![The Mummy - The Legacy Collection (The Mummy/Mummy's Hand/Mummy's Tomb/Mummy's Ghost/Mummy's Curse) [DVD]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51A04BP4PML._SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg)
Here each of five mummy movies in the Legacy Collection is reviewed in order of original release.
The Mummy (1932) -- This flick has mood, lots of it. Director Karl Freund's background in the German Impressionistic-style of the 20-30's played a big role in the cinematic quality of The Mummy . The visual approach of The Mummy shows what Dracula (D, Tod Browning) could have been if Freund (who was the director of photography) had been given more free reign.
The Mummy capitalized on the American fascination with ancient Egypt brought on by the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun 's tomb. The story line of The Mummy was certainly enhanced by the real-life belief in a curse of Tutankhamun. One should view The Mummy today with this in mind - it certainly helps to provide considerable chill. Modern audiences are quite desensitized to horror and ancient Egypt provides much less lure today than it did in the 1930's.
The standouts in The Mummy are the sets and Karloff. The set designs are wonderful; one feels they are in 1920-30's Egypt. The Mummy sequels suffer tremendously by comparison in this regard. Boris Karloff had already established himself as one of Universal's horror stars (Frankenstein, 1931; Old Dark House, 1932) and certainly proves himself adept again. Although he is only seen as 'the mummy' (Im-ho-tep) for a short period early in the film - and even then not fully, Jack Pierce's make-up is classic - no iconic. Even as the living mummy, Ardath Bey, Karloff is visually creepy, his face and hands appearing wrinkled and desiccated. As was common for Karloff he plays 'the mummy' in a restrained manner, bringing both fear and empathy from the viewer towards his characterization. The remaining cast is less impressive. Probably the weakest performance is that of Zita Johann (the female lead); hers is a performance typical of that of female leads of the time - over the top and stiff. The film historians that comment on her performance in original Universal documentary Mummy Dearest that accompanies the Legacy Collection give her much higher marks. I however do not feel that she complements Karloff's performance; where he delivers chills, she diminishes them by 'acting' (as the Jon Lovitz thespian character would say on SNL). A solid performance is provided by David Manners as the supporting male, while the performance of Edward Van Sloan as the 'educated' protagonist to Ardath Bey is a lackluster and cookie-cutter version of his performance as Prof. Van Helsing from Dracula (1931). The remaining supporting cast do not deliver real memorable performances. Karloff dwarfs all in this cast, without him The Mummy would have been relegated to a simple novelty of period of Hollywood's 'gory days'.
Despite the criticisms of the acting, the story, sets, Karloff and cinematography prove substantial and The Mummy is a solid 4 star movie (5 stars if one is able to completely place oneself in the mindset of a 1932 viewer!) and certainly the BEST of the Mummy movies from Universal's golden age of horror.
The Mummy's Hand (1940) -- Not a sequel in a traditional sense as the story is almost completely unrelated to 1932's The Mummy , The Mummy's Hand is a solid follow-up with its own fair share of creepiness. Where The Mummy was a simple horror story filmed and acted (mostly by Boris Karloff) as a horror story, The Mummy's Hand is a more tongue-and-cheek horror; not all out camp but comedic at times. Although no performance comes close to that of Karloff's in The Mummy , the cast performance of The Mummy's Hand is by far more balanced and solid than that of The Mummy . This does a lot to boost a weaker story and less convincing sets (see more below).
The Mummy's Hand begins a four-movie run of essentially the same story: Ancient love (only similar theme to the 1932 film) transcending time and protected by an eventually jealous third party. From The Mummy's Hand onward, the mummy is not Ih-ho-tep, but Kharis. His lost love is not Princess Anckesen-Amon , but the Princess Ananka. While the Ananka character remains essentially the same (and minor) in each of the three following Mummy movies, the Kharis character is first presented as a non-royal lover of Ananka, buried alive for his inappropriate love. In later films Karis mysteriously evolves into a Prince and the reasons for his living-mummification become obscured. Add to this dead-lovers mix an Egyptian High Priest (played by George Zucco in The Mummy's Hand ) and one henchman/underling-priest. In each of the four post-1932 films responsibility of the High Priesthood is handed down by a dying High Priest to his #1 with much pomp, including a long speech by the new High Priest accepting his responsibility with the recognition that failure will result in a horrible death curse . It is the responsibility of the High Priest to maintain Kharis in a barely living state by "giving him the fluid from three leaves from the ancient tana plant each night of the full moon". Should anyone disturb the tomb of Ananka the High Priest was to give Kharis "the fluid from six (to nine in later films) tana leaves to allow life and motion" such that the mummy can kill all those who have defiled the tomb. Of course revival of Kharis to motion results in re-activation of his love for Ananka, revival of Ananka in the personage of the lead female actress who is always of Egyptian heritage and somehow psychically-connected to the Princesses soul. In the last act the High Priest inevitably falls in love with the reincarnated Ananka, bringing upon himself the curse of "a horrible death". This general sequence is essentially repeated in each of Universal's 'sequels' to the 1932 movie.
In The Mummy's Hand , Kharis is aptly played as the stereotypical lumbering, leg-dragging mummy by western actor Tom Tyler. In contrast to Karloff's performance, Tyler remains a 'mummy' for the entire film. Again Jack Pierce's make-up does much to create a creepy feel. Added to this is a post-production special effect by which Tylers eyes were blackened to make his eye sockets appear empty. While certainly not a perfect effect, this is a creepy visual. Aside from Pierce's make-up, the visuals in The Mummy's Hand are quite disappointing. First, the mountain entrance to the High Priest's temple looks more like an Inca ruins than an Egyptian relic. The temple itself also has a 'south of the border feel'. The dig site is SO obviously an internal set that one will snicker and think Ed Wood wasn't that bad after all! These problems greatly dampen the seriousness with which the viewer can take The Mummy's Hand . Yet the oft comedic interchanges between the Steve Banning (played by Dick Foran) and Babe Jenson (played by Wallace Ford) characters make the aforementioned problems seem in place.
