Waxworks

Directed by Paul Leni and written by Henrik Galeen, the screenwriter of Nosferatu, this German expressionist film opens with the owner of a fairground wax museum hiring a young poet to write stories about his figures and drum up business. In each tale the poet imagines himself as the hero. There are three segments: a baker's comedy involving Harun al Rashid, played by Emil Jannings; a dark chapter with Conrad Veidt as Ivan the Terrible, who takes pleasure in marking his victims' final moments with hourglasses; and a six minute nightmare sequence with Werner Krauss as Jack the Ripper. That last segment is short not by design: the film was conceived in four parts, and location shooting in Italy was planned for the fourth story, but the money ran out before it could be filmed. Leni was an expressionist painter and said he tried to make sets too stylized to contain any idea of reality. As an open homage to Caligari he cast two of that film's actors, Veidt and Krauss, in leading roles. This was Leni's last work in Germany, and Universal's head brought him to Hollywood, where he made only a few films before dying in 1929 at forty four of blood poisoning from a neglected tooth infection. Who it's for: Lovers of silent cinema and the visual world of German expressionism. Who it's not for: Not for viewers wanting balanced structure, since the segments differ wildly in length and tone.