I was pleasantly surprised by this old classic. I watched this again for the first time since I was a small boy. Back in the days before cable, one of the three networks would air old monster movies on the weekend near midnight. I still remember The Mummy, and curiosity caused me to revisit this title from 1932. I very much enjoyed Boris Karloff's performance on the Mummy. The majority of his performance was as the embodiment of the Mummy's spirit Im-Ho-Tep in contemporary 1932 Egypt. Ho-Tep had been buried alive for 3700 years before being reanimated by a bumbling archaeologist. It was pretty cool to hear Karloff utilize his voice and a leering stare to intimidate those who stood in his way. I enjoyed the image of his staring directly into the cameras lens, and then a shift in lighting to highlight his hypnotic eyes. The special effect work was pretty clever and I thought an extremely well done job was executed in creating The Mummy's aged face. I enjoyed seeing Karloff's wrinkled visage as the Mummy, but was surprised that the Mummy was only on screen for a very short period. Loved it when he open his eye after the archaeologist read the ancient curse. I had assumed that to be the progenitor of such a classic movie villain, the Mummy would have more menace, more of a important part as a fully realized embodiment of evil and thought that the monster would have much more time on screen.
The disappointment that the monster wasn't more central to the story doesn't really detract from looking back at an early pioneer in scary movies. By my current disposition, this wasn't really scary or creepy, and didn't really create much of a mood or tension, but watching this old title wasn't a bad experience or wasteful of my time. The Mummy was very similar to the original Dracula's storyline. The DVD's extras revealed that they both shared the same screenwriters. The formula seemed to have more effect in the Gothic vampire tale. The extras also discussed the leading lady and her prominence on Broadway, and fights with the director.
I would not recommend that most people would enjoy this. For those with an affinity for early cinema, or those curious about the beginning of an icon like the Mummy, then this will hold an interest. Karloff is an iconic giant in this genre, and this is an interesting opportunity to see him at the height of his abilities as one of films great scary actors. This movie spawned several later versions of what developed into an iconic movie monster. This is what gave life to the monster the Mummy.
The disappointment that the monster wasn't more central to the story doesn't really detract from looking back at an early pioneer in scary movies. By my current disposition, this wasn't really scary or creepy, and didn't really create much of a mood or tension, but watching this old title wasn't a bad experience or wasteful of my time. The Mummy was very similar to the original Dracula's storyline. The DVD's extras revealed that they both shared the same screenwriters. The formula seemed to have more effect in the Gothic vampire tale. The extras also discussed the leading lady and her prominence on Broadway, and fights with the director.
I would not recommend that most people would enjoy this. For those with an affinity for early cinema, or those curious about the beginning of an icon like the Mummy, then this will hold an interest. Karloff is an iconic giant in this genre, and this is an interesting opportunity to see him at the height of his abilities as one of films great scary actors. This movie spawned several later versions of what developed into an iconic movie monster. This is what gave life to the monster the Mummy.