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The Mummy (1932 film)

The Mummy is a 1932 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed by Karl Freund. The screenplay by John L. Balderston was adapted from a treatment written by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer. Released by Universal Studios as a part of the Universal Classic Monsters franchise, the film stars Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan and Arthur Byron.

The Mummy
Theatrical release poster by Karoly Grosz[1]
Directed byKarl Freund
Screenplay byJohn L. Balderston
Story by
Produced byCarl Laemmle Jr.
Starring
CinematographyCharles Stumar
Edited byMilton Carruth
Music byJames Dietrich
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • December 22, 1932 (1932-12-22)
Running time
73 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$196,000[3]

In the film, Karloff stars as Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian mummy who was killed for attempting to resurrect his dead lover, Anck-es-en-Amon. After being discovered and accidentally brought to life by a team of archaeologists, he disguises himself as a modern Egyptian named Ardath Bey and searches for Anck-es-en-Amon, whom he believes has been reincarnated in the modern world.

Whilst being less culturally influential than its predecessors Dracula and Frankenstein, The Mummy was still a moderate success, spawning several sequels, spin-offs, remakes, and reimaginings.

Plot edit

In 1921, an archaeological expedition led by Sir Joseph Whemple finds the mummy of an ancient Egyptian high priest named Imhotep. An inspection of the mummy by Whemple's friend Dr. Muller reveals that the mummy's viscera were not removed, and from the signs of struggling Muller deduces that although Imhotep had been wrapped like a traditional mummy, he had been buried alive. Also buried with Imhotep is a casket with a curse on it. Despite Muller's warning, Sir Joseph's assistant Ralph Norton opens it and finds an ancient life-giving scroll, the "Scroll of Thoth". He translates the symbols and then reads the words aloud, causing Imhotep to rise from the dead. This snaps Norton's mind, and he laughs hysterically as Imhotep shuffles off with the scroll. Norton is said to later die, still laughing, in a straitjacket.

Ten years later, Imhotep has assimilated into modern society, taking the identity of an eccentric Egyptian historian named Ardath Bey. He calls upon Sir Joseph's son Frank and Professor Pearson and shows them where to dig to find the tomb of the princess Ankh-es-en-Amon. After locating the tomb, the archaeologists present its treasures to the Cairo Museum, after which Bey disappears.

Bey soon encounters Helen Grosvenor, a half-Egyptian woman bearing a striking resemblance to the princess, who stays with Muller. Bey falls in love with her but so does Frank. After it is discovered that Bey is the mummy Imhotep, Muller urges Joseph to burn the Scroll of Thoth, but when Joseph tries to do so, Bey uses his magical powers to kill him and then hypnotizes a Nubian to be his slave and bring the Scroll to him. After the servant does so, he hypnotizes Helen to come to his place and there, reveals to her that his horrific death was punishment for sacrilege, as he attempted to resurrect his forbidden lover, Princess Anck-es-en-Amon.

Believing her to be the princess's reincarnation, he attempts to make her his immortal bride by killing, mummifying, and resurrecting her. Frank and Muller come to her rescue but are immobilized by Bey's magical powers. However Helen is saved when she remembers her ancestral past life and prays to the goddess Isis to come to her aid. The statue of Isis raises its arm and emits a flash that sets the Scroll of Thoth on fire. This breaks the spell that had given Imhotep his immortality, causing him to crumble to dust. At the urging of Dr. Muller, Frank calls Helen back to the world of the living while the Scroll continues to burn.

Cast edit

 
Boris Karloff in a shot used throughout the film.
  • Boris Karloff (billed as "Karloff") as Ardath Bey[4] / Im-ho-tep[4] / The Mummy, an Ancient Egyptian high priest mummified for trying to revive his lover who is later revived in 1921 and who searches and finds his lost love in 1930s Egypt after many years in 1932
  • Zita Johann as Helen Grosvenor, a young Egyptian-American woman preyed on by Imhotep / Princess Anck-es-en-Amon, Helen's lookalike ancestor and Imhotep's ancient lover whom he tries to revive [4]
  • David Manners as Frank Whemple, an archaeologist and Helen's lover
  • Arthur Byron as Sir Joseph Whemple, a retired archaeologist and Frank's father
  • Edward Van Sloan as Dr. Muller, Joseph and Frank's colleague
  • Bramwell Fletcher as Ralph Norton, Joseph's archaeology protegé
  • Noble Johnson as The Nubian, Joseph's and later Imhotep's servant
  • Kathryn Byron as Frau Muller, Dr. Muller's wife
  • Leonard Mudie as Professor Pearson, Frank's expedition partner and an archaeologist
  • James Crane as Pharaoh (misspelled as "Pharoh" in the credits) Amenophis, Princess Anck-es-en-Amon's father and ruler of Ancient Egypt
  • Montague Shaw as Gentleman, who appears at the party in which Helen is at
  • Henry Victor as The Saxon Warrior (scenes deleted)[a]

Production edit

 
Concept art for Cagliostro, a film project based on the historical occultist Alessandro Cagliostro, which served as the basis for what became The Mummy.

