The Mummy (1932)

Universal pictures would revisit their trustworthy staple genre at the conclusion of the film year 1932 with yet another of their all-time horror classics, The Mummy. Having found their movie niche with the popular films Dracula and Frankenstein, Universal was the monster movie studio of Hollywood. Inspired by the hot topic of the early twentieth century with King Tut and the mythos that followed it, Universal would produce a picture that would become iconic in the genre and for all that think about ancient Egypt.

The Mummy propels you into story about an Egyptian mummy brought back to life searching for the reincarnation of his lost love in the modern day. The great Boris Karloff plays Imhotep, an Egyptian priest sentenced to death for his love affair with a princess, but who would be brought back to life accidentally by archeologists. Imhotep disguises himself as a modern Egyptian and persuades archeologists to find the resting place of his former lover, and captures a young lady named Helen (Zita Johann), who shares a strong resemblance to the princess. His attempted to mummify her and resurrect her as the princess is thwarted when Helen starts to remember her past life and prays to the god Isis which kills Imhotep freeing her from his grasp.

In the 1920s the general public began its love affair with Egypt and its mysterious and awe-inspiring past spurred by the discovery of the most complete collection of ancient pharaoh artifacts, the opening of King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Along with the discoveries came the mythical curse of the pharaohs, inspired by actual mysterious deaths of men that opened King Tut’s tomb. Universal’s head, Carl Laemmle, saw this as perfect idea for a movie and would commission the production of the film. There were a number of scripts and rewrites that would ultimately end up with the final product that we see today as the original movie, The Mummy.

The picture itself shares so many direct connections to the previous classics, Dracula and Frankenstein, that it almost seems like Universal had a handbook on how to make their films. The stories share similar arches about love/lust seen in Dracula as well as the idea of control by both of these films’ main characters. All three had the girl in distress. All three shared supporting roles by Edward Van Sloan, which in each film he plays the role of the doctor that unquestionably has all the knowledge about the monster in question and how the main characters are to defeat it. The Mummy was directed by Karl Freund, who had been cinematographer on Dracula, giving the films similar depth. And, of course, both Frankenstein and The Mummy shared the same star, known to the world by only his last name, Karloff.

Karl Freund, though seemingly be perfect for the man to direct the picture, but in fact was hired for the job two days before shooting started. His body of work in film goes beyond that of Dracula. It goes further back to his days in his home land of Germany doing expressionist work in film, which would attract American studios to hire him. He even worked as one of the cinematographers on Fritz Lang’s epic sci-fi classic Metropolis. Though he directed The Mummy, his line of work was cinematography, a craft he would win an Academy Award for in the future with his work in The Good Earth.

Karloff was the headline star above all else in this film. Donning perhaps his second most famous look after the monster in Frankenstein, as he became Imhotep. Surprisingly the painstaking make-up we see and know as the mummy was only on screen for a short glimpse of time at the very beginning when he, as the mummy, wakes. The make-up took so long, and was so painful to remove, that it was never used to that extent again for the remainder of the film, as the mummy is seem wearing Egyptian clothing disguising himself among the modern world. Even with this fact it is clean how stirring the visual was as it lives throughout cinema history as one of the most iconic visuals in the monster movie genre. Karloff had a long and storied career acting and being made up as monsters and tough men, but in life he in fact had a very soft heart, especially for children, and can be heard from the most in more recent years as the voice of the title character in “Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas”, a holiday staple on televisions across America.

The supporting cast is worth taking a look at despite being powerfully overshadowed by Boris Karloff. Zita Johann who played the princess/Helen would never enjoy film and would quit the industry after only a handful of films to peruse her love of stage. Edward Van Sloan, who seemed to play the same role in every film, did just that through most of his career, but never to the extent as in his three Universal classics. David Manners, who played Helen’s love Frank in the film, a character ever trying to save her, had a strong movie career, making it as a leading man in some smaller romantic comedies. Manners would be somewhat well known to audiences in his day, and be well liked by those he worked with, but his legacy would not last in time as his films tended to slip into the background, leaving Dracula and The Mummy to be the biggest two films he would take part in, where he played similar weak characters.

Despite The Mummy being a successful picture with iconic image of Karloff as the awakening mummy, it would in fact not by this picture that most people would attribute to their subconscious as the vision of the mummy character/monster. The film would spur on a wide number of sequels and remakes. First would come the reimagining of the story with 1940’s The Mummy’s Hand, retooling the story and imagery from the 1932 picture into a b-film beginning the campy look and actions of the mummy character we think of the most today looking back on classic film. Sequels soon followed with The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), The Mummy’s Ghost (1944), and The Mummy’s Curse (1944) before Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy (1950). These films cement the clique mummy with dangling bandages, slow walk, and moaning noises, similar to zombies. A British film studio would revive the monster again in films spanning the late 50s to the early 70s. Universal would revive the franchise with a remake based loosely upon the original classic starting in 1999 with another film called (Wait for it) The Mummy, which too spawned sequels, as well as prequels, along with theme park rides.

To watch this film is to view the creation of a character that we known simply as “the mummy.” Though this character would take many different names and be made over with various looks, all of them have to pay tribute to this iconic film as the creator of all that was to follow. How many times have you seen children dressed up as a mummy for Halloween, seen cartoons or played video games with mummies, or can’t help but envision the creatures images when you hear mummy? All of these come from one film. Boris Karloff is and will forever be the original Mummy and it is this film that started a phenomenon.