Wed 19 Oct 2016
A Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: THE MUMMY (1932).
Posted by Steve under Horror movies , Reviews[9] Comments
THE MUMMY. Universal Pictures, 1932. Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Arthur Byron, Edward Van Sloan, Bramwell Fletcher, Noble Johnson. Director: Karl Freund.
It’d been a couple of years since I last saw The Mummy, but that was on DVD. Seeing the 1932 Universal film on the big screen, as I had the opportunity to do last weekend, was a particularly enjoyable experience.
The classic horror film begins with the famous Universal Pictures propeller airplane flying around the Earth (see below), before quickly transitioning into the opening credits set to the hauntingly familiar score taken from Tchiakovsky’s “Swan Lake.” First, the names Carl Laemmle and Boris Karloff, now so familiar to classic movie fans everywhere, appear on the screen. Then soon, the players are introduced and the movie’s narrative begins.
Directed by Karl Freund, The Mummy not only is a thoroughly enjoyable pre-Code thriller, but it also set the template for mummy and Egyptian supernatural themed movies yet to come. Boris Karloff portrays Imhotep, a resurrected mummy, now lurking about modern Cairo, all in the hopes of bringing his lost love, the princess Ankh-es-en-amon, back to life – or at least a living death! When he encounters the lovely half-British, half-Egyptian Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann), he realizes that she is the living reincarnation of his long lost love. What diabolical schemes will the cursed Imhotep come up with so he can reunite with his ancient love!
An altogether enjoyable film, The Mummy nevertheless progresses at a noticeably slow pace. Indeed, reaction shots interspersed through the film clearly indicate that the movie was produced at a transitional time for commercial cinema when silent films were giving way to talkies. Karloff and Johann, however, have some unique and expressive faces that long reaction shots and close ups only enhance the viewer’s immersion in the story.
October 19th, 2016 at 11:21 pm
The most poetic of the Universal films, THE MUMMY is very much a dream sequence, an almost surreal nightmare at times with something of the feel of THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI in that dreamlike quality.
October 19th, 2016 at 11:56 pm
I agree. I think mood and atmosphere are more important to the success of the film than even the plot itself. My only wish, if I were allowed one, is that there were more scenes with Karloff wearing the ragged bandages of the mummy as it’s brought back to life, to my mind the most chilling scene in the movie.
October 20th, 2016 at 12:25 am
My favourite of all the Universal monster movies. Classy and atmospheric. More a supernatural love story than a horror movie.
October 20th, 2016 at 1:04 am
I can only agree with what everyone has said here. It’s one of my favourite Universal Horror movies, one of my favourite Horror movies, one of my favourite movies. There’s something scary but tragic about Karloff’s doomed living-dead lover, and it ranks amongst his greatest performances. Johann is splendid, and totally convincing in a pretty difficult role. Not enough notice is paid to the fact that it is a template to a great many Dracula movies that followed. The reincarnation/lost-love idea of both the Palance and Oldman adaptions begins here, rather than the Lugosi film.
October 20th, 2016 at 3:47 am
I’ve always considered THE MUMMY as one of the Great Romantic Films, and Ms. Johann an intriguing presence.
October 20th, 2016 at 7:20 am
Luckily Freund realized that the Mummy itself is an, um, dead end dramatically, and ditched it as quickly as possible. He even avoids showing him in the “takes a walk” scene.
Freund had a second career as the dp on I Love Lucy,helping develop the three camera technique since standard.
October 20th, 2016 at 11:33 am
I once watched all of the Mummy movies just before Halloween and I am thinking of revisiting that joy.
I remember seeing one of the later Mummy movies as a kid and afterwards went around the neighborhood dragging one foot behind me while holding my arm across my chest and making appropriate sounds. If I tried that today I’d probably be locked up.
October 20th, 2016 at 11:41 am
I love the model in the background of the titles. I’ve always wondered if this is taken from the Fleischer Brothers cartoons, or did they copy it from this movie?
Also outstanding, is David Manners in the thankless role as the male ingenue. Look at how much is missing from a movie like White Zombie with a lesser actor in this role.
All of the classic Universal Monster movies need to be seen on the big screen. I went to a showing of Dracula, expecting to find the spot where the action starts to go static, but the cleaned up and unedited version that was shown displays a lot of camera movement, pacing and composition that was missing all those years when viewing that and the other Universal Classics on late night television.
I see that Universal is reviving their monster franchises, but I fear that they will totally miss whatever charm and humor these films had by trying to make them more contemporary.
October 20th, 2016 at 6:22 pm
When I was younger I used to scare my kids by dragging my leg and pretending to be the Mummy. I’m glad to see Randy Cox was just as crazy. Of course now I don’t have to pretend any longer as I’m acting more and more like The Mummy whether I want to or not…