MovieChat Forums > House of Wax (1953) Discussion > Logistics ***Possible Spoiler ***

Logistics Possible Spoiler

posted 19 years ago by Harold_Robbins
3 replies | jump to latest

I've just watched HOUSE OF WAX again and was perplexed by something that's always perplexed me: the logistics of the scene in which Burke is murdered have always confused me, because his office has plenty of open space between the door and his desk, and the couch in the corner had to be plainly visible from the desk - yet Jarrod arises from behind the couch and somehow gets himself out from behind it and over to where the gas switch is by the door without Burke ever noticing him! (Granted, Burke was occupied with his $25,000.00, but still...) Has anyone else ever noticed this?

And yes, this time, during the fire sequence, I did notice the wires used to collapse the Joan of Arc figure - I even checked back to earlier in the sequence to see if perhaps they were there all along as support, but they weren't. They had to have been evident during the editing process, but Warners obviously wasn't about to do retakes of the fire sequence, and probably gambled that, with so much else going on in the scene, audiences probably wouldn't notice. They were right - I've seen this film at least a couple of dozen times, including several times in a theater in 3D, and I never noticed!

Those of you who think you know everything should politely defer to those of us who actually do!

[–] gljbradley 15 years ago

Interesting.

[–] rokrox 15 years ago

I thought he moved quite quickly in Burke's room. Perhaps Burke thought he saw something, and was about to look up when the lights went off?

The thing I want to know is, did they shoot the scene where Jarrod's face fell off first (which is why he could walk straight- they hadn't decided he was a cripple) or was that just Vincent Price forgetting his role?

Love this film though

"Of course it's me, who were you expecting?"

[–] Harold_Robbins 15 years ago

I think Jarrod's loping walk as the 'monster' was part of his deception, just as using the wheelchair was. He obviously gets around that laboratory just fine, including up and down the stairs, as does Lionel Atwill in the original film, though it's definitely more startling when Price rises effortlessly from the chair to walk towards Phyllis Kirk - Atwill rises unsteadily, even commenting on his insecure footing, but his motivation for getting up is also different than Price's.

"Remind me to tell you about the time I looked into the heart of an artichoke."