Original subtitles

Good evening.

This is called a rack, a kind of medieval

chaise longue.

The victim lies down and his limbs are fastened to the rollers at each end.

The body is then gradually stretched to and past the breaking point.

They were quite droll in those days.

You see a Latin inscription placed so the victim can't read it.

Nunc potes altior quam illam.

Meaning, now you can be taller than she is.

Tonight we're presenting a play entitled The Wax Work.

First, however, we have the 20th century equivalent of the rack.

Now please, no screams, after all.

This hurts me more than it does you.

God, please.

Here's a shilling, isn't it?

She's waxed, sir. What?

Of course.

Wax. It happens all the time.

That's a comfort.

Would you care for a souvenir booklet?

Yes. Two shillings.

I'm looking for Mr. Mariner.

His office is over there.

Hold on.

I believe you'll find him next door.

Oh, thank you.

Don't move.

Please, please, watch what you're doing.

Albert! Albert!

He shouldn't have been left here.

Albert, he shouldn't have been left here. It isn't safe.

Take him out, will you, please?

Here.

You really must be more careful.

Wait.

What are you doing here, young man?

The public isn't allowed in this part of the building. My name is Raymond

Houston. I'm from the Illustrated Weekly, This World. I wrote you...

About doing a feature story?

Oh, yes.

Yes, I remember.

Well, shall we have another look at this?

May I?

I'm afraid that's rather out of drawing.

Yes, I turned your letter over to Mr. Roberts, our public relations man. Yeah,

spoke to Mr. Roberts yesterday, but, well, I simply had to see you, so I...

I took the liberty of finding my way up here.

Yes, that's a liberty you hadn't ought to take. I wanted to persuade you to let

me spend the night in the murderer's den.

Oh, I'm sure Mr.

Roberts has told you that that would be quite impossible.

I have an idea for a very interesting layout with photographs.

Be good publicity for you.

Well, I mean, not that your famous museum needs it, of course. You know, in

order to become an artist, I mean, what?

One month.

turn oneself into a combination artist and surgeon.

One must learn the relation between bone and muscle,

the precise train which movement places upon tendons

and joints.

You see?

I'd call my article A Night With Mariner's Murderers.

Ah, would you now?

Yeah, a heading like that would attract a lot of readers.

Sure, it'd cause a lot of interest.

I take that.

Herbert.

I want you to see this.

She is removing the lines and bubbles that a mole leaves on a cat.

Well, everybody knows that a mariner waxwork is perfect.

Wrong.

It's the imperfection.

The blemish, the wrinkle, the thousand signs by which nature writes the diary

of a human life.

May I?

Butchery!

Mr. Hewson, why is it so important to you to spend the night in my

murderous den?

Well, I... Perhaps I'd better give you the real reason.

You see, well,

I like to gamble.

Ah.

Cards or horses?

Cards.

Well, the other night I lost a good deal of money.

to an Englishman I know very slightly, a man called Dickie Morrison.

Well, to cut the story short, I gave him a check which I knew would bounce.

That is a criminal offense, you know. He notified me yesterday that he intends

to prosecute unless I can pay.

Now, my editor wants this story very badly.

I know that if you'll let me spend the night here and write my article, I can

earn enough to pay the debt.

Mr. Hewson, you put me in a very difficult position.

Her Majesty looks rather well today, don't you think?

What's that, sir?

Each one of our wax figures gets a beauty treatment every four months. And

Virgin Queen has just returned from her...

Good day, Mrs.

Knox. How is your rheumatism?

Much better.

Thank you, sir.

That's quite all right.

You'll notice that hair is put into a wax head.

One strand at a time. Look, Mr. Merida, my job, my future, everything depends on

this. Now, look, young man.

I can't be made to feel responsible for your predicament.

Haven't you any friends?

Any friends I can borrow from? Is that your definition of friendship?

The answer's no.

Actually, I've only been in London for a few months.

This is a young man that you had an encounter with a little while ago.

His name is Burnett.

Or was.

Yes, I'm afraid he'll be the last starboarder in my den of murderers.

Oh, why?

Well, any day now, Parliament will pass a law putting an end to capital

punishment.

This fellow was executed this morning and so obliged us in the nick of time.

He was a barber.

By day.

By night, a murderer in time's over.

And always with a razor.

I know. I covered his trial.

I lost a bet on him, too. I bet he wouldn't be convicted.

Oh? Why do you think that?

Oh, I don't know.

He used to practice mesmerism.

I see.

And you thought he might mesmerize the jury?

Or the witnesses?

Or perhaps even the judge?

I know it sounds ridiculous, but he had extraordinary eyes.

