THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1942)
"Look Mr. Hanson, there are dozens of reporters here, from all the metropolitan papers."
"I know that!"
"What would they say if I was to tell them that a Mummy 3,000 years old was doing all the killing? They'd laugh us out of office!"
"But what will they say when they find out that I was right! And that I tried to tip you off!"
IMDB voters rate THE MUMMY'S TOMB at 5.3, the low mark for the Universal Horror Series up to this point. I must have really lowbrow taste, because I disagree. THE MUMMY'S TOMB is good, pulpy, shlocky fun--way better than its predecessor, THE MUMMY'S HAND (1940).
And it has a fantastic poster!
This is a film that knows exactly what it is about, and approaches its subject in a way that prefigures future horror sequels. The monster, Kharis, the Mummy from THE MUMMY'S HAND, is deliberately made to appear sympathetic while the humans are little more than thumbnail sketches--so you root for the Mummy. The Mummy, which has left Egypt and been brought to America by its handler to wreak revenge on the despoilers of the tomb of Ananka, begins by hunting down and killing the insipid surviving heroes of the previous movie (this convention would become de rigeur for horror sequels in later series such as A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and HALLOWEEN). How many more victims will the Mummy claim before the townspeople regroup and begin to fight back?[*]
Thirty years have purportedly passed since the events of THE MUMMY'S HAND, so the actors from the previous installment wear age makeup and impersonate elderly men (this actually makes them less annoying). The passage of time and theme of generational change are familiar from other Universal sequels, as if to emphasize that the events depicted can only happen once in a generation (although THE MUMMY'S TOMB followed only two years after THE MUMMY'S HAND). Misfortune is handed down like an elder curse.
I can't say that the depiction of Egyptians is any more enlightened than in the earlier Mummy films. The High Priest (Turhan Bey) appears to be ethnically Arabic, for a change, but his monomaniacal quest for murder is eclipsed only by his lust for the blonde ingénue, Elyse Knox (who, what do you know, turns out to be Mark Harmon's mother). Kharis carries her away and the High Priest straps her to a slab, the better for to be rescued. Somehow the stereotypes seem less offensive because they are so cartoonish--you are aware that the filmmakers are serving up genre conventions, not advocating for your belief in them.
This time, Kharis is played by Lon Chaney Jr. (billed as Lon Chaney), who was quickly establishing himself as a staple in Universal's horror films of the 1940s. He looks good in the makeup, but is photographed more as a familiar bogeyman than as an object of any great suspense. The Mummy series may be the rump of Universal's horror canon, but it is hardly the least influential part of it.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K
[*] It's a bit odd to see torch-waving villagers in the United States in 1942, but perhaps the filmmakers were thinking of their own hometowns. That's Hollywood looking down its nose at the rest of the country for you!
"I know that!"
"What would they say if I was to tell them that a Mummy 3,000 years old was doing all the killing? They'd laugh us out of office!"
"But what will they say when they find out that I was right! And that I tried to tip you off!"
IMDB voters rate THE MUMMY'S TOMB at 5.3, the low mark for the Universal Horror Series up to this point. I must have really lowbrow taste, because I disagree. THE MUMMY'S TOMB is good, pulpy, shlocky fun--way better than its predecessor, THE MUMMY'S HAND (1940).
And it has a fantastic poster!
This is a film that knows exactly what it is about, and approaches its subject in a way that prefigures future horror sequels. The monster, Kharis, the Mummy from THE MUMMY'S HAND, is deliberately made to appear sympathetic while the humans are little more than thumbnail sketches--so you root for the Mummy. The Mummy, which has left Egypt and been brought to America by its handler to wreak revenge on the despoilers of the tomb of Ananka, begins by hunting down and killing the insipid surviving heroes of the previous movie (this convention would become de rigeur for horror sequels in later series such as A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and HALLOWEEN). How many more victims will the Mummy claim before the townspeople regroup and begin to fight back?[*]
Thirty years have purportedly passed since the events of THE MUMMY'S HAND, so the actors from the previous installment wear age makeup and impersonate elderly men (this actually makes them less annoying). The passage of time and theme of generational change are familiar from other Universal sequels, as if to emphasize that the events depicted can only happen once in a generation (although THE MUMMY'S TOMB followed only two years after THE MUMMY'S HAND). Misfortune is handed down like an elder curse.
I can't say that the depiction of Egyptians is any more enlightened than in the earlier Mummy films. The High Priest (Turhan Bey) appears to be ethnically Arabic, for a change, but his monomaniacal quest for murder is eclipsed only by his lust for the blonde ingénue, Elyse Knox (who, what do you know, turns out to be Mark Harmon's mother). Kharis carries her away and the High Priest straps her to a slab, the better for to be rescued. Somehow the stereotypes seem less offensive because they are so cartoonish--you are aware that the filmmakers are serving up genre conventions, not advocating for your belief in them.
This time, Kharis is played by Lon Chaney Jr. (billed as Lon Chaney), who was quickly establishing himself as a staple in Universal's horror films of the 1940s. He looks good in the makeup, but is photographed more as a familiar bogeyman than as an object of any great suspense. The Mummy series may be the rump of Universal's horror canon, but it is hardly the least influential part of it.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K
[*] It's a bit odd to see torch-waving villagers in the United States in 1942, but perhaps the filmmakers were thinking of their own hometowns. That's Hollywood looking down its nose at the rest of the country for you!