Inspired by the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 and the alleged "curse of the pharaohs",[5] producer Carl Laemmle Jr. commissioned story editor Richard Schayer to find a novel to form a basis for an Egyptian-themed horror film, just as the novels Dracula and Frankenstein inspired their 1931 films Dracula and Frankenstein.[6] Schayer found none, although the plot bears a strong resemblance to a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle entitled "The Ring of Thoth".[7] Schayer and writer Nina Wilcox Putnam learned about Alessandro Cagliostro and wrote a nine-page treatment entitled Cagliostro.[6] The story, set in San Francisco, was about a 3,000-year-old magician who survives by injecting nitrates.[citation needed]

Pleased with the Cagliostro concept, Laemmle hired John L. Balderston to write the script.[6] Balderston had contributed to Dracula and Frankenstein, and had covered the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb for the New York World when he was a journalist so he was more than familiar with the well publicised tomb unearthing. Balderston moved the story to Egypt and renamed the film and its title character Imhotep, after the historical architect.[8] He also changed the story from one of revenge upon all the women who resembled the main character's ex-lover to one where the main character is determined to revive his old love by killing and mummifying her reincarnated self before resurrecting her with the spell of the Scroll of Thoth.[9] Balderston invented the Scroll of Thoth, which gave an aura of authenticity to the story. Thoth was the wisest of the Egyptian gods who, when Osiris died, helped Isis bring her love back from the dead. Thoth is believed to have authored The Book of the Dead, which may have been the inspiration for Balderston's Scroll of Thoth. Another likely source of inspiration is the fictional Book of Thoth that appeared in several ancient Egyptian stories.[10]

 
Film poster with text: "Karloff the uncanny in The Mummy"
 
Boris Karloff and Zita Johann in a climactic scene from the movie.

Karl Freund, the cinematographer on Dracula, was hired to direct, making this his first film in the United States as a director.[11] Freund had also been the cinematographer on Fritz Lang's Metropolis. The film was retitled The Mummy. Freund cast Zita Johann, who believed in reincarnation, and named her character 'Anck-es-en-Amon' after the only wife of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The real Ankhesenamun's body had not been discovered in the tomb of King Tut and her resting place was unknown. Her name, however, would not have been unknown to the general public.[citation needed]

Filming began in September 1932 and was scheduled for three weeks.[12] Karloff's first day was spent shooting the Mummy's awakening from his sarcophagus. Make-up artist Jack Pierce had studied photos of Seti I's mummy to design Imhotep. Pierce began transforming Karloff at 11 a.m., applying cotton, collodion and spirit gum to his face; clay to his hair; and wrapping him in linen bandages treated with acid and burnt in an oven, finishing the job at 7 p.m. Karloff finished his scenes at 2 a.m., and another two hours were spent removing the make-up. Karloff found the removal of gum from his face painful, and overall found the day "the most trying ordeal I [had] ever endured".[8] Although the images of Karloff wrapped in bandages are the most iconic taken from the film, Karloff appears on screen in this make-up only for the opening vignette; the rest of the film sees him wearing less elaborate make-up.[13]

A lengthy and detailed flashback sequence was longer than now exists. This sequence showed the various forms Anck-es-en-Amon was reincarnated in over the centuries:[14] Henry Victor is credited in the film as "Saxon Warrior", despite his performance having been deleted.[15] Stills exist of those sequences, but the footage (save for Karloff's appearance and the sacrilegious events leading up to his mummification in ancient Egypt) are lost.[16]

The piece of classical music heard during the opening credits, taken from the Tchaikovsky ballet Swan Lake, was previously also used (in the same arrangement) for the opening credits of Universal's Dracula (1931) and Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932); it would be re-used as the title music of the same studio's Secret of the Blue Room (1933).[citation needed]

Historical accuracy edit

The Scroll of Thoth is a fictional artifact, though likely based on the Book of the Dead. Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge, is said to be the inventor of hieroglyphs and the author of the Book of the Dead. The film also makes reference to the Egyptian myth of the goddess Isis resurrecting Osiris after his murder by his brother Set.

Conspirators were caught in a plot to assassinate Pharaoh Ramesses III around 1151 B.C. Papyrus trial transcripts reveal that the conspirators were prescribed 'great punishments of death', and archaeological evidence led to the suggestion that at least one of them may have been buried alive. Although such punishment was not common practice, this discovery probably influenced the film's screenplay.[10]

There is no evidence to suggest that the ancient Egyptians believed in or considered the possibility of reanimated mummies. Mummification was a sacred process meant to prepare a dead body to carry the soul through the afterlife, not for being reincarnated and living again on Earth. While it is possible that some individuals were mummified by being buried alive, it is unlikely that ancient Egyptians would think resurrection was possible because they were very aware of the fact that all the necessary organs had been removed and the body would be of little use on Earth anymore.[9] Egyptologist Stuart Tyson Smith notes that 'the idea of mobile mummies was not entirely alien to ancient Egypt', citing one of the Hellenistic-era stories of Setna Khaemwas, which features both the animated mummy of Naneferkaptah and a fictional Book of Thoth and may have inspired screenwriter John Balderston.[10]

Reception edit

The Los Angeles Times was positive, although the film otherwise gained mixed critical reviews despite being a modest box office success.[17] When the film opened at New York's RKO Mayfair theater, a reviewer for The New York Times was ultimately unimpressed:

For purposes of terror there are two scenes in The Mummy that are weird enough in all conscience. In the first the mummy comes alive and a young archaeologist, going quite mad, laughs in a way that raises the hair on the scalp. In the second Im-Ho-Tep is embalmed alive, and that moment when the tape is drawn across the man's mouth and nose, leaving only his wild eyes staring out of the coffin, is one of decided horror. But most of The Mummy is costume melodrama for the children.[18]

The film was a success at the box-office in the United Kingdom.

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 89% score, based on 45 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's consensus states: "Relying more on mood and atmosphere than the thrills typical of modern horror fare, Universal's The Mummy sets a masterful template for mummy-themed films to follow".[19]

Cliff Aliperti at Immortal Ephemera opines: "The perfect explanation of The Mummy's quality comes from film historian William K. Everson's closing comment in the brief Mummy section of his 1974 Classics of the Horror Film: 'If one accepts The Bride of Frankenstein for its theatre and The Body Snatcher for its literacy, then one must regard The Mummy as the closest that Hollywood ever came to creating a poem out of horror'."[20]

The Mummy has been decried for "othering" Eastern culture, especially portraying it as being more primitive and superstitious than Western culture. In one scene, Helen Grosvenor longs for the "real" (Classical) Egypt, disparaging that she is in contemporary Islamic Egypt. This is viewed by critic Caroline T. Schroeder as a slight against Islamic culture at the time.[21] However, it is clear that Helen longs to be in Ancient Egypt (but does not know why) because she had been reincarnated, living in present day, but had originally lived in Ancient Egypt.

