Hello, everyone, and welcome back to my Monster- Fest!
To continue looking at classic monster films (After this, I'll only have 3 more of those to do, then proceed into the next theme of films for this marathon), I watched 1932's 'The Mummy.'
Sadly, during my most recent viewing, I had to miss approximately 10 minutes of it. This is because I watched it, and most of the other films seen so far, on Youtube in multiple installments, and they took down a couple of the installments I guess due to copyright violation. Still, there's enough of it that I was able to see the vast majority of it.
This story centers around Imhotep (Played by Boris Karloff), an ancient Egyptian high priest who was mummified and buried alive for attempting to resurrect his dead lover Ankh-es-en-amon, a priestess of Isis. Thousands of years later, he is unearthed by British archaeologists, and unwittingly raised from the dead by one of them, who is then, in a memorably creepy yet funny scene, driven insane by the sight of Imhotep coming alive and walking out of the tent, taking with it an ancient scroll also unearthed which told of the secret to raising the dead. It then fast forwards to 10 years later, as Imhotep (Who now looks much more alive, and goes by the alias of Ardath Bay) tells two archaeologists about the location of Ankh-es-en-amon's tomb. Her mummy is unearthed, and is sent along with its treasures to the Cairo Museum.
Imhotep eventually discovers a lovely young half- Egyptian woman named Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann), who bears a resemblance to his ancient lover and who he believes is her reincarnation, yet who rather quickly falls in love with one of the archaeologists, Frank (David Manners). Imhotep seeks to mummify Helen and make her his eternal bride. However, she finally remembers her old life, and prays to a statue of Isis, which responds by firing a beam of light that destroys the ancient scroll and reduces Imhotep to a lifeless pile of bones.
Again, I'll get the few complaints I had about 'The Mummy' out of the way quickly. Most of the human characters, with the exception of Helen, were not terribly memorable in my opinion, the only way for me to really tell them apart was their physical appearances. Also, it's kind of weird that, as he did in 'Frankenstein' and 'Dracula,' Edward Van Sloan once again appears as a mentor- esque character. You'd think he'd be getting tired of playing the same kind of role over and over again.
Now, or what I liked about it. Right off the bat, the opening title screen was much more creative than it was for 'Frankenstein' and 'Dracula,' it brought a smile to my face. Also, it had much better music than the previous Universal monster films. Although its opening credits recycle the 'Swan Lake' composition used for the opening credits of 'Dracula,' the movie itself features some quite nice Egyptian- esque bits of music in key scenes. Next, there are the performances. While I said that Van Sloan's character is quite similar to his characters in the previous Universal monster films, he still does a good job, and makes his character in this, Dr. Muller, almost as strong and effective as his version of Van Helsing was in 'Dracula.' Zita Johann brings the right amount of emotion to her role as Helen. It's interesting that, in contrast to the previous two Universal monster films in which the woman has to be rescued by her male lover and friends, here in an interesting reversal, the men ultimately prove to be not much of a threat to Imhotep's plans, and it's the would- be damsel- in- distress who destroys him instead. Of course, I must speak about Boris Karloff's performance as Imhotep. It truly is wonderful. He's much creepier in this than he is in 'Frankenstein,' between his powerful voice, his elegant movements, and his icy stare which often is arranged to make it appear as if he is staring directly at you. He's scary in some scenes, sympathetic in others, and truly pours everything he's got into the role.
So, that's 'The Mummy.' I may possibly do a review of the 1999 Brendan Fraser version later this month if I'm able to. Until then, see you later!
