Theater opening night with Mystery of the Wax Museum / Doctor X
Michael Curtiz's horror classics in two-color Technicolor, restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive
Friday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m.`
Free
The UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program present two Los Angeles restoration premieres on 35mm.
“Mystery of the Wax Museum” (1933)
This legendary horror classic was the last and best of Hollywood’s two-color Technicolor features. A fire destroys sculptor Ivan Igor’s (Lionel Atwill) London museum, with its dazzling array of historical wax figures. When Igor opens a new museum in New York City, people and corpses suddenly begin to disappear, and his daughter (Fay Wray) becomes ensnared in the mystery. Director Michael Curtiz’s innovative camera work is accentuated by Anton Grot’s ethereal production design and Ray Rennahan’s cinematography.
“Doctor X” (1932)
One of the most gruesome of the early sound horror movies was also the first filmed entirely in two-color Technicolor. A series of brutal murders involving cannibalism occur under a full moon near Dr. Xavier’s (Lionel Atwill) laboratory, whose residents include his daughter (Fay Wray) and a quartet of weird scientists. Will reporter Lee Taylor (Lee Tracy) unmask the Moon Killer in time? “Doctor X” was scripted by Robert Tasker and Earl Baldwin, with exquisite production design by Anton Grot.
In person: Alan K. Rode, author of “Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film”
“Mystery of the Wax Museum” and “Doctor X” were restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Film Foundation, in association with Warner Bros. Entertainment, from 35mm two-color Technicolor nitrate print sources. Preservation funding was provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
