The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

I realize it hadn't been long since the last movie I saw to include heavy focus on a British royal -- indeed, Queen Elizabeth I in particular. But this one is 32 years older, so I figured it would feel rather different.

Robert Deveraux, 2nd Earl of Essex (Errol Flynn), has had a victory in the Anglo-Spanish War, but not enough to satisfy Her Majesty (Bette Davis). Insulted and sensing support only from Sir Francis Bacon (Donald Crisp), he leaves the court and doesn't return until ordered back for more military expertise in the Nine Years' War. In truth, that's largely an excuse for Elizabeth to be close to the man she craves. But Sir Robert Cecil (Henry Daniell), Sir Walter Raleigh (Vincent Price), and Lord Burghley (Henry Stephenson) see an opportunity to get him out of the way of her favor once again.

House of Wax (1953)

No, not the 2005 remake that's best known for depicting the death of Paris Hilton. The first movie by this title benefits from starring an icon of the genre, Vincent Price. (I almost called it the original. That would be Mystery of the Wax Museum, also included on the disc but skipped by me.)

In 1890s England, Prof. Jarrod starts as a seemingly good if eccentric fellow, quite enamored of his own purely tasteful Madame Tussaud-style waxworks. But partner Burke, unsatisfied with the profits, decides to commit arson for insurance fraud -- leaving the uncooperative Jarrod inside for dead. It looks as tho Burke will get away with it, until a figure more disfigured than the average Phantom of the Opera kills him and makes it look like a suicide. The body disappears from the morgue. Soon after, a new wax museum under the name of Jarrod includes an exhibit on Burke, boasting the innovation of ripped-from-the-headlines morbidity in addition to more historical grotesque reenactments. It sells well, but some customers find the dummies a little too convincing....