According to Mark A. Hall, of the Perth Museum and Art Gallery, film portrayals of Egypt, especially in Egyptian archaeology, often deal with themes of appropriating and controlling the dangers of non-European cultures, or deal with the past if it relates to legend and superstition. Mummies, Hall says, are a common example of this. While he commended the archaeological wisdom espoused by Sir Joseph Whemple in the film, he writes that "much more is learned from studying bits of broken pottery than from all the sensational finds" and that archaeologists' job is to "increase the sum of human knowledge of the past", and mentions that the archaeological element was only used as a foil for the supernatural elements.[22] As a result, per Hall, what it and similar films offered was a "depiction of archaeology as a colonial imposition by which cultural inheritance is appropriated".[22]

Legacy edit

Sequels edit

 
Lon Chaney Jr. appeared as Kharis the Mummy in three follow-ups to the original film.

Unlike other Universal Monsters films, The Mummy had no official sequels, but rather was reimagined in The Mummy's Hand (1940) and its sequels, The Mummy's Tomb (1942), The Mummy's Ghost (1944), The Mummy's Curse (1944), and the studios' comedyhorror crossover film Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955). These films focus on the titular character named Kharis (Klaris in the Abbott and Costello film). The Mummy's Hand recycled footage from the original film for use in the telling of Kharis's origins, where Karloff is clearly visible in several of these recycled scenes but was not credited. Lon Chaney Jr. played the Mummy in The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, and The Mummy's Curse.

Hammer Film Productions series edit

In the late 1950s, British Hammer Film Productions took up the Mummy theme, beginning with The Mummy (1959), which, rather than being a remake of the 1932 Karloff film, is based on Universal's The Mummy's Hand (1940) and The Mummy's Tomb (1942). Hammer's follow-ups — The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964), The Mummy's Shroud (1966) and Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971) — are unrelated to the first film or even to each other, apart from the appearance of The Scroll of Life in Curse of the Mummy's Tomb and Blood from the Mummy's Tomb.

Remake series edit

The much later Universal film The Mummy (1999) also suggests that it is a remake of the 1932 film, but has a different storyline and is more similar to The Mummy's Hand than the original. In common with most postmodern remakes of classic horror and science-fiction films, it may be considered as such in that it is produced-distributed by the same studio, its titular character is again named Imhotep, resurrected by the Book of the Dead, and out to find the present-day embodiment of the soul of his beloved Anck-su-namun, and features an Egyptian named Ardeth Bay (in this case, a guard of the city and of Imhotep's tomb). This film spawned two sequels with The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). The Mummy Returns also spawned a prequel spin-off of that sequel, The Scorpion King (2002), which in turn spawned a prequel, The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008), and three sequels, The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption (2012), The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power (2015) and Scorpion King: Book of Souls (2018). Also, a short-lived animated series simply titled The Mummy ran from 2001 to 2003.

Reboot edit

In 2012, Universal announced a reboot of the film, more in-line with the horror films, from the Universal Monsters film franchise.[23] The reboot was directed by Alex Kurtzman. The Mummy was planned as the first film in a series of interconnected monster films, as Universal has planned to build a shared universe film series out of its vault of classic monster movies.[24] Tom Cruise stars in the film.[25] Sofia Boutella portrays Princess Ahmunet / The Mummy for the film, while Russell Crowe appears as Dr. Henry Jekyll / Mr. Hyde, two roles which had previously been portrayed by Boris Karloff in the studios' previous film franchise. It received negative reviews and is considered a box office bomb, scrapping the plans for the upcoming films of the Dark Universe.

Honors edit

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Home media edit

In the 1990s, MCA/Universal Home Video released The Mummy on VHS as part of the "Universal Monsters Classic Collection", a series of releases of Universal Classic Monsters films.[28] The film was also released on LaserDisc.[29]

In 1999, Universal released The Mummy on VHS and DVD as part of the "Classic Monster Collection".[30][31] In 2004, Universal released The Mummy: The Legacy Collection on DVD as part of the "Universal Legacy Collection". On October 19, 2004, Universal released The Mummy: The Legacy Collection on DVD as part of the "Universal Legacy Collection"; this two-disc set also includes The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, and The Mummy's Curse.[32] In 2008, Universal released The Mummy on DVD as a two-disc "75th Anniversary Edition", as part of the "Universal Legacy Series".[33]

In 2012, The Mummy was released on Blu-ray as part of the Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection box set, which includes a total of nine films from the Universal Classic Monsters series.[34] The following year, The Mummy was included as part of the six-film Blu-ray set Universal Classic Monsters Collection, which also includes Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man.[35] In 2015, the six-film set was issued on DVD.[36] In 2014, Universal released The Mummy: Complete Legacy Collection on DVD; this set contains six films: The Mummy, The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, The Mummy's Curse, and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.[37] In 2016, The Mummy received a Walmart-exclusive Blu-ray release featuring a glow-in-the-dark cover.[38] In September 2017, the film received a Best Buy-exclusive steelbook Blu-ray release with cover artwork by Alex Ross.[39] That same year, the six-film Complete Legacy Collection was released on Blu-ray.[40]

In August 2018, The Mummy, The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, The Mummy's Curse, and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy were included in the Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection Blu-ray box set.[41] This box set also received a DVD release.[42] Later in October, The Mummy was included as part of a limited edition Best Buy-exclusive Blu-ray set titled Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection, which features artwork by Alex Ross.[43]

