Sunday, October 13, 2024

The Mummy (1959): A Review


THE MUMMY (1959)

The Hammer horror films are a genre onto themselves. Having tackled past monsters such as Frankenstein and Dracula, we now go to The Mummy. While not as good or scary as it could have been, The Mummy is acceptable if a bit muddled.

Egypt, 1895. An archeological dig has at last discovered the tomb of the Princess Ananka, high priestess to the god Karnak. While Steve Banning (Felix Aylmer) is thrilled, his brother and fellow archeologist Joseph Whemple (Raymond Huntley) advises caution. He especially pushes for his nephew John Banning (Peter Cushing) to leave the dig to have his leg reset. John won't go, so he ends up with permanent leg damage. 

It is still better than what his father got. Going alone into Princess Ananka's tomb, Steve begins reading out loud the Scroll of Life. No one can understand why Steve started screaming and now has gone insane. Now three years later, they are back in England, where John is married to Isobel (Yvonne Furneaux) and Steve is in a mental institution, keeping a firm silence. Suddenly, he begins to speak, warning John about the mummy Steve encountered in the Princess' tomb. 

Has the dead Karnak high priest Kharis (Christopher Lee) come back to life? There is evil at work, with the strange Egyptian Mehemet Bey (George Pastell) doing Karnak's work in England. Bey has sworn vengeance against those desecrators of Ananka's tomb, which means killing the three blasphemers who entered her tomb. Steve and Joseph meet their ends, and John knows he will be the next target of the living dead. Inspector Mulrooney (Eddie Byrne) does not believe Banning's fantastical story, so John must find his own way. Will Isobel's resemblance to Princess Ananka help or hurt John? Will Kharis, former high priest who attempted to restore his love Ananka's life but was punished for it, enact his revenge? It is a battle of wills to see who will emerge alive by the end.


The Mummy has a bit of comedy thanks to a couple of drunk and bumbling delivery drivers who are the first to catch on to the evil works going on about the Egyptian. Apart from that, The Mummy does try to make things serious while still keeping a more fantasy world manner. I say fantasy world due to the sets and costumes, which do not look real. That does not take away from the positives in The Mummy.

Credit to Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as John and Kharis/The Mummy. Cushing took things seriously, and even managed to be authoritative when warning Isobel away from the monster. Lee had to act mostly silently, with only the flashback to give him any chance to act. Despite this, his imposing height and eyes manage to make the Mummy if not menacing at least credible.

I did, however, wonder about the film's structure. For example, there is a flashback to when Steve is in the tomb. We first only heard him start reciting the Scroll of Life and then hear his scream off-camera. Later on, we go back to the beginning, where he keeps reciting the Scroll and we see Kharis rise from his own tomb. I leave aside how Kharis understands English, which is the language Steve is speaking and which Bey too addresses the Mummy in. 

The sets put a damper on things as they look like sets, though to be fair Ananka's tomb is nice. It looks like something from a theme park ride, but it looks nice.

The Mummy, curiously, is decades ahead of the time in how Bey condemns Steve and John for taking Egyptian artifacts out of Egypt. The film also takes a surprising stand against faith. When John confronts Bey, whom he suspects of being behind the killings, he mocks those who worship the minor god Karnak. Bey calls him "intolerant", to which John replies, "Not intolerant. Just practical".

The Mummy does drag and has an artificial manner to it. However, on the whole it is mildly passable entertainment. 






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