The Mummy's Ghost/The Mummy's Curse

Rating:
Summary: Still a Fave of Mine
Review: The Mummy movies have been the most disparaged of Universal's classic monster series, and I guess that's pretty understandable. There's almost no plot variation from one film to the next. You get a quivering George Zucco handing off his title of Head Priest to the next adept in line (Turhan Bey/John Carradine/Peter Coe), you get the obligatory flashback, you get the Tana leaves, you get the reincarnated Princess...In other words, why come up with an original idea when the same formula that made us money before, and the time before that can make us money yet again (an idea that seems even more prevalent in the Hollywood of today)? Chaney allegedly hated the Mummy role, and that is also understandable. Not much room for characterization here. I consider myself a Chaney fan, but anybody with a hefty build and a lumbering, shuffling gait could have slipped on the Mummy mask and basically done the same job. And it has become something of a cliche' about how laughably slow-moving the Mummy is but it's true- a geriatric Tortoise on medication could probably peregrinate more quickly and lethally than Kharis does here. The relative ease with which Kharis dispatches his victims, given his arthritic pace, strains the limits of credulity. Yes, the zombies in a movie like "Night of the Living Dead" didn't move much faster, but then there were a lot more of them, and a convincing sense of menace was conveyed. Even as a kid, the realization that I could outwalk Kharis even on a bad day rendered him far, far less frightening than the other monsters who populated Universal movies (Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula, etc.). And yet, having said all this...I still love these Mummy movies. There's something truly creepy about the concept of a withered Mummy being revived after centuries in an Egyptian tomb, and a certain poignancy about a thwarted, doomed love enduring on through the centuries. It is this eerie duality, perhaps, that lifts these films above their unintentionally comic elements, their plodding cookie-cutter storylines, and their often offensively stereotypical characters into something that, at its best, is memorable and entertaining and, at its worst, is at least still more fun to watch than much of what passes for horror these days. Certain moments from these films have haunted me through the years- the final scene with Lon Chaney and Ramsay Ames in "Ghost" and much of "The Mummy's Curse." Indeed, "Mummy's Curse" is probably my favorite of the whole series, an opinion that certainly puts me at odds with most everyone else reviewing these films. I saw the scene where Virginia Christine emerges from her grave in a Louisiana swamp as a little kid, and it never left me. To me, this is one of the most haunting images that ever came out of a Universal film, laugh if you will. Equally effective is the final image of Christine in her sarcophagus, returned once again to her mummified state and forever denied a chance at a normal human life; an image that is then almost immediately negated by the empty-headed, happy-go-lucky bantering of the other characters. There are compelling little touches in this movie that the others lack. There's a scene where Kharis (Chaney's Mummy) is strangling the character of Tante Berthe and she pounds on his chest and shoulders, raising clouds of dust. A small detail, perhaps, but only on a number of such small details can a convincing suspension of disbelief be created and sustained. Unfortunately, the banality of the rest of the picture mitigates
what's truly chilling about it. With the exception of Christine and Martin Kosleck, a wonderful character actor from the 1940's, the other actors fail to breath much life into their bland, cardboard characters. And talk about racial stereotypes! If you've ever wondered why blacks are still so enraged over the way they were portrayed in the old movies, check out Napoleon Simpson in the role of "Goobie" here. I loved his line, "The Mummy's on the loose and he's dancin' with the devil" (repeated more than once) but one line, even if it were written by Tolstoy, cannot redeem such a painfully embarrassing character. This is probably the most ambivalent review I've ever written. There's a lot here that's ridiculous, and laughable, and even downright boring. And yet, I love these movies and consider them to be valuable additions to my collection. How much of that reverence is objectively arrived at and how much of it is colored by my early childhood memories? I'm probably not in a position to say, but you've been warned. You'll probably either love these movies, for all their flaws, or you'll hate them. I can't imagine there would be a middle ground.

Rating:
Summary: Mummy's curse
Review: The mummy's curse is the fourth and final of the "real" mummy movies. It's the one that you have probably seen on late night horror fests growing up. When I watched the Mummy's ghost I realised that I had never seen it, nothing about it rang a bell at all. It's an ok spook fest with a good number of suprises. The treat here is finally getting the Mummy's curse. It looks great, very crisp, great sound (mono), great dvd packaging as well. Somehow this is THE one. I have all 5 MUMMY movies in the original series and this is the famous one. 1-4 seemed to get lost or have just became obscure even though they were famous films. If you're trying to figure out the name of the Mummy movie you remember watching as a kid it's probably this one. The hammer films Mummy series is also pretty darn GODlike. They are all out as well. (The Mummy's shroud is the killer one there). please avoid the 1999 & 2001 remakes, they are painful beyond words!! all hail the one and only true universal MUMMY.

Rating:
Summary: Mummy's curse
Review: The mummy's curse is the fourth and final of the "real" mummy movies. It's the one that you have probably seen on late night horror fests growing up. When I watched the Mummy's ghost I realised that I had never seen it, nothing about it rang a bell at all. It's an ok spook fest with a good number of suprises. The treat here is finally getting the Mummy's curse. It looks great, very crisp, great sound (mono), great dvd packaging as well. Somehow this is THE one. I have all 5 MUMMY movies in the original series and this is the famous one. 1-4 seemed to get lost or have just became obscure even though they were famous films. If you're trying to figure out the name of the Mummy movie you remember watching as a kid it's probably this one. The hammer films Mummy series is also pretty darn GODlike. They are all out as well. (The Mummy's shroud is the killer one there). please avoid the 1999 & 2001 remakes, they are painful beyond words!! all hail the one and only true universal MUMMY.

