Universal Monsters - Part 3: The Mummy

Unlike Dracula and Frankenstein, which were taken from works of literature, Universal's third monster was inspired by real-world events. The discovery of King Tut's tomb in the 1920s had been worldwide news, as were tales of a curse that accompanied the disturbance of Tutankhamen's resting place. These undoubtedly provided the inspiration for The Mummy.

Universal actually created two Mummies. The first, Imhotep, was introduced in the The Mummy in 1932. This was followed by a series of four films about the mummy Kharis.

An ancient Egyptian priest, Imhotep, steals the forbidden Scroll of Toth from the temple at Karnak. He hopes to use the scroll, with its power to restore the dead to life, on Princess Ankh-es-en-Amon, his deceased lover. For his sacrilege, Imhotep is wrapped as a mummy and buried alive. More than three millenia later, 20th century archeologists discover the Scroll of Toth and accidentally use it to restore Imhotep to life.

Although The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff as Imhotep, is by far the best of Universal's Mummy series, it often disappoints modern viewers. Imhotep is not the mummy wrapped in ancient linens that most people expect to see. That mummy, Kharis, will be seen in subsequent movies.

Here, Karloff appears wrapped as a mummy only briefly, when he is first discovered. He leaves the tomb, and soon reappears as Ardeth Bey, an extraordinarily old man, but one who still seems to be human. In this sense, he is actually more like Dracula - an undead creature who can walk undetected among the living - than like a mummy. This type of creature is, in some ways, more frightening than the monster who is easily identified as such.

As he did with Frankenstein's monster, Karloff makes Ardeth Bey both menacing and sympathetic. He is a monster, but one motivated by love - a love so strong that it endures even after three thousand years.

The rest of the cast is also excellent. Edward Van Sloan's Professor Muller recalls the Van Helsing character he played so well in Dracula, and the exotic-looking Zita Johann is well-cast as the reincarnated Princess Anck-es-en-Amon.

The Mummy contains a few moments of pure classic horror, such as Boris Karloff being wrapped up as a mummy while still alive, and Imhotep's return to life after 3000 years, but the film's success lies mainly in its ability to create an eerie, ominous atmosphere, and sustain it throughout the film.

The Mummy is an underrated classic, and definitely one of the best films in Universal's classic horror collection, although it may move too slowly for modern audiences.

The Kharis series begins with The Mummy's Hand (1940), which is neither a sequel to the 1932 film, nor a remake. Universal basically went back to square one and began the Mummy saga again from the beginning. Today we would probably call it a reboot.

The image most often associated with the Mummy today - wrapped in bandages, dragging one foot as he walks - comes from the Kharis series. Four Kharis films were made, each one just a little bit worse than its predecessor.

Kharis' origin is nearly identical to that of Imhotep - an attempt to use forbidden occult powers to raise a dead love (Princess Ananka) results in Kharis being wrapped as a mummy and buried alive. In this version it is a brew made from tana leaves that can restore life.

Tom Tyler, known at that point mainly for his work in b-movie westerns, is Kharis. Footage from the original 1932 movie (where Boris Karloff's face could not be seen) were reused to reveal his backstory, with shots of Tyler judiciously inserted. Tyler was convincing enough as the mummy, although, unlike Karloff's Ardeth Bey, it wasn't a demanding role.

A nice effect, added in post-production, is the blackening out of the mummy's eyes. This effect, which makes the creature even more menacing, was not used in the trailer for the film, nor, unfortunately, was it used in subsequent films.

The rest of the cast were adequate. Dick Foran and Wallace Ford play Archeologist Steve Banning and his assistant, Babe Jensen. Peggy Moran plays the love interest Marta Solvani, and Cecil Kellaway is her father, a stage magician known as the Great Solvani. Only George Zucco stands out as Andoheb, High Priest of Karnak.

