Caviar in Casablanca
Waxworks (1924)
directed by Paul Leni
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
An octogenarian carnival barker and his sweet, outgoing granddaughter (the tenacious twosome of every sentimental circus movie) hire a writer to give life to their wax creations. The scribe and the girl assume the role of moviegoers the world over, casting themselves as the hero and heroine whose love triumphs over Emil Janning's ample Bagdad Caliph before the lighthearted Arabian adventures are sloughed off for Ivan the Terrible's boneyard. What begins as strange but harmless escapism ends by way of a horror movie in the spectral cacophony of preeminent German Expressionism. Leni's haunts are so much more effective in Waxworks than The Cat and the Canary; how often is an artist's fame once removed from the work that makes him great?
directed by Paul Leni
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
An octogenarian carnival barker and his sweet, outgoing granddaughter (the tenacious twosome of every sentimental circus movie) hire a writer to give life to their wax creations. The scribe and the girl assume the role of moviegoers the world over, casting themselves as the hero and heroine whose love triumphs over Emil Janning's ample Bagdad Caliph before the lighthearted Arabian adventures are sloughed off for Ivan the Terrible's boneyard. What begins as strange but harmless escapism ends by way of a horror movie in the spectral cacophony of preeminent German Expressionism. Leni's haunts are so much more effective in Waxworks than The Cat and the Canary; how often is an artist's fame once removed from the work that makes him great?
posted by NPK at 10:50 AM
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