All-time Highest Graded Films
Highest Graded Films of 1932
Karl Freund's Graded Films
Boris Karloff's Graded Films
Send me email
Since 06/09/00
The Mummy was more or less a good film. As influential as it has become, however, it is the weakest of the trio. The plot has a warmed-over feel, partly due to its similarities with Dracula (This is described in detail later). There's also the nagging concerns as to how the Mummy acquires a perfect British accent. How does the incorruptible yet tedious doctor know all about the Mummy? Why doesn't the Mummy at least try to kill him, as he is his sole obstacle? Finally, there's the enormous coincidence that Elizabeth's reincarnated soul belongs to the daughter of an eminent British archaelogist.
The love interest aspect of the story, which has the monster in love with a mortal woman, has numerous precedents in the horror genre. The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, both major Universal silent films featuring Lon Chaney, each have this theme, as does the silent German classic Nosferatu.
Many observers have pointed out the many similarities between The Mummy and Dracula, the wildly successful Universal horror film from the prior year. Both films have a supernatural and evil being who assumes human form and compels others with his stare. He's after the beautiful leading lady, whose fate swings in the balance until the monster is inevitable destroyed in the finale. He's opposed by an elderly but determined know-it-all doctor, played in both films by actor Edward Von Sloan. Both films, of course, have been remade on countless occasions.
The Mummy also has something in common with the best of all the Universal horror films, Frankenstein. Tall and imposing Boris Karloff played the monster in both films. As The Mummy, Karloff had to endure hours of makeup and wrapping preparations. This may have kept him from reprising the role, although it is also true that Universal did not make a sequel until a series of 'inferior' low budget Mummy films began in 1940.
One of my more unsupported opinions is that The Mummy is not the finest film of its genre. I'm not referring to the Hammer films that revised the long-dormant series, or the recent Universal blockbusters. I have a weakness for The Mummy's Hand (1940), a cheapie with a no-name cast that effectively parodies its predecessor.