The Mummy

Rating:
Summary: The original story of the originail film "The Mummy"
Review: We all know that the problem with the 1932 Boris Karloff thriller "The Mummy" is that the mummy only looks like the mummy at the beginning of the movie. Then he just looks like Boris Karloff, albeit with really weird looking skin. But the original mummy was great looking (remember the neat model you could buy and clue together?). This adaptation of John L. Balderston's screenplay by Ian Thorne tells how an expedition form the British Museum discovers the mummy of Im-ho-tep, who was (gasp) buried alive. Near the mummy case is a small golden casket inscribed: "Death. Eternal punishment for anyone who opens this casket." Of course young Ralph Norton is foolhardy enough to open the casket and read the scroll he finds inside. Next thing he knows the mummy is taking the scroll by him. Ralph is turned into a raving lunatic and the mummy disappears. Ten years later another expedition is searching for the tomb of the Princess Ankh-es-en-amon, when a mysterious man, Ardath Bey, shows up to show them where to dig. They find the princess, but then Bey has...disappeared.

Of course, if you have seen the recent film version of "The Mummy" you have a good idea of where this bizarre little "love" story is going. But there is something to be said for the simplicity of the original story as told here. The book has excellent black & white photographs from the film on every page, which makes this more like a photoplay than a traditional novelization. Before the story commences Thorne talks about what is known about the mummies of ancient Egypt and explains how the discovery of the mummy of King Tutankhamen in 1922 inspired talk about "the mummy's curse" and eventually inspired this classic Hollywood monster movie. One of the interesting aspects of the books in the Monster Series is that once you have the "novelization" of the title film, they provides synopses and photographs from the other films in the series. In this case that means "The Mummy's Hand" (1940), "The Mummy's Tomb" (1942), "The Mummy's Tomb" (1944), and "The Mummy's Curse" (1945), all of which have the virtue of the mummy in question--named Kharis--looking like a mummy throughout the entire film. Young readers who discover the original black & white mummy films will find this a more than passable version of the story and somewhat informative about the entire series.

Rating:
Summary: The original story of the originail film "The Mummy"
Review: We all know that the problem with the 1932 Boris Karloff thriller "The Mummy" is that the mummy only looks like the mummy at the beginning of the movie. Then he just looks like Boris Karloff, albeit with really weird looking skin. But the original mummy was great looking (remember the neat model you could buy and clue together?). This adaptation of John L. Balderston's screenplay by Ian Thorne tells how an expedition form the British Museum discovers the mummy of Im-ho-tep, who was (gasp) buried alive. Near the mummy case is a small golden casket inscribed: "Death. Eternal punishment for anyone who opens this casket." Of course young Ralph Norton is foolhardy enough to open the casket and read the scroll he finds inside. Next thing he knows the mummy is taking the scroll by him. Ralph is turned into a raving lunatic and the mummy disappears. Ten years later another expedition is searching for the tomb of the Princess Ankh-es-en-amon, when a mysterious man, Ardath Bey, shows up to show them where to dig. They find the princess, but then Bey has...disappeared.

Of course, if you have seen the recent film version of "The Mummy" you have a good idea of where this bizarre little "love" story is going. But there is something to be said for the simplicity of the original story as told here. The book has excellent black & white photographs from the film on every page, which makes this more like a photoplay than a traditional novelization. Before the story commences Thorne talks about what is known about the mummies of ancient Egypt and explains how the discovery of the mummy of King Tutankhamen in 1922 inspired talk about "the mummy's curse" and eventually inspired this classic Hollywood monster movie. One of the interesting aspects of the books in the Monster Series is that once you have the "novelization" of the title film, they provides synopses and photographs from the other films in the series. In this case that means "The Mummy's Hand" (1940), "The Mummy's Tomb" (1942), "The Mummy's Tomb" (1944), and "The Mummy's Curse" (1945), all of which have the virtue of the mummy in question--named Kharis--looking like a mummy throughout the entire film. Young readers who discover the original black & white mummy films will find this a more than passable version of the story and somewhat informative about the entire series.