum in order to boost business. Although Waxworks is often credited as a horror film, it is an antho... more

Waxworks (original title: Das Wachsfigurenkabinett) is an 1924 fantasy/horror silent film directed by Paul Leni. The film is about a writer who accepts a job from a waxworks proprietor to write a series of stories about the exhibits of Caliph of Baghdad (Emil Jannings), Ivan the Terrible (Conrad Veidt) and Jack the Ripper (Werner Krauss) in the museum in order to boost business. Although Waxworks is often credited as a horror film, it is an anthology film that goes through various genre's including a fantasy adventure, a historical film, and a horror film through its various episodes. This film would be director Paul Leni's last film made in Germany before he went on to make The Cat and the Canary (1927) in America. A young nameless poet (William Dieterle) enters a wax museum where the museum propieter (John Gottowt) works in the company of his daughter (Olga Belajeff). The museum hires the poet to write up a back-story for his wax models of Harun al-Rashid (Emil Jannings), Ivan the... less