Waxworks

Paul Leni directs this German silent horror starring Emil Jannings, Conrad Veidt and William Dieterle. A young writer (Dieterle) is hired to write stories for the characters in a wax museum and he pens backstories for the Caliph of Baghdad (Jannings), Ivan the Terrible (Veidt) and Jack the Ripper (Werner Krauss). However, as the accounts of these historical figures play out, the writer imagines himself in each story alongside the museum owner's daughter Eva (Olga Belajeff) in order to fulfil his unrequited love for her.