All in all this is a fun little movie, not as 'classic' as The Mummy but a decent 3.5 star effort.
The Mummy's Tomb (1942) -- In the third Universal Mummy outing Dick Foran and Wallace Ford reprise there roles as Banning and 'Babe' (although Hanson instead of Jenson this time - huh?), but with 30 years added to their ages. In The Mummy's Tomb the general plot scheme of The Mummy's Hand is rehashed but in this case the new High Priest (played quite well by someone who actually looks Middle Eastern) is given the task of taking Kharis - now, and thereafter, played by Lon Chaney Jr - to America to kill the Banning archeology party and all those associated with it. Thus the Mummy series moves west - this saves considerably on costs for sets as one only needs contemporary American village sets (in The Mummy's Tomb , Banning resides in New England ) and Universal recycled scenes (directly) from The Mummy's Hand such that nearly ALL Egyptian action comes from the previous movie. Not much new in this Mummy movie except locale. The acting is acceptable but not stellar. The Mummy's Tomb (and all subsequent Mummy movies) has a bit of American Western feel, both in set designs and cast actions. The latter is illustrated by the use of posse-vigilantly gangs to chase down the killer (Kharis). I found little in this movie to applaud loudly although this is not to say it is horrible. Taken for what it is - low budget 40's, WWII, Universal horror, it's a 3 star movie worth watching if you're interested in the genre.
The Mummy's Ghost (1944) -- Ahhhh...continuance of the same old story line. This time the High Priest (enjoyably played by John Carradine) is charged with going to recover both Kharis and the mummy of the Princess Ananka from America and return them to Egypt and their eternal resting place. Otherwise, same ol', same ol'. Again set mostly in New England, although this time the Banning village is surrounded by more thicket and swamp, the sets are simple and generally uninventive. Chaney is solid ass the lumbering Kharis although he seemed to have gained better mobility from Tomb to Ghost . Although having an 'immobile' arm in Tomb, Kharis appears to be able to gain use that arm when necessary (e.g., carrying away the heroine). Plot contrivances and continuity flaws such as this really lend a hand in dragging down The Mummy's Ghost . Add to these problems the use of photographic filtering techniques to produce 'night sequences', that were in reality filmed during daylight hours (one need not look far to see the strong shadows cast by all object, animate and not!) and one gets a really cheap production value. Certainly other Universal films of the same period (e.g., The Wolf Man ) were not nearly as shabby and had no greater budgets.
What if any redeeming qualities exist for Ghost ? Acting; namely that of John Carradine, who gives a very solid performance and holds the show, much like Karloff did in The Mummy . Casting Carradine as an Egyptian is a bit like casting Charlton Heston as a Mexican (see Orsen Wells' Touch of Evil ), but Carradine, like Heston later, somehow pulls it off. Aside from Carradine the cast is lackluster but compotent. Look for Barton MacLane as the inspector - he played a detective in Bogart's classic The Maltese Falcon. In the end, Carradine's performance can only pull The Mummy's Ghost up to a 2.5 star movie.
The Mummy's Curse (1944) -- Same year, same story - kind of. The Mummy's Curse picks up where The Mummy's Ghost left off. A new High Priest is appointed to go to America and do the job that Carradine's character failed at (because of the inevitable lust for Ananka and subsequent curse of a 'horrible death'); namely bring Kharis and Ananka back to Egypt. Not much new here, with exception of some pretty weird story faults. Most clear of these is the fact that Banning's little New England village swap where Kharis and a resurrected Ananka receded into at the end of Ghost has been transported to the Bayou's of LA! Curse thus has Cajun mobs after Kharis rather than proper New England gentlemen and farmers. For whatever reason this time around no efforts were made to disguise daylight as darkness and much of the action takes place in full sunlight although the people of this sleepy little town aren't particularly bright lights as they seem to miss the mummy on almost all occasions. Chaney's Kharis is physically a bit schizophrenic in Curse , vacillating between the stereotypical lumbering movement to quite limber and agile movements. Apparently mummy's 'evolve' quickly once they get enough tana extract. The acting in Curse is by far the WORST of any of the Mummy movies. The lead actor is downright horrid! The only truly creepy part of The Mummy's Curse is the resurrection of Ananka from the mud of the Bayou; although even this is a bit campy and overacted. All in all Curse is the proper prequel to any mummy outing with Abbott and Costello (Meet the Mummy, 1955), which was the fate of all great horror figures at Universal once the 50's rolled around. No more than 1.5 stars for The Mummy's Curse.
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Mummy Legacy Collection - Karloff kicks it off the series in high gear and a forgettable cast end a pathetic run
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 5, 2007Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 13, 2006
Top reviews from other countries
sebquest
Not an 'all region disc'
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 20, 2013David
Very good two short black and white double films
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 14, 2015Mark B
The Mummy's hand and Tomb UK blu-ray
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 9, 2017
The Mummy's hand and Tomb UK blu-ray
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 9, 2017
Fantastic Blu-ray for the price, both films are on one disc, picture and sound quality are great for the age of the films, only extra is the trailer for both films
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 9, 2017
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Richard M.
A great couple of black & white "B" movies
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 14, 2019
