The Mummy (1932)

Sir Joseph Whemple: "What's the matter, man? For heaven's sake, what is it?"
Ralph Norton: "He went for a little walk! You should have seen his face!"

The first of our Universal monster films to not be directly based on a piece of literature, The Mummy is another justifiably classic film from the Universal catalog of the thirties.

Our main cast includes David Manners as Frank Whemple, Edward Van Sloan as Doctor Muller (both of which we’ve seen in other Universal horror films), Zita Johann as Helen Grosvenor (Ankhesenamun in ancient Egypt), Arthur Bryon as Sir Joseph Whemple, Bramwell Fletcher as Ralph Norton, Kathryn Byron as Frau Muller, Leonard Mudie as Professor Pearson, and of course Boris Karloff as our main monster (known as Imhotep in ancient Egypt or Ardath Bey in modern times), and what a monster he is!

Unlike later iterations of the mummy by Universal and Hammer, which are lumbering, murdering brutes controlled by others, here we have a more sophisticated undead being with supernatural powers and his own goals. This makes him more interesting and allows Karloff to show us how menacing he can be when given the opportunity. He was excellent as the monster in Frankenstein, but that role didn’t let him stretch his acting muscles as much as he does here. He does turn on some charm for the other characters, but with us knowing who and what he is, that charm hides a deep and abiding menace, like he’s ready to lash out at those he feels are obstacles to his goals under that calm and civil demeanor. He in fact does lash out at times, and his wrath is terrible to behold.

"What is that noise? I only like wrap music!"

With the above in mind, the movie does start off similar to the later, less interesting mummy movies, in that an ancient tomb is disturbed and a mummy is awakened from its tomb. But our mummy escapes his tomb and has taken the name Ardath Bey and acts somewhat normally, albeit eccentrically to begin with. He directs the son of the original expedition that uncovered his tomb to find that of the woman he loved so much that his attempt to bring her back to life is why he was mummified alive in the first place, his blasphemous actions were discovered, and he was summarily punished in a gruesome fashion, although the scenes of his mummification are certainly not going to elicit such a strong response from a more modern audience, they certainly would have shocked the audiences of 1932.

The movie truly earns its horror appellation once Imhotep discovers that Helen is the reincarnation of his long lost Ankhesenamun. Once he knows the truth of her situation, he will stop at nothing to be together with her again, and he is ruthless in his efforts to do so. He was willing to pay a brutal penance to see her returned all those centuries ago, and he certainly is willing to do whatever it takes in modern times. The fact that Helen isn't exactly thrilled with being his obsession does not alter his single-minded goal in any form; he will have the woman he was willing to be mummified alive for, and no one and nothing will stop him. This combination of relentlessness and genuine feelings makes him a monster that evokes more than just revulsion or disgust. One may not truly empathize with him, but at least his goals are rooted in feelings we can understand.

Not quite as cute as a kitten taking a nap, is he?

There is a strong link between our mummy and leading lady, one he takes advantage of, while she seems lost and confused by it more often than not. This strangeness, the feeling that things are familiar but not, permeates her performance in the film and this combination makes her both sympathetic and mysterious simultaneously. Her stated desire to be in an Egypt long gone is born from her circumstances as the return of one that lived there, is just one part of the film where her link to her past self is made evident. And her musings of such things occur even before she is informed of her past life by Ardath Bey. This past life and her place in it are crucial to the resolution of the film.

This movie has more action than Universal’s Dracula, but not as impressive as Frankenstein. Karloff’s performance is brilliant as both Imhotep in the flashbacks to the past and as the brooding and exotic Ardath Bey in the present. When we are given a closeup of Karloff’s ‘mummy glare’ he is truly fearsome in appearance, a testament to both the makeup artist, the cinemaphotography, and of course Karloff himself. Zita Johann also plays her dual role well as the ancient Ankhesenamun and the current day’s Helen and all the confusion her situation brings to her. The rest of the main cast is all serviceable or better, the settings are good, and the tension is real.

"No, I did not find that joke particularly amusing."

It's a solid movie to be sure, and one of the better Universal classics, but not quite up there with the very best of the bunch. And while I’d rate this one at least half a point lower if not for Karloff’s stellar performance as the lead monster, it would still be a decent picture. There are some of these films I’d recommend skipping, unless like me you want to see them all, but this is not one to pass by. Atmospheric, mysterious, gruesome at times, and starring a fascinating villain, this is a great classic horror film. It has a few solid jolts, but like most classic horror, it relies more on atmosphere and an intriguing story over shock value.

Three and a half ancient sarcophagi out of four.

-Edward Van Sloan is once again the learned and wise character in a classic Universal horror movie. He’s the one that ascertains Bey’s nature and the threat he poses and has to convince the others that the threat is real as he has in prior films. He will appear again one final time in Universal horror in Dracula’s Daughter.

-David Manners is a bit better here than he was in Dracula. Far more active and interesting than he was in the prior film, although still not the most exciting performance.

-There have been complaints about how the film treats what it considers eastern cultures. I can see that in samples such as a scene where one of the archeologists touches Bey’s arm and he comments that he doesn’t like being touched as an ‘eastern prejudice.’

-This is the only time Karloff plays the mummy, despite the fact that several more mummy movies are part of the Universal classic monster film catalog.

Morella is a Gen Xer who likes strange things a bit too much.

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