Customer Reviews

Mummy's Tomb [VHS]

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4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Universal monsters never perish as Kharis rises from the dead (in Massachusetts, of all places) and kills the surviving characters from "The Mummy's Hand." Despite George Robinson's moody camera work and the sinister presence of Turhan Bey, "The Mummy's Tomb" (1942) takes cost-cutting horror to a new low. Lon Chaney Jr. does his best with the Ace bandages, but cannot overcome Harold Young's bland direction and recycled footage from earlier Universal productions - including mismatched shots of the torch-bearing villagers in "Frankenstein." Though Kharis went down in flames, the Mummy Shuffle would continue for two more sequels.

'The Mummy's Tomb' is a sequel to 'The Mummy's Hand'. The story takes place 30 years after 'The Mummy's Hand' leaves off. Clocking in just over an hour in length, this film spends the first 12 minutes in flash back to 'The Mummy's Hand'! The next 3 minutes in a redundant ritual of the passing of the throne as keeper of the tomb. Even with a quarter of the movie being nothing new, this film is still fun! The Mummy make-up looks good even if Chaney looks a little chunky(;-D)and there is some good atmosphere in this short and sweet romp through mummy-ville.

I rate it 2 3/4 Stars for fun factor...who can resist these silly films? This is available on DVD on the Mummy Legacy collection and on a double bill with The Mummy's Hand.

Although far from cinematic art, this movie is an entertaining B picture that continues the Kharis saga. In an unlikely development, the setting shifts from Egypt to a Massachusetts village. Lon Chaney, Jr. takes over the moldy ace bandages and drags his foot as he shuffles around town in search of the despoilers of Princess Ananka's tomb. Mysterious Turhan Bey is the high priest of the ancient gods of Egypt. Posing as the caretaker of the local cemetery, he conceals Kharis in the main crypt. According to ancient rite, he nourishes the mummy with tana leaf fluid. As the wild dogs howl in the night and the full moon shines brightly, a shadowy figure brings grim death to those guilty of dread sacrilege. The authorities stand baffled by evidence that points to a supernatural menace of ancient Egypt. Borrowing an idea from the Frankenstein flicks, aroused torch-carrying villagers search for the monster. One imagines that in small town America of the 1940s, they had flashlights or at least lanterns. Anyway, this gives the cost conscious director the opportunity to insert stock footage from the original "Frankenstein" showing angry villagers stalking through the woods and cemetery. There was some story-related method to the madness. The torches portend a fiery fate for the mummy. Never mind that a sappy romantic finale diminishes the shock value. Collectors of classic horror films need this addition to their collection. Good second string stuff. ;-)

"The Mummy's Tomb", released in 1942 was the second of Universal Studios revived "Mummy", series of films and followed on from 1940's "The Mummy's Hand". These decidely "B", efforts struck a real cord with war time audiences anxious for any kind of escapism that took them away from their day to day worries and there ended up being four films made in a period of little more than four years that revolved around a rampaging Mummy. Despite an excessive use of stock footage from the first film in its first 20 minutes and having an at times unimaginative story to tell "The Mummy's Tomb", is still my personal favourite of these 1940's Mummy films. While most of the performances in the film are standard for these kind of "B" horror efforts, the two villians in this story in the Mummy itself played by Lon Chaney Jr for the first time, and especially the new young sinister High Priest played by a perfectly cast Turhan Bey really make this a most enjoyable effort. The film definately has a low budget however as was often the way with Universal Studios horror efforts they somehow managed to give "The Mummy's Tomb", some rich and very eerie atmosphere that in my belief makes it a standout in the Mummy series of films.

Despite the very pedesterian direction by Harold Young the film's strong points rest solely in it's great atmosphere and the sense of eerieness that it manages to project. The haunting night shots and vivid musical score also help to really give "The Mummy's Tomb", some memorable visuals. I agree totally with past reviewers that there is far too much use of stock footage from "The Mummy's Hand" and from the classic "Frankenstein", however once its own story gets under way it becomes a reasonably chilling tale that of course doesn't offer too many surprises. The main characters of the film are a fairly bland lot and as in most of these types of productions its the "baddies' who are the ones that are of most interest. Dick Foran and Wallace Ford, the two holdovers from the earlier film are quickly dispatched by a rampaging Kharis (Lon Chaney Jnr) so centre stage is taken by John Hubbard in the role of Steve's son John Banning and Elyse Knox as his love interest. Both are not terribly exciting performers and the film is stolen from them in my belief by the perfectly cast Turhan Bey in the role of the new sinister High Priest Mehemet Bey. Instructed by the dying George Zucco to take on the task of ensuring the proper revenge on all members of the Banning expedition responsible for despoiling the tomb of the Princess Anuka, he is the perfect "B" villian and with his deep speaking voice and goodlooking swarthy looks he holds most of the interest in this story. The best parts of the film are his scenes with Kharis and in the climax of the story when he tries to claim Isobel (Elyse Knox) as his own bride.

