Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (1924) - full transcript
The owner of a Waxmuseum needs for three of his models stories to be told to the audience. For that reason he has hired a writer, who after one look at the owner's pretty daughter, starts writing stories featuring the models, the daughter and himself. In the first, he is a baker, married to the girl, who is a little bit too much flirting with the customers, among them the wezir of sultan Harun Al-Rashid, who has just ordered his execution because the smell from the bakery is drifting to his palace, yet Harun Al-Rashid wants to meet the beautiful girl himself, while an angry baker is trying to get the Sultan's whishing ring to proof he's not a weakling... The second story is about Tzar Ivan the Terrible who likes watching people die together with his court-chemist. When he orders the execution of the chemist, the chemist thinks of a nice revanche, but till the revanche works, a nobleman is murdered, his daughter kidnapped by Ivan and her groom tortured. While writing the third story about Jack the Ripper, he falls asleep and dreams he and the girl are pursued by that serial killer.
WAXWORKS
Directed by Paul Leni.
WANTED - An imaginitive writer for
publicity work in a waxworks exhibition.
"Can you write startling tales
about these wax figures?"
Spring Heeled Jack, the most
amazing character of all times.
Werner Krauss
IVAN the TERRIBLE,
Czar of all the Russias.
Conrad Veidt
HAROUN-AL-RASCHID,
Caliph of Bagdad.
Emil Jannings
"It's Haroun-al-Raschid's arm -
it just broke off."
"I've got it! - I'll tell how
Haroun lost his arm!"
Harun-al-Raschid, Caliph of Bagdad,
was the most romantic and
mischief-loving rule of his age.
Above all, he hated monotony,
So he had a different wife
for every day in the year -
- but none of these was
as beautiful as Zarah, -
- wife of Assad, the baker.
The Caliph kept his brain from
becoming as fat as his stomach
by a daily game of chess
with his Grand Vizier.
"Checkmate!"
The smoke from Assad's chimney seemed
to be taunting him with his bad luck.
"VIZIER!"
"Dispatch the smoke-maker to Allah!"
"Exquisite! Exquisite!"
When a Grand Vizier flirts
with a baker's wife...
...and when a Caliph
loses a game of chess...
"You clumsy fool!
That is the only dress I have!"
"You should take lessons in
gallantry from the Grand Vizier!"
"Where is the head of
that dog of a baker?"
"I must have mislaid it."
"I was about to strike his
head off when I saw his wife..."
"She is more beautiful than the roses
of Shiraz - and I thought you might..."
"As is our royal custom,
we shall this night disguise ourselves
and migle with our subjects..."
"...seeking out the needy and
comforting the...the lovely."
When Bagdad slept, Haroun's
business day generally began.
The admiring eyes of the Grand Vizier
had lighted raging fires
in the head of Zarah.
"I have nothing to wear... I never see
anybody... I never go anywhere..."
"You shall have everything! For I shall
steal the Caliph's wishing ring for you!"
"Only a man would dare do that!
Only a man - you hear."
"I'll show you - before the
dawn - that I am a man!"
"My dear, foolish Assad is coming back!"
"Pet!"
"Sweet rose of Bagdad, I'm not a robber -
but I must tell you who I am..."
"...for you can plainly see
for yourself that I'm the Caliph."
Adn meanwhile the baker of Bagdad...
"Do not let that
bother you my nightingale -
your lack of clothes doesn't
disturb me in the least!"
"You have quarreled with your
husband, my casket of honey."
"He is so terribly jealous!"
"And he loves me deeply!"
"I shall speak to him
about that, my ringdove."
"This is the famous royal wishing ring."
"You make a wish, turn the stone,
and your wish is instantly granted!"
"Assad!"
"My pond-lily, have you a
hiding place for a fat man?"
"I have murdered the Caliph!"
"And here is the wishing ring!"
"When I steal out, I always leave
a wax figure in my bed..."
"...and from that figure Assad has
stolen an imitation wishing ring."
"What have you done with
the Caliph's wishing ring?"
"Behold!"
"I wish..."
"...that the murdered Caliph
shall appear here - alive!"
"And I also wish..."
...that my beloved Assad be made
baker to our mighty Caliph!"
Iwan was a blood-crazed monster on a
throne who turned cities into cemeteries.
His crown was a tiara of
molding bones, his scepter an axe.
His council room was a torture chamber,
with the Devil and Death as chief ministers.
In the gloom of night, Ivan,
accompanied by his astrolger,
would steal into the
cellars of the Kremlin
to gloat over the dying agonies
of his poisoned victims.
The Czar's personal poison mixer.
A favorite toy of Ivan's - the hourglass,
marking the last moments of victims
with each falling grain of sand.
When the name of his next victim was written
on the hourglass, it marked his doom.
"Beware of the poison mixer, Little Father!
He may inscribe your name..."
"The poison mixer."
Sensing his fate, the poison mixer
writes "IVAN" on the hourglass.
The next day a noble came to the Kremlin
to remind Ivan of his promise
to attend his daughter's wedding.
"You came to lure me out of the Kremlin!"
"Little Father, I myself will drive you!"
"Where is the Czar - and your father?"
"We shall change roles!"
"You shall be the Czar -
I will drive!"
"Assassins!"
"The Czar!"
"The Czar is dead!"
"The Czar is mightier than Death!"
"Father!"
"DON'T WEEP!"
"DRINK!"
"MUSIC!"
"DANCE!"
"The Czar has stolen my bride!"
"To the torture chamber!"
