Rating: 
Summary: Karloff was spectacular
Review: I have to admit, I saw the 1999 version first, which I did not think was bad. It wasnt until recently that I saw this earlier film along with several other Universal horror classics. First I would like to say that to compare this version with the 1999 version is a mistake, I have seen several remakes of old movies in the last ten years and it seems to me that they should not be compared on the same scale, even when it is a rehash of the same story. I thought Karloff did a wonderful job on this picture. It was a good idea not having him walk around in bandages the whole time and this one was certainly superior to the many sequels that followed it. Not as much of a favorite to me as Dracula or bride of Frankenstein, but then I'm more of a Lugosi Fan than a Karloff one, but nonetheless. This is a must see for anyone interested in classic universal horror. I cant wait to receive it on DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Karloff shines a true horror classic
Review: This movie rivals Dracula and Frankenstein as being one of the all time great Universal,or any other horror movie. Karloff sets an errie atmosphere as IM HO TEP the high priest sentenced to living death for offending his gods. Amust for all.
Rating:
Summary: Karloff makes Brendan Fraser look like a MORON!
Review: Boris Karloff is a cinematic GOD! There is nothing finer than to sit in a dark room at Midnight watching a Karloff classic, such as The Mummy. The sets were fabulous, considering the time period. The acting was top-notch, as was the script. To some people, the effects would be considered sub-standard. However, I believe them to be spectacular. I would recommend this flick to anyone who wants a good storyline, campy action, overall superior film making, and to see a timeless classic.
Rating:
Summary: Mummy is Classic, but resembles Original Dracula(30)
Review: If you took this film and interchanged it with the charcaters from Browning's Dracula of 1930....well just a thought.Edward Van Sloan is the doctor who again insists that"we mus destroy it! David Manners is the romantic lead.Film really does resemble Lugosi Dracula(30). Karloff and Jack Pierce spent hours and hours with make up sessions and we only see the mummified mummy for a quick minute or two!However, the real terror and chills comes from Karloff's performance as the unmummified revived Ardeth Bey who is just as menacing as the "mummy". I liked the opening scenes best involving the archeologists at the 1920s dig site headquarters.Film tends to prod along at a slow pace, but is still good Universal creaky horror.
Rating:
Summary: Hauntingly Beautiful
Review: This is quite simply the most beautiful horror film ever made, and yet it isn't really a horror, more a tragic romance. There's nothing leaping out from behind the door to get you, just a slow building of psychological and sexual tension. This is my favourite role of Karloff's; his eye's are the most expressive of the black and white era. The story has been explained by others here, but nothing can truly compare to seeing the film. Some people may find it a little stagy compared to modern standards, especially if they are coming to this after the recent remake of the film by Sommers. While I enjoyed that film, and Arnold Vosloo's new tall, dark and hansome spin on Imhotep, nothing can compare to the sheer weight of loneliness Karloff expresses in the film. His very movements seem weighed down by his loss. The other characters are great, even if Manners is a little...well, dull. Johann is beautiful and believable as a woman torn between her attraction to to the young gallant, Manners, and the haunted, mysterious Ardeth Bey, who offers her an 'eternity of love.' Also, Bramwell Fletcher's screams are chilling; I've never seen anyone do hysterical terror better. If you go into this film expecting shocks, a fast pace and gore, you are going to be dissapointed. However, if you want a gothic tale of true love doomed to dissapointment, look no further. I cannot recommend this film enough.