"The Mummmy's Tomb", despite its small budget, is a very handsome looking production. Universal had a unique way of polishing the look of their second unit productions and "The Mummy's Tomb" is no exception. The eerie scenes in the graveyard, the temple sets and the night scenes with Kharis hunting down his next prey are extremely well done and the windy dark settings for alot of the story really set the scene for an enjoyable mystery. The idea of relocating the action to Mapleton in the USA is a great idea and the story has a logical flow to it as Turhan Bey brings Kharis over in a steam ship to carry out his revenge on the surviving members of the Banning exhibition who had returned to the USA. Bey's dialogue in instructing Kharis of his plans are very well done with alot of Egyptian lore used to make the proceedings that bit more authentic. Lon Chaney Jnr, son of the famed Lon Chaney of the silent era plays here for the first time Kharis, the man condemmned to eternal suffering for loving above his station. He would return in the role for the last two installments in Universal's Mummy sagas, "The Mummy's Ghost" and "The Mummy's Curse" both released in 1944. Given the obvious limitiations of his character Chaney does well in the part even managing to inject the essentially one dimensional character at times with elements of sympathy especially at the stories fiery climax.

While Universal Studio's Mummy films of the 1940's were definately not classic material they served a good purpose for war weary audiences sick of hearing about the real life horrors happening all over the world, these films still have a lasting appeal to old time horror movie addicts like myself. "The Mummy's Tomb" tells its story without the excessive gore and violence that always seems to be present in any modern horror tale s this little effort is a good way to spend 70 minutes. As stated it's my favourite of the Mummy cycle because of the especially enjoyable performance by Turhan Bey's as the chief villian of the story. "The Mummy's Tomb", most definately is old fashioned horror and makes great late night viewing preferably on a dark and windy night with the lights tuned down. Enjoy!

The Mummy's Tomb was a good sequel to the Mummy's Hand, and Lon Chaney Jr. is great in the role of Kharis, a 3,000-year-old mummy bent on revenge for those who violated Anaka's tomb.

The scene shifts from Egypt to New England America 30 years after the Banning expedition. Kharis is brought there by his new keeper to kill off the surviving members of the expedition and their heirs.

This movie provided some eerie scenes as Chaney lumbers through the cemetery, woods and even through the town inself in search of his victims. He has the strongest left hand in the business, choking the life out of anyone who gets in his path.

I agree with other reviews that there was too much stock footage used from The Mummy's Hand as Banning recounts his story from the first adventure. A lot of the old footage could have been left off as the story is told, and that would have allowed more footage of Chaney, creeping in and out of the shadows around Mapleton. The stock footage was probably used because of budget constraints. After all, there was a war going on at the time, and it is common knowledge that Universal's Mummy movies were hit with worse budget cuts than any of the other top-billed monsters.

Nevertheless, "The Mummy's Tomb" is a must for any horror fan of the 1940s classics and for anyone who is a fan of the son of "The Man of a Thousand Faces."

The best thing this film has going for it, is the cinematic flourishes of once master DP George Robinson. Each frame after the other is beautifully composed and lit to perfection. In a film like this--rountine plot, tepid, dull, flat direction, and some rather dry, dim-witted acting. Why care? So just sit right back and saver the visual poetry and the technique that went into it all. The real Star is Robinson, forget about Harold Young. He was just some untalented hack director who got the job becasue Universal couldn't afford to hire any of the big-guns...u know like James Whale, Edgar G. Ulmer, Robert Siodmak..ect ect. Altold, on a pictorial stand-point, The Mummy's Tomb ranks as one on Universal's best looking chillers of the 1940's. Yet when it all boils down to the facts, what a visually dazzaling film becomes, is an embaresment to what was one of Universal's biggest grossing films of 1942.

