Here's what the 1932
horror film The Mummy has in common with its five sequels (The Mummy's Hand, etc.), and later
remakes: They all feature mummies. Even there, the original Mummy parts ways with the films
it inspired. Star Boris Karloff appears as a shambling, linen-shrouded undead
creature in the film's opening sequence, terrifying an unwitting British
explorer into insanity, then disappearing. When next seen, he's wrinkled, but
still distinctly human, and more concerned with reuniting with a long-lost love
than terrorizing anyone. It's a monster movie that all but forgets the monster.
What's left is an eerie,
weirdly moving film about loneliness and the persistence of history. After
waking up and spending a few years blending in with the locals, Karloff fixates
on the comely Zita Johann, whom he believes to be the reincarnation of the
Egyptian princess he loved many years before. Beguiling her with hypnotic
stares and tales of the ancient past and lost memories "of love, and crime, and
death," Karloff seeks to draw her into his existence between life and death.
Karloff's character is
seemingly far-removed from his iconic turn as Frankenstein's monster from the
previous year. His Im-ho-tep is both articulate and focused, but the same
loneliness and yearning for something they can never possess haunts both
characters. An ace cinematographer directing his first American feature, Karl
Freund expands on that haunted quality. Apart from the gung-ho kid made mad in
the film's opening scene, no one here seems especially comfortable dragging the
ancient world out into the light, and Karloff's specter appears almost like the
inevitable embodiment of their fears. They live in a place where the past is
reluctant to surrender its grasp on the present, and the lyrical way Freund
captures that atmosphere makes for a more unsettling experience than a
bandage-clad beastie could ever provide.
Key features: A new commentary with famed makeup artist Rick
Baker and others join a track from historian Paul M. Jensen and other features
left over from previous DVD versions. Same scratchy print, however.
Restoration, anyone?