"The Mummy's Tomb" is a sequel to "The Mummy's Hand" (1940) and the first of three films featuring Lon Chaney as the Mummy. By now the mummy series as with other Universal horror series had degenerated to second feature "B" movie status.
The story takes place thirty years after the earlier film. Stephen Banning (Dick Foran) is telling his son John (John Hubbard), his fiancé Isobel (Elyse Knox) and his sister Jane (Mary Gordon) the story of his encounter with the mummy so many years before. Meanwhile we find out that the High Priest Andeheb (George Zucco) survived being shot at the end of the previous film. He is nearing death and passes on the sacred medallion of the High Priest to Mehemey Bey (Turhan Bey).
Bey becomes responsible for Kharis the 3,000 year old mummy (Lon Chaney) who magically survived a fiery death in the earlier film. The pair embark upon a journey to America to seek revenge on the surviving members of the Banning party and their families. Kharis kills Stephen Banning, his sister Jane and Babe Hansen (Wallace Ford) until only John Banning is left.
Mehemet Bey decides to take Isobel for his own bride and has Kharis carry her off. The towns people finally convinced that a monster is in their midst and in classic Universal fashion, form a mob with flaming torches to seek out and destroy the mummy.
The main fault with this film is its extensive use of footage from "The Mummy's Hand" in which Tom Tyler played the mummy. He can be clearly seen in the flashback sequences (which take up about a quarter of the movie's run time). Tyler and Chaney bore no physical resemblance even under all of those bandages. Chaney is not seen without the mummy makeup and has no lines.
Mary Gordon may be best remembered for playing Mrs. Hudson in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series.
The story takes place thirty years after the earlier film. Stephen Banning (Dick Foran) is telling his son John (John Hubbard), his fiancé Isobel (Elyse Knox) and his sister Jane (Mary Gordon) the story of his encounter with the mummy so many years before. Meanwhile we find out that the High Priest Andeheb (George Zucco) survived being shot at the end of the previous film. He is nearing death and passes on the sacred medallion of the High Priest to Mehemey Bey (Turhan Bey).
Bey becomes responsible for Kharis the 3,000 year old mummy (Lon Chaney) who magically survived a fiery death in the earlier film. The pair embark upon a journey to America to seek revenge on the surviving members of the Banning party and their families. Kharis kills Stephen Banning, his sister Jane and Babe Hansen (Wallace Ford) until only John Banning is left.
Mehemet Bey decides to take Isobel for his own bride and has Kharis carry her off. The towns people finally convinced that a monster is in their midst and in classic Universal fashion, form a mob with flaming torches to seek out and destroy the mummy.
The main fault with this film is its extensive use of footage from "The Mummy's Hand" in which Tom Tyler played the mummy. He can be clearly seen in the flashback sequences (which take up about a quarter of the movie's run time). Tyler and Chaney bore no physical resemblance even under all of those bandages. Chaney is not seen without the mummy makeup and has no lines.
Mary Gordon may be best remembered for playing Mrs. Hudson in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series.