References edit

  1. ^ Michaud, Chris (October 31, 2018). "'Mummy' film poster, expected to fetch record, fails to sell at auction". Reuters. from the original on November 1, 2018.
  2. ^ "THE MUMMY (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. October 4, 2013. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  3. ^ Stephen Jacobs, Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster, Tomahawk Press 2011, pp. 127-130
  4. ^ a b c Character's name spelled according to original typescript screenplay by John L. Balderston, published in The Mummy (1st ed.). MagicImage Filmbooks. March 18, 1989. ISBN 1-882127-07-2.
  5. ^ Miller, Frank (December 29, 2002). "The Mummy (1932) - The Mummy". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c Robson, David (2012). The Mummy. San Diego: Capstone. p. 11. ISBN 9781601523204. OCLC 882287316.
  7. ^ "The Ring of Thoth". Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Vieira, Mark A. (2003). Hollywood Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic. New York: Harry N. Abrams. pp. 55–58. ISBN 0-8109-4535-5.
  9. ^ a b Freeman, Richard (March 18, 2009). "THE MUMMY in context". European Journal of American Studies. 4 (1). doi:10.4000/ejas.7566.
  10. ^ a b c Smith, Stuart Tyson (2007) "Unwrapping the Mummy: Hollywood Fantasies, Egyptian Realities" in Box Office Archaeology: Refining Hollywood's Portrayals of the Past (ed. Julie M. Schablitsky), Left Coast Press, page 20–21; ISBN 978-1598740561
  11. ^ "Articles: Turner Classic Movies". Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  12. ^ Robson 2012, p. 12.
  13. ^ Mank, Gregory W. (2009). Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: the expanded story of a haunting collaboration, with a complete filmography of their films together. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., Publishers. pp. 126–128. ISBN 9780786434800. OCLC 607553826.
  14. ^ Mank, Gregory W. (2009). Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: the expanded story of a haunting collaboration, with a complete filmography of their films together. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., Publishers. pp. 126, 131, 133. ISBN 9780786434800. OCLC 607553826.
  15. ^ Mank, Gregory W. (2009). Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: the expanded story of a haunting collaboration, with a complete filmography of their films together. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., Publishers. p. 133. ISBN 9780786434800. OCLC 607553826.
  16. ^ Mank, Gregory W. (2009). Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: the expanded story of a haunting collaboration, with a complete filmography of their films together. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., Publishers. p. 134. ISBN 9780786434800. OCLC 607553826.
  17. ^ Robson 2012, p. 13.
  18. ^ "Life After 3,700 Years". The New York Times. January 7, 1933. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  19. ^ "The Mummy (1932)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  20. ^ "Moments of Horror as Boris Karloff Stars as The Mummy (1932)". Immortal Ephemera. October 29, 2010. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  21. ^ Schroeder, Carolyn T. Ancient Egyptian Religion on the Silver Screen: Modern Anxieties about Race, Ethnicity, and Religion. University of Nebraska Omaha. Oct 2003. January 20, 2015.
  22. ^ a b Hall, Mark A. "Romancing the stones: archaeology in popular cinema". European Journal of Archaeology 7.2 (2004): p. 161.
  23. ^ Kroll, Justin, Snieder, Jeff, "U sets 'Mummy' reboot with Spaihts", Variety.com, Published 2012-04-04, Retrieved May 4, 2012.
  24. ^ Ford, Rebecca (October 14, 2015). "New Mummy in Universal's Monster Universe Might Be Female". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  25. ^ Kroll, Justin (January 21, 2016). "Tom Cruise's 'The Mummy' Gets New Release Date". Variety. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  26. ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved August 20, 2016.
  27. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 4, 2013. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  28. ^ The Mummy (Universal Monsters Classic Collection) [VHS]. ASIN 6300183084.
  29. ^ "The Mummy (Encore Edition) [40030]". LaserDisc Database. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  30. ^ The Mummy (Classic Monster Collection) [VHS]. ISBN 0783234287.
  31. ^ Arrington, Chuck (May 4, 2000). "Mummy-1932, The". DVD Talk. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  32. ^ Erickson, Glenn (October 19, 2004). "DVD Savant Review: The Mummy: The Legacy Collection". DVD Talk. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  33. ^ Felix, Justin (July 10, 2008). "Mummy (1932), The". DVD Talk. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  34. ^ Zupan, Michael (October 5, 2012). "Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection". DVD Talk. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  35. ^ "Universal Classic Monsters Collection Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  36. ^ "Universal Classic Monsters Collection [DVD]". Amazon.com. September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  37. ^ "The Mummy: Complete Legacy Collection [DVD]". Amazon.com. September 2, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  38. ^ Squires, John (September 13, 2016). "Walmart Releases Universal Monsters Classics With Glow-In-Dark Covers!". iHorror.com. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  39. ^ Squires, John (June 27, 2017). "Best Buy Getting Universal Monsters Steelbooks With Stunning Alex Ross Art". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  40. ^ "The Mummy: Complete Legacy Collection [Blu-ray]". Amazon.com. May 16, 2017. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  41. ^ "Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection [Blu-ray]". Amazon.com. August 28, 2018. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  42. ^ "Classic Monsters (Complete 30-Film Collection) [DVD]". Amazon.com. September 2, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
  43. ^ "Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved September 19, 2023.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Victor is listed in the credits but never appears in the film. The Saxon Warrior was originally part of a long flashback sequence showing all of Helen's past lives from ancient Egypt to the present. The sequence was cut from the film by Karl Freund due to time constraints.