A film which could have been more than just entertaing, is all lost with a Diretor who refuses to show intrest in the material he was given. Which is more than damaging to the movie than anything else, Sure it's watchable, sure anyone could show enjoyment in it's short-running 71 min span. But the movie becomes to dull, to quickly. It's hard to believe that at the time of this particuarly films' release that it was a box-office winner, and that it headed a double bill, with a much more vastly superior film, which you may know as "Night Monster". God knows what Universal was thinking, but hey, they got what they wanted..good box-office recipts. Good box-office recipts that assured that they had another monster-franchise on their hands, which would eventually crank out 2 more penny-dredfuls. Now the thing that comes to mind is my curisoity that if this film was supposed to be a good commendable film, in the wake in it's well-crafted preddeccor "the mummy's hand(1940), and that it had the cardinal sin and luck of finding such a dull director as Harold Young, i mean i won't deny the fact that the plot is far from inspired, god knows it's not, but I can't help but to think what a much more talented Director would build from his material that he was given here. Say someone like, Joe H. Lewis, an undenibale cult director, with a large number of followers. Lewis would most likely make the most of what he was given,displaying his w stunning dramtic compostions one after another, and at the same time getting the most of the actors. That copuled with the fact that the film had a genious cinemaphtogrpy in Geroge Robinson, the film already a gorgeous one, pictorially wise, could have climed up to minor cult status. But hey, Universal wanted to concentrate more on the bucks and less on the quialty they get what they deserved, and in the end, displaying one less classic in their horror canon. The plot like i said is uninspired to the max: a tepid revenge plot as the mummy goes on a rampage killing off the members of the past expedition, at the same time being displayed in such a flat fashion, only redeemed by some gorgeous lighting and camerwork by Geroge Robinson. Though the perfomances have much to be desired, some of that actors, most notably Dick Foran and Wallace Ford are criminally used, displaying none of the comedic play or even likabity of the previous film, by wasting no time and bumping them off. The rest are cardboard cut-outs. In the end the Mummy Burns to death, and everybody lives happily ever after, thats until Universal cranked out another sequel the following year, The Mummy's Ghost(1943). But that's another story....

Rating: 2-1/2 out of 5

Grade: C 78%

"The Mummy's Tomb" is a direct sequel to the "Mummy's Hand and takes place 30 years later. Almost the entire first 12 minutes of the 60 minute movie uses footage from the Mummy's Hand as Steve Banning, now an old man, relates the events of discovering Anankas tomb and fighting the Mummy Kharis, as he speaks to his son, John and his fiancee Isabel.

Universal was never above trying to save a few bucks by re-using footage from previous films.

We also find out that the High Priest of Karnak, Andoheb (George Zucco), and the mummy were not killed and that Andoheb is passing on guardianship of Kharis on to Mehemet Bey (Turhan Bey). He is to go to America and destroy Banning and his family for desecrating Ananka's tomb.

We now cut to Mapleton, MA, as Kharis begins his nighly rampages of revenge. Wallace Ford Reprises his role as "Babe" although strangely his last name is changed from Jensen to Hanson.

The other big change is Lon Chaney Jr. taking over in his first go as the Mummy, Kharis. He cuts a more imposing figure than Tim Tyler and the makeup was far superior as he appeared much more decrepit can decayed.

Overall it was a refreshing change to move the setting to the States where everyday people were encountering the Mummy in a terror.

This movie made a fortune at the box office when it was released and is a nice sequel to "The Mummy's Hand" with acting, sets and make-up quite good for a small budget. Beware, however, that this 1993 VHS release is missing the scene where Mary Gordon is murdered by the mummy, as well as the aftermath. Over a minute is missing, quite a bit when the original running time of the film was only 61 minutes, not the 71 minutes listed on the video box. I saw the complete film on the laserdisc release, hopefully its available on the DVD as well. The complete film is indispensible to any Lon Chaney or classic monster movie collection.

I think this is a very good film despite the reuse of footage at certain times. The cemetary scenes and parts in the temple make up for that reuse and give the film a real good look. The best asset in the film however is Turhan Bey who is really excellent in the role of the sinister High Priest, for him alone the film is worth getting in your horror collection.

I absolutely recommend "The Mummy's Tomb" for that quiet night at home for a few thrills! Most worthwhile