Rating:
Summary: Vintage Chills and Thrills with Boris Karloff
Review: It is hard to believe that if Bela Lugosi would not have been so proud, he would have played 'Frankenstein' back in 1931 and Boris Karloff may never have been 'discovered'. In this movie he is at his creepy best; that unforgettable drawling, lisping, well enunciated voice (how a Mummy from ancient Egypt got a slight British accent we are best off not to ask), along with a great make-up job by Jack Pierce, make this one of his best (of many) bogey-man performances. The rest of the cast is adequate, although David Manners, who was the romantic lead in several of these Universal classic horror films of the early '30s, is about as colorless of a 'hero' as you could hope for. A good creative story with elements of 'Dracula' but is largely original. Features one of the most eerie scenes in movie history, early in the film (and without background music), where a bandaged up Boris sloooooowwllly wakes up from a 3700 year nap and greets poor unsuspecting Bramwell Fletcher rather rudely.....a great example of a scene that scares without shocking (and one that most of today's slasher-flick film makers should watch and take notes on!). Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Rating:
Summary: THE EXCELLENT ORIGINAL
Review: Despite its stylized dialogue and the unbelievability of many of its individual scenes, THE MUMMY owes its ultimate success to Freund's skillful direction and Karloff's remarkable two-part characterization. In terms of its basic story costruction, the film suffers somewhat from an overly convoluted plot and from a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion, but THE MUMMY is a potent film that imparts a feeling of being suspended in time. Karloff, firmly establishing himself as Lon Chaney's successor, gives a hypnotically compelling performance (and very different from his interpretation of Frankenstein's Monster!). Karloff seems to glide rather than walk, and his facial muscles never move. Only his eyes express his profound inner turmoil, as in the burial scene, when the tapes are drawn across his mouth and nose, leaving open his wild eyes to face the prospect of eternal sleep. This brilliant make-up job done by the genius make-up artist Jack Pierce took an incredible EIGHT hours to apply! Ingeniously, Pierce literally cooked the cloth to give the illusion of having rotted away centuries ago. Although the film addresses the conflict between death and immortality and the idea that one must live out his destiny, it is, at its purest level, a love story; Karloff's obsessive devotion, the script suggests, is a sickness that only love can bring. Karloff tells Johann "All this I endured for thee", reflecting a timeless belief in the curative powers of love. The elusive Hungarian actress (she played on Broadway with Clark Gable in the twenties) Zita Johann does quite well as Helen; her features were unusual and exotically striking; she was quite believable in her role as a part Egyptian. This 1932 movie is still a stunner with many classic scenes which I'm not going to reveal!
Rating:
Summary: The ancient mummy has the power of ages
Review: Boris Karloff holds an ancient and mysterious power in this wonderful template for all the mummy movies that have followed. Considering that movie styles, audience tastes and demands and cinema technology have moved light years from the 1930s, it is intriguing that Karlof's mummy is as rivetting in its own way as the 1999 version is in its. It's intriguing to note that the 1999 version still contains flashbacks to the Karlof one - "just a silly Eastern superstition" is one line contained in both. The makers of the 1999 version have honoured Karlof, and that is great to see. In many respects, it's probably wrong to "compare" the two. it's like comparing apples with oranges. However, the fact that the modern Imhotep and his crew have sparked renewed interest in Karlof's Imphotep is a gracious and wonderful result; as well as the sincerest form of flattery. When Karlof walked before the camera, he was working within a genre that owed more to stage than cinema; a time when cinema was still finding its own methods of expression. However, having said that, Karlof's presence - particularly the heavily shadowed close-ups and his sheer power even given the primitive cinematography he had to work with - still claims for him the place as the best Imhotep. He had no special effects to back him up; he could not even kill someone on camera because of the censorship rules of the time; yet he still exudes a knock-out force. Now, in 2000, he still does. That, truly, is "the power of ages".
Rating: 
Summary: This movie was supposed to be a horror film?
Review: The directors didn't really achieve in making this move scary. (except for the man eating bugs) It had a good story line and a few jokes. Definetely don't watch this if you are looking for a horror movie.
Rating:
Summary: They did it right the first time!
Review: The 1931 "Mummy" should be a lesson to film studios that less is definitely more. The hypnotic, and almost hallucinogetic atmosphere takes hold of you from the start and never lets up for a moment. Karloff's understated performance is a timeless classic! Forget the recent (and forgettable) remake with its "eye-popping special effects" and Dolby digital sound thundering away at you...the opening moments of the 1931 version will haunt you for the rest of your life (that is, unless you're one of the MTV generation who needs a constant barrage of explosive and restless outside stimuli to get through to you....)!
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