Bibliography edit

External links edit

mummy, 1932, film, mummy, 1932, american, code, supernatural, horror, film, directed, karl, freund, screenplay, john, balderston, adapted, from, treatment, written, nina, wilcox, putnam, richard, schayer, released, universal, studios, part, universal, classic,. The Mummy is a 1932 American pre Code supernatural horror film directed by Karl Freund The screenplay by John L Balderston was adapted from a treatment written by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer Released by Universal Studios as a part of the Universal Classic Monsters franchise the film stars Boris Karloff Zita Johann David Manners Edward Van Sloan and Arthur Byron The MummyTheatrical release poster by Karoly Grosz 1 Directed byKarl FreundScreenplay byJohn L BalderstonStory byNina Wilcox Putnam Richard SchayerProduced byCarl Laemmle Jr StarringBoris Karloff Zita Johann David Manners Edward van Sloan Arthur ByronCinematographyCharles StumarEdited byMilton CarruthMusic byJames DietrichProductioncompanyUniversal PicturesDistributed byUniversal PicturesRelease dateDecember 22 1932 1932 12 22 Running time73 minutes 2 CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishBudget 196 000 3 In the film Karloff stars as Imhotep an ancient Egyptian mummy who was killed for attempting to resurrect his dead lover Anck es en Amon After being discovered and accidentally brought to life by a team of archaeologists he disguises himself as a modern Egyptian named Ardath Bey and searches for Anck es en Amon whom he believes has been reincarnated in the modern world Whilst being less culturally influential than its predecessors Dracula and Frankenstein The Mummy was still a moderate success spawning several sequels spin offs remakes and reimaginings Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Historical accuracy 5 Reception 6 Legacy 6 1 Sequels 6 2 Hammer Film Productions series 6 3 Remake series 6 4 Reboot 6 5 Honors 7 Home media 8 References 9 Notes 10 Bibliography 11 External linksPlot editIn 1921 an archaeological expedition led by Sir Joseph Whemple finds the mummy of an ancient Egyptian high priest named Imhotep An inspection of the mummy by Whemple s friend Dr Muller reveals that the mummy s viscera were not removed and from the signs of struggling Muller deduces that although Imhotep had been wrapped like a traditional mummy he had been buried alive Also buried with Imhotep is a casket with a curse on it Despite Muller s warning Sir Joseph s assistant Ralph Norton opens it and finds an ancient life giving scroll the Scroll of Thoth He translates the symbols and then reads the words aloud causing Imhotep to rise from the dead This snaps Norton s mind and he laughs hysterically as Imhotep shuffles off with the scroll Norton is said to later die still laughing in a straitjacket Ten years later Imhotep has assimilated into modern society taking the identity of an eccentric Egyptian historian named Ardath Bey He calls upon Sir Joseph s son Frank and Professor Pearson and shows them where to dig to find the tomb of the princess Ankh es en Amon After locating the tomb the archaeologists present its treasures to the Cairo Museum after which Bey disappears Bey soon encounters Helen Grosvenor a half Egyptian woman bearing a striking resemblance to the princess who stays with Muller Bey falls in love with her but so does Frank After it is discovered that Bey is the mummy Imhotep Muller urges Joseph to burn the Scroll of Thoth but when Joseph tries to do so Bey uses his magical powers to kill him and then hypnotizes a Nubian to be his slave and bring the Scroll to him After the servant does so he hypnotizes Helen to come to his place and there reveals to her that his horrific death was punishment for sacrilege as he attempted to resurrect his forbidden lover Princess Anck es en Amon Believing her to be the princess s reincarnation he attempts to make her his immortal bride by killing mummifying and resurrecting her Frank and Muller come to her rescue but are immobilized by Bey s magical powers However Helen is saved when she remembers her ancestral past life and prays to the goddess Isis to come to her aid The statue of Isis raises its arm and emits a flash that sets the Scroll of Thoth on fire This breaks the spell that had given Imhotep his immortality causing him to crumble to dust At the urging of Dr Muller Frank calls Helen back to the world of the living while the Scroll continues to burn Cast edit nbsp Boris Karloff in a shot used throughout the film Boris Karloff billed as Karloff as Ardath Bey 4 Im ho tep 4 The Mummy an Ancient Egyptian high priest mummified for trying to revive his lover who is later revived in 1921 and who searches and finds his lost love in 1930s Egypt after many years in 1932 Zita Johann as Helen Grosvenor a young Egyptian American woman preyed on by Imhotep Princess Anck es en Amon Helen s lookalike ancestor and Imhotep s ancient lover whom he tries to revive 4 David Manners as Frank Whemple an archaeologist and Helen s lover Arthur Byron as Sir Joseph Whemple a retired archaeologist and Frank s father Edward Van Sloan as Dr Muller Joseph and Frank s colleague Bramwell Fletcher as Ralph Norton Joseph s archaeology protege Noble Johnson as The Nubian Joseph s and later Imhotep s servant Kathryn Byron as Frau Muller Dr Muller s wife Leonard Mudie as Professor Pearson Frank s expedition partner and an archaeologist James Crane as Pharaoh misspelled as Pharoh in the credits Amenophis Princess Anck es en Amon s father and ruler of Ancient Egypt Montague Shaw as Gentleman who appears at the party in which Helen is at Henry Victor as The Saxon Warrior scenes deleted a Production edit nbsp Concept art for Cagliostro a film project based on the historical occultist Alessandro Cagliostro which served as the basis for what became The Mummy Inspired by the opening of Tutankhamun s tomb in 1922 and the alleged curse of the pharaohs 5 producer Carl Laemmle Jr commissioned story editor Richard Schayer to find a novel to form a basis for an Egyptian themed horror film just as the novels Dracula and Frankenstein inspired their 1931 films Dracula and Frankenstein 6 Schayer found none although the plot bears a strong resemblance to a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle entitled The Ring of Thoth 7 Schayer and writer Nina Wilcox Putnam learned about Alessandro Cagliostro and wrote a nine page treatment entitled Cagliostro 6 The story set in San Francisco was about a 3 000 year old magician who survives by injecting nitrates citation needed Pleased with the Cagliostro