Yes. A fact the prosecution brought out.

And, according to the evidence developed at the trial, he was said to have

hypnotized his victims before dispatching them.

Really quite humane of him, I think.

His eyes are extraordinarily lifelike.

Well, In a wax figure, the eyes are of

the utmost importance.

There.

As you can see, Mr. Hewson, this eye is definitely blue.

But you have no idea how difficult it is to get the exact shade of blue.

Yes, we take a great deal of trouble with the eyes.

Look, Mr. Mariner, I don't seem to be able to get through to you. I've got to

write this article for the last time, please.

May I spend the night with Bourdette and the others?

I shall have to think about it.

It's eight o 'clock. We're closed.

On the house.

Oh, the right of father.

Good luck, sir.

Thank you.

Harry's been with us for over 50 years.

Before we had the fire in 1925.

Oh, that reminds me, sir. Mr. Mariner said be sure no smoking.

The wax, you know.

It's cool me enough down here.

Just right for these beauties.

I guess I'll find all the information I need in this guide.

Well, if there's anything special you want to know, I'd be glad to tell you.

Ah, here's an interesting chap.

Jack Shepard, in the cell at Newgate Prison from Wednesday, Maylis at Day.

Good evening, Mr. Hewson.

I trust that everything is to your liking, and I hope that you will be

comfortable locked in here with my little creatures.

Locked in?

What do you mean?

Who said anything about being locked?

But, my dear Houston, you could hardly expect me to leave these valuable

creatures of mine unlocked. Well, of course I'll be here.

But I'm afraid that they... I know it sounds silly, but I have a kind of a

feeling about being closed in.

See, once when I was... Clostrophobia?

Yeah.

Yeah, I... Something like that, I guess.

The morbid fear of being in confined places.

That's too bad.

Well, I suppose we'd best forget the whole thing.

No, no, no. No, I can't do that.

All right.

I'll stay.

Locked in.

Locked in.

Good night, Mr. Hewson.

used in medieval times as a judicial instrument for the extraction of

from unwilling witnesses.

It was also employed as a form of trial to determine guilt or innocence.

57. Petit O. Marcel.

Guillotine in Paris, 20th of May, 1946.

Morrison. Armstrong.

Seddon.

Bourdette.

Of course. You're the new Bourdette. You only arrived just yesterday.

of poor debt appears to be moving menacingly toward me.

I cannot move or speak without my bidding.

But you can hear me perfectly well.

Something tells me that you are, shall we say, nervous.

My dear sir, have no illusions.

I am not one of these contemptible effigies. I am the barber.

Burdette himself.

They did not execute me this morning.

I escaped.

I was walking past this building.

when I saw a policeman eyeing me with curiosity.

And I did not know whether he would recognize me or not.

So I decided to mingle with the crowd in here.

And once inside, I realized I had an ideal means of escape.

As you may understand, this has been a tiring evening.

But fortunately, your attention was drawn anywhere.

And you were not looking at me until I could occasionally draw a breath and

my pose.

And now I'm looking at your throat.

You have a skinny neck, sir.

If you'll forgive a personal remark.

This is a little French razor.

They're not much use in England.

Once dropped them on wood.

The blade, you notice, is very narrow.

It doesn't cut very deep, but deep enough.

And now I must ask you the usual question all the barbers ask.

Would you please lift

your chin a little?

A little more.

gates at six o 'clock this morning like you told me to there he was sitting in

that chair

he's

dead all right what do you suppose caused him to be sitting like that you

as if Awaiting the attention of a barber.

Well, yes, he looks like he was waiting to be shaved.

The figure of Godet appeared to be moving menacingly toward me.

Power of imagination, amazingly strong.

I'm afraid we must...

Credit another victim to Bourdette.

Bourdette, sir?

Bourdette and an overactive imagination.

But it couldn't have been Bourdette, sir. He ain't never been here.

Well, you know as well as I do, he was on the Ange yesterday, sir.

Well, look for yourself, sir. They're just bringing him down now.

so much for our museum memories.

In the earlier part of this program, I referred to the commercial as the 20th

century rack.

Unfortunately, our sensitive sponsor mistakenly interpreted this as a veiled

insult. I certainly want to apologize.

Furthermore, I'm going to turn over a new leaf.

There. I feel much better.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, before I return,

a moment ago I apologized

for comparing the rack and the commercial, but I neglected to mention

was apologizing.

I think I shall leave it that way.

As for this charming device, it is being returned to the athletic department of

Arcadia University.

I especially wish to thank the Arcadia basketball coach Stretch Mulligan for

his generosity.

Good night.