The Mummy
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Movie Reviews of The Mummy
Movie Review: Mummy's Day
Summary: 4 Stars
This is probably the best Hammer movie ever made. The original Karloff version was too derivative of Dracula. Starting with the first, and the later versions, the mummy could hardly move. Christopher Lee, a mediocre actor, was truely an athletic one, and it was put to good use in this movie. Jack Asher's color cinematography bordered on the expressionistic. But it wasn't the black and white expressionism of German silent movies, or the classic Universal studios. This was the expressionism of German painters. However, I prefer the ending in the original version, where the heroine had to rescue herself, while the heroes looked on helplessly.Movie Review: A Lot of Fun
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie is a lot of fun. As with all Hammer movies, it has good production values and excellent color cinematography. Although a fairly standard "mummy" plot is in play, this movie stands out for the excellent background sequence set in ancient Egypt. Lee and Cushing are both masters of the genre and always fun to watch. Four stars instead of five only because the ending seems a little abrupt and weak, but it's not enough to detract greatly from the overall pleasure of the flick.Movie Review: Terence Fisher's wrap on an old tale
Summary: 3 Stars
The mummy, as a character, quickly became bland. In 1932, director Karl Freund, writer John L. Balderston, with stars Boris Karloff and Zita Johnann made a poetic film for the Universal horror cannon, re-working the story of Dracula in Egyptian guise. The Mummy's Hand (1940) starring cowboy actor (and later Captain Marvel) Tom Tyron, was the first and only real decent of the Universal mummy sequels. Increasingly feeble films followed Hand, all starring a rotund mummy in the form of a disinterested Lon Chaney, Jr. Dating back to the original, the plot rarely varied throughout the series. An Egyptian princess reincarnates in the form of a twentieth century woman, only to have her ancient lover come back, a tad lethargic, gauze and all, to reclaim her.
Oddly, Francis Ford Coppola lazily utilized the mummy's reincarnated dead lover plot for his version of Dracula (1992), which, otherwise, was a (mostly) well done, imaginative version of that story. In 1999 the mummy was revived again in a dumbed down, lame, testosterone-laden joke of a movie starring Brandon Frazier. That film also spawned numerous sequels. True to form,the succeeding mummy entries were even worse, which, in this case, isn't saying anything.
Still from The Mummy (1959)In between the 1932 and 1999 films, Hammer Studios predictably took a stab at the character. They spared no expense in soliciting the talents of Terence Fisher, along with top stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Where they did spare expense was in an original story. The Mummy (1959) liberally borrowed elements from the formulaic Universal series, and reincarnated the reincarnated princess plot. Briskly paced direction from Fisher, along with sumptuous color from Hammer cinematographer Jack Asher, almost overcomes the paint-by-number plot, which screenwriter Jimmy Sangster tried valiantly to inject with his own sensibilities. Of course, the medium of film is more than mere storytelling and The Mummy is a film that tries to go a long way to prove that; because, basic rehashed story aside, the film itself is no lumbering undead. It may be Fisher's most energetic work.
Peter Cushing, as Dr. Banning, is in enthusiastic form. No one can get strangled like Cushing, and his near-death experience and confrontation with co-star Lee in Banning's study is pure red-blooded Fisher, ranking with the acting duo's battle in Horror of Dracula. Equally interesting is when Cushing's Banning antagonizes the antagonist in the most proven way imaginable; he insults the other guy's religion. Ironically, it is Banning, rather than the mummy, who limps here, the result of an untended accident in Egypt. Christopher Lee is the darling among genre fans. He is far more discussed than his co-star. As iconic an actor as Lee is, his favored status is something of a slight to Cushing, since the latter is, normally, the superior actor. However, in this film, the acting honors are a draw, with Lee giving an admirably nuanced, minimalist performance as the title character. Lee's Kharis cannot compete with Karloff's masterful Imhotep, but Lee invests genuine pathos, dread, and menace into the role. Yvonne Furneaux is striking as the Kharis/Banning love interest, but not much is required of her other than letting her hair down and shouting "No!"
Kharis' resurrection from the swamp is beautifully photographed and effectively conveys robust dread. Another well-shot sequence is the mummy's entrance into an asylum to exact revenge on Banning's father. Franz Reizenstein's score expertly accentuates the film, matching Fisher's bloodied full moon milieu. The Mummy reminds me a bit of The Guns of Navarone (1961). You know what's around the corner, but that hardly stops the enjoyment of getting there.
* My review was originally published at 366 Weird Movies
Movie Review: NOT EVEN CLOSE TO THE KARLOFF ORIGINAL! 2 1/1/2 STARS!
Summary: 3 Stars
I have to wonder if the people reviewing this Hammer interpretation of the Mummy watched the same film I did. I found this to be one of the lesser Hammer productions. Hammer began making some good looking horror films because the genre was getting tired and Universal was churning out low budget horror flicks for a quick buck. This version of the Mummy is not even on par with the 1940's Universal Mummy films which spanned four serial type horror sequels. Forget about the original film starring Karloff, it doesn't hold a candle to that moody,somber masterpiece! Karloff's performance is creepy and Jack Pierce's make-up is absolutely incredible! Christopher Lee may have size but, he does nothing with the role of the undead protector of the tomb. Even though he does walk faster then the laughable Mummies from the 40's, it's not so fast that he could catch anyone. As slow as the Mummies were in those Universal 40's films there was a sense of relentless pursuit, normal people get tired mummies don't. I guess with thousands of years of sleep they can go for a long time! LOL! The brilliance of the 1932 classic with Karloff was that he was supernatural and he killed his enemies with curses! You can't run from that and it makes it all the scarier that there is no place to hide. I rate this film 2 1/2/ stars for some effort and seeing the Mummy in color. I hope the sequels are better than this one. It's just didn't add much new to the character.Movie Review: The picture is sharp, colors better, but matted? Why?
Summary: 3 Stars
Well, I compared the 2001 Warner DVD to the 1991 Warner Laserdisc. First the good news, the picture has been remastered and especially in dark shots, as in entering Princess Anankas tomb, contrasts are better and details come through with color and are not lost to darkness. Very nicely done. Now the bad news. This was not a widescreen production to begin with. The original aspect ratio was somewhere between 1:37:1 and 1:66:1, probably closer to the Academy standard. All we are getting with the "Matted" presentation here is the full picture with the top and bottom masked off to give the impression of a presentation somewhere between 1:78:1 and 1:85:1. It is very obvious because the actors hats, etc are constantly cut off. Comparing to the fullscreen also shows that nothing is being added to the sides and quite a bit of picture is lost in this presentation. The movie gets an A but this DVD gets B- for Video, B for Audio, C for extras, overall B-, could have been better. Frankly, I don't understand why Warner didn't just issue the fullscreen on the second layer or give us a single layered dual-sided disc, they cost about the same, with the standard presentation on one side and this "matted" presentation on the other, they have done this for many other releases. Thanks for reading, CAL