concept Laemmle hired John L Balderston to write the script 6 Balderston had contributed to Dracula and Frankenstein and had covered the opening of Tutankhamun s tomb for the New York World when he was a journalist so he was more than familiar with the well publicised tomb unearthing Balderston moved the story to Egypt and renamed the film and its title character Imhotep after the historical architect 8 He also changed the story from one of revenge upon all the women who resembled the main character s ex lover to one where the main character is determined to revive his old love by killing and mummifying her reincarnated self before resurrecting her with the spell of the Scroll of Thoth 9 Balderston invented the Scroll of Thoth which gave an aura of authenticity to the story Thoth was the wisest of the Egyptian gods who when Osiris died helped Isis bring her love back from the dead Thoth is believed to have authored The Book of the Dead which may have been the inspiration for Balderston s Scroll of Thoth Another likely source of inspiration is the fictional Book of Thoth that appeared in several ancient Egyptian stories 10 nbsp Film poster with text Karloff the uncanny in The Mummy nbsp Boris Karloff and Zita Johann in a climactic scene from the movie Karl Freund the cinematographer on Dracula was hired to direct making this his first film in the United States as a director 11 Freund had also been the cinematographer on Fritz Lang s Metropolis The film was retitled The Mummy Freund cast Zita Johann who believed in reincarnation and named her character Anck es en Amon after the only wife of Pharaoh Tutankhamun The real Ankhesenamun s body had not been discovered in the tomb of King Tut and her resting place was unknown Her name however would not have been unknown to the general public citation needed Filming began in September 1932 and was scheduled for three weeks 12 Karloff s first day was spent shooting the Mummy s awakening from his sarcophagus Make up artist Jack Pierce had studied photos of Seti I s mummy to design Imhotep Pierce began transforming Karloff at 11 a m applying cotton collodion and spirit gum to his face clay to his hair and wrapping him in linen bandages treated with acid and burnt in an oven finishing the job at 7 p m Karloff finished his scenes at 2 a m and another two hours were spent removing the make up Karloff found the removal of gum from his face painful and overall found the day the most trying ordeal I had ever endured 8 Although the images of Karloff wrapped in bandages are the most iconic taken from the film Karloff appears on screen in this make up only for the opening vignette the rest of the film sees him wearing less elaborate make up 13 A lengthy and detailed flashback sequence was longer than now exists This sequence showed the various forms Anck es en Amon was reincarnated in over the centuries 14 Henry Victor is credited in the film as Saxon Warrior despite his performance having been deleted 15 Stills exist of those sequences but the footage save for Karloff s appearance and the sacrilegious events leading up to his mummification in ancient Egypt are lost 16 The piece of classical music heard during the opening credits taken from the Tchaikovsky ballet Swan Lake was previously also used in the same arrangement for the opening credits of Universal s Dracula 1931 and Murders in the Rue Morgue 1932 it would be re used as the title music of the same studio s Secret of the Blue Room 1933 citation needed Historical accuracy editThe Scroll of Thoth is a fictional artifact though likely based on the Book of the Dead Thoth the Egyptian god of knowledge is said to be the inventor of hieroglyphs and the author of the Book of the Dead The film also makes reference to the Egyptian myth of the goddess Isis resurrecting Osiris after his murder by his brother Set Conspirators were caught in a plot to assassinate Pharaoh Ramesses III around 1151 B C Papyrus trial transcripts reveal that the conspirators were prescribed great punishments of death and archaeological evidence led to the suggestion that at least one of them may have been buried alive Although such punishment was not common practice this discovery probably influenced the film s screenplay 10 There is no evidence to suggest that the ancient Egyptians believed in or considered the possibility of reanimated mummies Mummification was a sacred process meant to prepare a dead body to carry the soul through the afterlife not for being reincarnated and living again on Earth While it is possible that some individuals were mummified by being buried alive it is unlikely that ancient Egyptians would think resurrection was possible because they were very aware of the fact that all the necessary organs had been removed and the body would be of little use on Earth anymore 9 Egyptologist Stuart Tyson Smith notes that the idea of mobile mummies was not entirely alien to ancient Egypt citing one of the Hellenistic era stories of Setna Khaemwas which features both the animated mummy of Naneferkaptah and a fictional Book of Thoth and may have inspired screenwriter John Balderston 10 Reception editThe Los Angeles Times was positive although the film otherwise gained mixed critical reviews despite being a modest box office success 17 When the film opened at New York s RKO Mayfair theater a reviewer for The New York Times was ultimately unimpressed For purposes of terror there are two scenes in The Mummy that are weird enough in all conscience In the first the mummy comes alive and a young archaeologist going quite mad laughs in a way that raises the hair on the scalp In the second Im Ho Tep is embalmed alive and that moment when the tape is drawn across the man s mouth and nose leaving only his wild eyes staring out of the coffin is one of decided horror But most of The Mummy is costume melodrama for the children 18 The film was a success at the box office in the United Kingdom Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 89 score based on 45 reviews with an average rating of 7 9 10 The site s consensus states Relying more on mood and atmosphere than the thrills typical of modern horror fare Universal s The Mummy sets a masterful template for mummy themed films to follow 19 Cliff Aliperti at Immortal Ephemera opines The perfect explanation of The Mummy s quality comes from film historian William K Everson s closing comment in the brief Mummy section of his 1974 Classics of the Horror Film If one accepts The Bride of Frankenstein for its theatre and The Body Snatcher for its literacy then one must regard The Mummy as the closest that