Filmic Friday 221: The Mummy 1932

Once upon a time, there was a child who was afraid of everything. Every slightly scary movie was an invitation to nightmares. Every trip to the doctor's office or the dentist was an opportunity for a panic attack. The Scary Stories books were traumatizing. Are You Afraid of the Dark? was terrifying. Goosebumps was more a command than a book series...

I was a scaredy cat, alright?

But you know what didn't really scare me?

Universal Monster Movies.

I started with Creature from the Black Lagoon, which was one of the last Universal monsters to arrive, but I soon branched out and discovered a love for the children of the night.

Today, I'd like to talk to you about The Mummy since I just got a steel jacketed copy of the gorgeous BluRay for my birthday, courtesy of my Film & Editing Friendo!

I wish movie posters still looked this cool...

I won't go too deeply into the history of this movie, since there are maybe a dozen documentaries and commentaries on just that topic (including on the copy I watched!), but I will say this: This movie would never have happened if no one had cracked open King Tut's tomb. Egypt-fever was gripping the world, people were nutty about mummies and curses and the relatively young field of archaeology, and money was pouring into the studies of history, anthropology, and art. I mean, there were also funds flooding the fields of woo and nonsense, what with "spirit medium" rapidly becoming a viable vocation for anyone at the time (kind of like "Ghost Hunter" today...).

Regardless, it was from this fascination with ancient Egypt and its magic that The Mummy arose, though apparently it was supposed to be a weird biopic about a charlatan at one time.

The story goes thusly:

A bunch of white folk wander into Egypt and decide to give elevated tomb robbing - er, archaeology - a go, popping open the tomb of an unknown mummy whose sarcophagus has been heavily damaged and who carries a horrible curse. This mummy is played by Boris Karloff, but unfortunately they don't show much of the mummy itself moving very often...

This is a still from the production. In the movie, we do not get to see more than Imhotep's arm.
We do, however, get the assistant's reaction...

If there's one thing I've learned from Universal movies, it's that insane laughter is one of the scariest sounds on earth. Forget the creepy throat-voice from The Ring. Forget the screaming of the Xenomorph. Forget the warped gurgles from The Thing. No. It's between Renfield's mad, bitten-off, borderline pained cackles in Dracula and this guy's babbling guffaws after his mind shatters on seeing Imhotep's desiccated corpse shambling around, stealing scrolls.

This movie also taught me to fear being buried alive. Did you ever see the Brendan Fraser version of The Mummy? The bit where they're wrapping Arnold Vosloo up? Yeah. That's a direct lift from this movie. It's upsetting to watch it happen. That's because Boris Karloff has mastered the art of acting with his eyes.

No seriously, his eyes are terrifying.

And by the way, I'd always thought that they'd artificially darkened Karloff's skin during production to make him more believable as an Egyptian, but apparently, he was of Indian (from India) descent. On both sides. Huh. Cool.

So ten years after Imhotep vanishes and the assistant goes to cloud cuckoo land, a lanky, slightly terrifying Egyptian fellow calling himself Ardath Bey appears and leads the expedition to the tomb of deceased priestess/princess Ankh-es-en-amon, Imhotep's forbidden love. The expedition, of course, takes her mummy and puts it in the museum. All according to Imhotep-as-Ardath-Bey's plan. Yeah. Not sure how exactly Imhotep un-mummified himself, but wow is he creepy like this.

Eventually, Imhotep crosses paths with Zita Johann's character, Helen (huh, like the princess from Troy...) and realizes she's his dead lover reincarnated. Cue plans to get her back, including mind control and killing her dog (offscreen, thankfully). There are a lot of parallels with Dracula here, especially since there's even a Van Helsing character played by the same actor!

But all of the good guys' best efforts fail, and Helen is drawn to the deadly mummy.

Who immediately does her hair and gives her fancy new clothes.

Imhotep/Ardath Bey shows Helen her past life with him and tries to convince her that they should be reunited.

All while this poor girl must be freezing, since there wasn't such a thing as body stockings in the 30s
and she's practically naked from the waist up. Also, she hadn't been able to eat or drink all day,
so she famously fainted during the scene, prompting deep concern from Boris.

Of course, any sort of reunion will involve killing Helen, and Helen/Ankh-es-en-amon wants to live, so they end up at cross purposes. In the end, Ankh-es-en-amon pleads with Isis for assistance in protecting the life of Helen, destroying Imhotep entirely.

That's right.

None of the men in this movie do anything effective to resolve the plot.

Which is why I don't show any of them.

But this is honestly one of the best original scripts for a Universal movie. From the flashbacks (which are cranked at the same speed as a silent film in a bit of lovely visual shorthand!) to the lighting to the music and acting, this is an A+ picture.

If you have time for a monster movie, and you want something with some class but also is a bit... racy for the 1930s, definitely give The Mummy a try!

Also, Boris Karloff was a brilliant actor who deserved every honor he got, and makeup artist Jack Pierce deserves far more renown than he has, since he literally invented every major monster makeup from the time. Seriously. It's incredible.

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