This is a fast-paced adventure set in Egypt, and would be a pretty good film if not for the comic relief, which is overused, and not very effective. At times, The Mummy's Hand almost seems like a bad Abbott and Costello movie, with Dick Foran as straight man to Wallace Ford's comic antics. Unfortunately, his antics just aren't that funny. Cecil Kellaway is somewhat better at comic relief, but overall there's just more of it than the film can bear.

The film ends with Kharis and High Priest Andoheb presumably dead, and Banning taking the mummy of Princess Ananka and the contents of her tomb to an American museum. The Mummy's Hand is merely an average 1940s low-budget b-movie, but it's as good as the Kharis series will get. It's all downhill from here.

The Mummy's Tomb begins 30 years after the events of The Mummy's Hand. The setting is Mapleton, Massachusetts, where Steve Banning (Dick Foran again) now resides. Banning is relating his adventures with Kharis to some guests (with lengthy flashback scenes to bring viewers who missed the first film up to speed).

We soon learn that both Kharis (played by Lon Chaney, Jr. for the rest of series) and Andoheb, High Priest of Karnak (George Zucco again) are still alive in Egypt, plotting their revenge on those who violated the tomb of Princess Ananka and removed her mummified remains.

Andoheb, now very old, passes his responsibility to a younger man, Mehemet Bey (played by Turhan Bey). Kharis and Bey go to Mapleton, and begin their quest for revenge by killing Steve Banning and his sister.

Babe (Wallace Ford) also returns in this film, although his last name has inexplicably changed from Jensen to Hanson. Mercifully, his presence is not for comic relief. A more serious Babe tries to warn the townspeople that Kharis is in their midst, but is ignored until it is too late.

His success in The Wolf Man in 1941 made Lon Chaney, Jr. one of Universal's "big three" of horror (with Karloff and Lugosi). He was used in this film (billed simply as Lon Chaney) for the drawing power of his name, but his presence adds nothing to the film, and with The Mummy's Tomb the decline in quality of the Kharis series begins.

Four years have passed since the end of The Mummy's Tomb. High Priest Andoheb (Zucco again), summons a new assistant, Yousef Bey (excellently played by John Carradine) to his lair, and tells him that Kharis still lives. Bey is instructed to go to America and return with Kharis and the remains of Princess Ananka, that they might be restored to their rightful place in Egypt.

In America, Yousef Bey discovers that Ananka's soul has been reincarnated as an egyptian college student named Amina Mansori (played by Ramsay Ames). He instructs Kharis to kidnap her, but Bey himself soon becomes attracted to Amina, putting him at odds with Kharis.

With The Mummy's Ghost, the series has reached the point where only serious Mummy-addicts with a need to see the Mummy's every appearance should be watching. John Carradine's performance as Yousef Bey is fun to watch, but, for most people, it's probably not enough to make the film worthwhile.

The Mummy's Ghost ends with Kharis and Ananka sinking into the waters of a swamp in Massachusetts. In The Mummy's Curse, they are unearthed 25 years later in a Louisiana bayou. Either Universal has simply abandoned continuity, or there are untold tales of Kharis and Ananka...

Released less than six months after The Mummy's Ghost, The Mummy's Curse is the second Kharis film released by Universal in 1944, and it's the worst of the series. If only they'd taken their time and made one good film instead, but quality clearly wasn't a major concern by this point in Universal's horror franchise.

Ironically, The Mummy's Curse contains one of the best scenes in the entire Kharis series, when Ananka, played by Virginia Christine, slowly claws her way out of the ground (you can see a few seconds of this scene in the trailer below). Unfortunately, this brief scene is not nearly enough to make the film worth watching. Peter Coe is particularly bad as High Priest Ilzor Zandaab, especially in comparison with previous High Priests George Zucco and John Carradine.

My recommendations? Unless you love b-movie horror as much as I do, The Mummy with Boris Karloff, and the first one or two films featuring Kharis are probably all you'll need to see of Universal's Mummy series.