Hollywood ever came to creating a poem out of horror 20 The Mummy has been decried for othering Eastern culture especially portraying it as being more primitive and superstitious than Western culture In one scene Helen Grosvenor longs for the real Classical Egypt disparaging that she is in contemporary Islamic Egypt This is viewed by critic Caroline T Schroeder as a slight against Islamic culture at the time 21 However it is clear that Helen longs to be in Ancient Egypt but does not know why because she had been reincarnated living in present day but had originally lived in Ancient Egypt According to Mark A Hall of the Perth Museum and Art Gallery film portrayals of Egypt especially in Egyptian archaeology often deal with themes of appropriating and controlling the dangers of non European cultures or deal with the past if it relates to legend and superstition Mummies Hall says are a common example of this While he commended the archaeological wisdom espoused by Sir Joseph Whemple in the film he writes that much more is learned from studying bits of broken pottery than from all the sensational finds and that archaeologists job is to increase the sum of human knowledge of the past and mentions that the archaeological element was only used as a foil for the supernatural elements 22 As a result per Hall what it and similar films offered was a depiction of archaeology as a colonial imposition by which cultural inheritance is appropriated 22 Legacy editSequels edit nbsp Lon Chaney Jr appeared as Kharis the Mummy in three follow ups to the original film Unlike other Universal Monsters films The Mummy had no official sequels but rather was reimagined in The Mummy s Hand 1940 and its sequels The Mummy s Tomb 1942 The Mummy s Ghost 1944 The Mummy s Curse 1944 and the studios comedy horror crossover film Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy 1955 These films focus on the titular character named Kharis Klaris in the Abbott and Costello film The Mummy s Hand recycled footage from the original film for use in the telling of Kharis s origins where Karloff is clearly visible in several of these recycled scenes but was not credited Lon Chaney Jr played the Mummy in The Mummy s Tomb The Mummy s Ghost and The Mummy s Curse Hammer Film Productions series edit In the late 1950s British Hammer Film Productions took up the Mummy theme beginning with The Mummy 1959 which rather than being a remake of the 1932 Karloff film is based on Universal s The Mummy s Hand 1940 and The Mummy s Tomb 1942 Hammer s follow ups The Curse of the Mummy s Tomb 1964 The Mummy s Shroud 1966 and Blood from the Mummy s Tomb 1971 are unrelated to the first film or even to each other apart from the appearance of The Scroll of Life in Curse of the Mummy s Tomb and Blood from the Mummy s Tomb Remake series edit Main article The Mummy franchise Stephen Sommers series 1999 2018 The much later Universal film The Mummy 1999 also suggests that it is a remake of the 1932 film but has a different storyline and is more similar to The Mummy s Hand than the original In common with most postmodern remakes of classic horror and science fiction films it may be considered as such in that it is produced distributed by the same studio its titular character is again named Imhotep resurrected by the Book of the Dead and out to find the present day embodiment of the soul of his beloved Anck su namun and features an Egyptian named Ardeth Bay in this case a guard of the city and of Imhotep s tomb This film spawned two sequels with The Mummy Returns 2001 and The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor 2008 The Mummy Returns also spawned a prequel spin off of that sequel The Scorpion King 2002 which in turn spawned a prequel The Scorpion King 2 Rise of a Warrior 2008 and three sequels The Scorpion King 3 Battle for Redemption 2012 The Scorpion King 4 Quest for Power 2015 and Scorpion King Book of Souls 2018 Also a short lived animated series simply titled The Mummy ran from 2001 to 2003 Reboot edit In 2012 Universal announced a reboot of the film more in line with the horror films from the Universal Monsters film franchise 23 The reboot was directed by Alex Kurtzman The Mummy was planned as the first film in a series of interconnected monster films as Universal has planned to build a shared universe film series out of its vault of classic monster movies 24 Tom Cruise stars in the film 25 Sofia Boutella portrays Princess Ahmunet The Mummy for the film while Russell Crowe appears as Dr Henry Jekyll Mr Hyde two roles which had previously been portrayed by Boris Karloff in the studios previous film franchise It received negative reviews and is considered a box office bomb scrapping the plans for the upcoming films of the Dark Universe Honors edit The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists 2001 AFI s 100 Years 100 Thrills Nominated 26 2003 AFI s 100 Years 100 Heroes amp Villains Imhotep Nominated Villain 27 Home media editIn the 1990s MCA Universal Home Video released The Mummy on VHS as part of the Universal Monsters Classic Collection a series of releases of Universal Classic Monsters films 28 The film was also released on LaserDisc 29 In 1999 Universal released The Mummy on VHS and DVD as part of the Classic Monster Collection 30 31 In 2004 Universal released The Mummy The Legacy Collection on DVD as part of the Universal Legacy Collection On October 19 2004 Universal released The Mummy The Legacy Collection on DVD as part of the Universal Legacy Collection this two disc set also includes The Mummy s Hand The Mummy s Tomb The Mummy s Ghost and The Mummy s Curse 32 In 2008 Universal released The Mummy on DVD as a two disc 75th Anniversary Edition as part of the Universal Legacy Series 33 In 2012 The Mummy was released on Blu ray as part of the Universal Classic Monsters The Essential Collection box set which includes a total of nine films from the Universal Classic Monsters series 34 The following year The Mummy was included as part of the six film Blu ray set Universal Classic Monsters Collection which also includes Dracula Frankenstein The Invisible Man Bride of Frankenstein and The Wolf Man 35 In 2015 the six film set was issued on DVD 36 In 2014 Universal released The Mummy Complete Legacy Collection on DVD this set contains six films The Mummy The Mummy s Hand The Mummy s Tomb The Mummy s Ghost The Mummy s Curse and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy 37 In 2016 The Mummy received a Walmart exclusive Blu ray release featuring a glow in the dark cover 38 In September 2017 the film received a Best Buy exclusive steelbook