Her wedding night!
"Go - you are free!"
"Little Father, you have been poisoned!"
"How long have I to live?"
"Until the last grain of sand
falls to the bottom."
"I found this in the poison mixer's cellar."
So, Ivan the terrible,
believing that he had been poisoned
went mad and kept turning the
hourglass to the end of his days.
Spring Heeled Jack -
a notorious character -
pounced suddenly and silently
upon his victims.
"I dreamed that Spring Heeled
Jack stole you from me."
The End
Directed by Paul Leni.
WANTED - An imaginitive writer for
publicity work in a waxworks exhibition.
"Can you write startling tales
about these wax figures?"
Spring Heeled Jack, the most
amazing character of all times.
Werner Krauss
IVAN the TERRIBLE,
Czar of all the Russias.
Conrad Veidt
HAROUN-AL-RASCHID,
Caliph of Bagdad.
Emil Jannings
"It's Haroun-al-Raschid's arm -
it just broke off."
"I've got it! - I'll tell how
Haroun lost his arm!"
Harun-al-Raschid, Caliph of Bagdad,
was the most romantic and
mischief-loving rule of his age.
Above all, he hated monotony,
So he had a different wife
for every day in the year -
- but none of these was
as beautiful as Zarah, -
- wife of Assad, the baker.
The Caliph kept his brain from
becoming as fat as his stomach
by a daily game of chess
with his Grand Vizier.
"Checkmate!"
The smoke from Assad's chimney seemed
to be taunting him with his bad luck.
"VIZIER!"
"Dispatch the smoke-maker to Allah!"
"Exquisite! Exquisite!"
When a Grand Vizier flirts
with a baker's wife...
...and when a Caliph
loses a game of chess...
"You clumsy fool!
That is the only dress I have!"
"You should take lessons in
gallantry from the Grand Vizier!"
"Where is the head of
that dog of a baker?"
"I must have mislaid it."
"I was about to strike his
head off when I saw his wife..."
"She is more beautiful than the roses
of Shiraz - and I thought you might..."
"As is our royal custom,
we shall this night disguise ourselves
and migle with our subjects..."
"...seeking out the needy and
comforting the...the lovely."
When Bagdad slept, Haroun's
business day generally began.
The admiring eyes of the Grand Vizier
had lighted raging fires
in the head of Zarah.
"I have nothing to wear... I never see
anybody... I never go anywhere..."
"You shall have everything! For I shall
steal the Caliph's wishing ring for you!"
"Only a man would dare do that!
Only a man - you hear."
"I'll show you - before the
dawn - that I am a man!"
"My dear, foolish Assad is coming back!"
"Pet!"
"Sweet rose of Bagdad, I'm not a robber -
but I must tell you who I am..."
"...for you can plainly see
for yourself that I'm the Caliph."
Adn meanwhile the baker of Bagdad...
"Do not let that
bother you my nightingale -
your lack of clothes doesn't
disturb me in the least!"
"You have quarreled with your
husband, my casket of honey."
"He is so terribly jealous!"
"And he loves me deeply!"
"I shall speak to him
about that, my ringdove."
"This is the famous royal wishing ring."
"You make a wish, turn the stone,
and your wish is instantly granted!"
"Assad!"
"My pond-lily, have you a
hiding place for a fat man?"
"I have murdered the Caliph!"
"And here is the wishing ring!"
"When I steal out, I always leave
a wax figure in my bed..."
"...and from that figure Assad has
stolen an imitation wishing ring."
"What have you done with
the Caliph's wishing ring?"
"Behold!"
"I wish..."
"...that the murdered Caliph
shall appear here - alive!"
"And I also wish..."
...that my beloved Assad be made
baker to our mighty Caliph!"
Iwan was a blood-crazed monster on a
throne who turned cities into cemeteries.
His crown was a tiara of
molding bones, his scepter an axe.
His council room was a torture chamber,
with the Devil and Death as chief ministers.
In the gloom of night, Ivan,
accompanied by his astrolger,
would steal into the
cellars of the Kremlin
to gloat over the dying agonies
of his poisoned victims.
The Czar's personal poison mixer.
A favorite toy of Ivan's - the hourglass,
marking the last moments of victims
with each falling grain of sand.
When the name of his next victim was written
on the hourglass, it marked his doom.
"Beware of the poison mixer, Little Father!
He may inscribe your name..."
"The poison mixer."
Sensing his fate, the poison mixer
writes "IVAN" on the hourglass.
The next day a noble came to the Kremlin
to remind Ivan of his promise
to attend his daughter's wedding.
"You came to lure me out of the Kremlin!"
"Little Father, I myself will drive you!"
"Where is the Czar - and your father?"
"We shall change roles!"
"You shall be the Czar -
I will drive!"
"Assassins!"
"The Czar!"
"The Czar is dead!"
"The Czar is mightier than Death!"
"Father!"
"DON'T WEEP!"
"DRINK!"
"MUSIC!"
"DANCE!"
"The Czar has stolen my bride!"
"To the torture chamber!"
Her wedding night!
"Go - you are free!"
"Little Father, you have been poisoned!"
"How long have I to live?"
"Until the last grain of sand
falls to the bottom."
"I found this in the poison mixer's cellar."
So, Ivan the terrible,
believing that he had been poisoned
went mad and kept turning the
hourglass to the end of his days.
Spring Heeled Jack -
a notorious character -
pounced suddenly and silently
upon his victims.
"I dreamed that Spring Heeled
Jack stole you from me."
The End