Rating:
Summary: The Mummy's Ghost/The Mummy's Curse
Review: The Mummy's Ghost has the mummy kidnapping the girl, and having the whole town come to track them down. There is more to that, but the thing that makes these mummy movies of this era so great, is they a alike, but also different. The Mummy's Curse is probably the odd one out, but in a good way, The Mummy and Princess Ananka come up from an old swamp. Both these movies are a must for mummy movie lovers.

Rating:
Summary: THE FINAL TWO MUMMY MOVIES!
Review: The Mummy's Ghost is the 3rd Mummy sequel and the second starring Lon Chaney Jr. as the Mummy. The events in this movie take place just a couple of years or so after the events in the Mummy's Tomb, where we saw Kharis go up in flames at the Steve Banning house.

High Priest Andoheb (george Zucco) is shown STILL alive. Old and frail he sends yet another young priest of Arkan (changed from Karnak for some reason) to America to recover Kharis and the body of Ananka and return them to Egypt. This time the priest Yousef Bey, is played by John Carradine.

Meanwhile, back in Mapleton, MA the Mummy is shown walking again...with NO explanation as to how he escaped the fire or what was done with his body after the fire. Just another one of those fun Universal plot inconsistencies...

At Any rate a Professor Norman recreates the Tana leave experiment sending Kharis on his merry way to commit murder and mayhem. Bey reaches the museum with Kharis but when he goes to take Anankas body she simply disinegrates into a heap of dust and bandages, sending Kharis into a destructive rage, killing a security guard.

Bey guesses that Anankas spirit has been reincarnated into a new body which they soon discover is that of Amini Mansouri played by 40's scream Queen Ramsay Ames. The remainder of the film deals with Bey and Kharis looking to capture Ames and the local sherrif and townsfolk looking to stop the mummy.

Chaney has much more to do in this film than in the previous one. He gets to really go on a rampage a couple of times and show some genuine emotion.

Carradine is fun as Yousef Bey even if he doesn't look remotely Egyptian. Ames is pretty standard as the damsel in distress and basically spends the movie screaming and fainting. Her fiancee Tom, played by Robert lowery, is the usual dim-witted, wooden romantic lead in the great tradition of David Manners.

I liked The Mummy's Ghost. It was more action packed than the two previous entries and Chaney really made the mummy terrifying.

In the Mummy's Curse we are treated to an odd bit of Universal continuity craziness...in previous movie the mummy disappeared under the swampy waters in Mapleton, MA..only to reappear in the swamps of Louisiana!!! Wow! what a trip!

Well we have a new high priest of Arkam who attempts to find the bodies of Kharis and the reincarnated Ananka and return them to Egypt. Peter Coe plays the high priest Zandaab aided by his servant Ragheb.

Oddly enough they find a very gothic looking and abandoned monastery atop a hill in the Bayou!!! They revive Kharis (played again by Chaney Jr.) and send him out to find Ananka.

This movie actually has one of the more chilling scenes in any mUmmy movie since the original, when the reincarnated Ananka digs here way out of the dirt and grime of the swamp. She staggers along covered in muck not unlike a zombie out of Night of the Living Dead. Quite scary given the time period.

She has no desire to go back and constantly runs from Kharis who kills anyone in his way including a female tavern owner.

I think Curse may have been the best of the Chaney Jr. Mummy offerings. Some genuinely scary moments. Only problem was that this was really the weakest supporting cast with no realy big name stars like Zucco or Carradine in supporting roles.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful old Classics!
Review: When I read some of these reviews where the writer apologizes, as if greatly embarassed, about how much he/she secretly enjoys the mummy or wolf man or Frankenstein movies, I want to scream louder than Evelyn Ankers. Why apologize? Why act embarassed? There's nothing to cringe about when you settle in and watch a movie that brings you great enjoyment. I've watched my collection of Universal shockers--especially"The Mummy's Curse," "The Mummy's Ghost," repeatedly for years and I never tire of them. On DVD, they're even better. "The Mummy's Ghost" haunts many of its first-time viewers with the extraordinary beauty of heroine Ramsey Ames and her horrific ending in the quicksand. Virginia Christine creates one of the most stunning sequences in fantasy films when she emerges from the quicksand as the ancient Princess Ananka--all accompanied by a powerful musical score and expressionistic shots of a racing sun and clouds. All of these beautifully made old black and white chillers from Universals are part of my permanent film library. Think of it like this: Universal fright movies made tons of money for the studios when they were released. Millions of customers lined up at the box offices around the world to thrill to these black and white masterpieces. I've seen old newspaper photographs of armies of fans in New York waiting in line to see "Night Monster," "The Mummy's Ghost," etc. These movies were produced by masters on modest budgets. Just compare the lush black and white photograpy in "Mummy's Ghost" and "Night Monster" with that of "Citizen Kane," "Since You Went Away," etc. Musical scoring for all these Universal movies were fabulous. Snippets from the Charles Previn/Frank Skinner scores from "Son of Frankenstein" and "The Wolf Man" were brilliantly interwoven with the Mummy movies. The Universal Monster collection is justly famed for its expert, smooth,productions and talented casts. So, when you feel the urge to apologize, shrink or confess that you're a fan of these timeless gems, then don't utter your apologies around these parts. Or you'll have Kharis, Larry Talbot and Frankie boy coming after you!