Blu ray release with cover artwork by Alex Ross 39 That same year the six film Complete Legacy Collection was released on Blu ray 40 In August 2018 The Mummy The Mummy s Hand The Mummy s Tomb The Mummy s Ghost The Mummy s Curse and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy were included in the Universal Classic Monsters Complete 30 Film Collection Blu ray box set 41 This box set also received a DVD release 42 Later in October The Mummy was included as part of a limited edition Best Buy exclusive Blu ray set titled Universal Classic Monsters The Essential Collection which features artwork by Alex Ross 43 References edit Michaud Chris October 31 2018 Mummy film poster expected to fetch record fails to sell at auction Reuters Archived from the original on November 1 2018 THE MUMMY PG British Board of Film Classification October 4 2013 Retrieved November 4 2022 Stephen Jacobs Boris Karloff More Than a Monster Tomahawk Press 2011 pp 127 130 a b c Character s name spelled according to original typescript screenplay by John L Balderston published in The Mummy 1st ed MagicImage Filmbooks March 18 1989 ISBN 1 882127 07 2 Miller Frank December 29 2002 The Mummy 1932 The Mummy Turner Classic Movies Retrieved May 30 2023 a b c Robson David 2012 The Mummy San Diego Capstone p 11 ISBN 9781601523204 OCLC 882287316 The Ring of Thoth Retrieved October 12 2019 a b Vieira Mark A 2003 Hollywood Horror From Gothic to Cosmic New York Harry N Abrams pp 55 58 ISBN 0 8109 4535 5 a b Freeman Richard March 18 2009 THE MUMMY in context European Journal of American Studies 4 1 doi 10 4000 ejas 7566 a b c Smith Stuart Tyson 2007 Unwrapping the Mummy Hollywood Fantasies Egyptian Realities in Box Office Archaeology Refining Hollywood s Portrayals of the Past ed Julie M Schablitsky Left Coast Press page 20 21 ISBN 978 1598740561 Articles Turner Classic Movies Retrieved November 4 2022 Robson 2012 p 12 Mank Gregory W 2009 Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff the expanded story of a haunting collaboration with a complete filmography of their films together Jefferson N C McFarland amp Co Publishers pp 126 128 ISBN 9780786434800 OCLC 607553826 Mank Gregory W 2009 Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff the expanded story of a haunting collaboration with a complete filmography of their films together Jefferson N C McFarland amp Co Publishers pp 126 131 133 ISBN 9780786434800 OCLC 607553826 Mank Gregory W 2009 Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff the expanded story of a haunting collaboration with a complete filmography of their films together Jefferson N C McFarland amp Co Publishers p 133 ISBN 9780786434800 OCLC 607553826 Mank Gregory W 2009 Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff the expanded story of a haunting collaboration with a complete filmography of their films together Jefferson N C McFarland amp Co Publishers p 134 ISBN 9780786434800 OCLC 607553826 Robson 2012 p 13 Life After 3 700 Years The New York Times January 7 1933 Retrieved November 2 2020 The Mummy 1932 Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved January 29 2021 Moments of Horror as Boris Karloff Stars as The Mummy 1932 Immortal Ephemera October 29 2010 Retrieved January 29 2023 Schroeder Carolyn T Ancient Egyptian Religion on the Silver Screen Modern Anxieties about Race Ethnicity and Religion University of Nebraska Omaha Oct 2003 January 20 2015 a b Hall Mark A Romancing the stones archaeology in popular cinema European Journal of Archaeology 7 2 2004 p 161 Kroll Justin Snieder Jeff U sets Mummy reboot with Spaihts Variety com Published 2012 04 04 Retrieved May 4 2012 Ford Rebecca October 14 2015 New Mummy in Universal s Monster Universe Might Be Female The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved November 4 2022 Kroll Justin January 21 2016 Tom Cruise s The Mummy Gets New Release Date Variety Retrieved January 21 2016 AFI s 100 Years 100 Movies Nominees PDF Retrieved August 20 2016 AFI s 100 Years 100 Heroes amp Villains Nominees PDF Archived from the original PDF on November 4 2013 Retrieved February 15 2022 The Mummy Universal Monsters Classic Collection VHS ASIN 6300183084 The Mummy Encore Edition 40030 LaserDisc Database Retrieved September 19 2023 The Mummy Classic Monster Collection VHS ISBN 0783234287 Arrington Chuck May 4 2000 Mummy 1932 The DVD Talk Retrieved September 19 2023 Erickson Glenn October 19 2004 DVD Savant Review The Mummy The Legacy Collection DVD Talk Retrieved September 19 2023 Felix Justin July 10 2008 Mummy 1932 The DVD Talk Retrieved September 19 2023 Zupan Michael October 5 2012 Universal Classic Monsters The Essential Collection DVD Talk Retrieved September 19 2023 Universal Classic Monsters Collection Blu ray Blu ray com Retrieved September 19 2023 Universal Classic Monsters Collection DVD Amazon com September 8 2015 Retrieved September 19 2023 The Mummy Complete Legacy Collection DVD Amazon com September 2 2014 Retrieved September 19 2023 Squires John September 13 2016 Walmart Releases Universal Monsters Classics With Glow In Dark Covers iHorror com Retrieved September 19 2023 Squires John June 27 2017 Best Buy Getting Universal Monsters Steelbooks With Stunning Alex Ross Art Bloody Disgusting Retrieved January 16 2020 The Mummy Complete Legacy Collection Blu ray Amazon com May 16 2017 Retrieved September 19 2023 Universal Classic Monsters Complete 30 Film Collection Blu ray Amazon com August 28 2018 Retrieved September 19 2023 Classic Monsters Complete 30 Film Collection DVD Amazon com September 2 2014 Retrieved September 19 2023 Universal Classic Monsters The Essential Collection Blu ray Blu ray com Retrieved September 19 2023 Notes edit Victor is listed in the credits but never appears in the film The Saxon Warrior was originally part of a long flashback sequence showing all of Helen s past lives from ancient Egypt to the present The sequence was cut from the film by Karl Freund due to time constraints Bibliography editTelotte J P July 2003 Doing Science in Machine Age Horror The Mummy s Case Science Fiction Studies 30 2 217 230 ISSN 0091 7729 JSTOR 4241170 External links edit nbsp Quotations related to The Mummy at Wikiquote nbsp Media related to The Mummy at Wikimedia Commons The Mummy at IMDb nbsp The Mummy at AllMovie The Mummy at Rotten Tomatoes The Mummy at the TCM Movie Database The Mummy at the American Film Institute Catalog Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Mummy 1932 film amp oldid 1214428703, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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