THE MUMMY (1932 FILM)

'''The Mummy''' is a 1932 horror film from Universal Pictures directed by Karl Freund, cinematographer for Fritz Lang's silent classic ''Metropolis'' (1927), Tod Browning's ''Dracula'' (1931), and the 1950s television series ''I Love Lucy''. The film stars Boris Karloff as an Ancient Egyptian priest, Imhotep, whose mummy is inadvertently revived by a member of an archaeological expedition and who, using the name Ardath Bey (an anagram of 'Death by Ra'), prowls Cairo seeking the reincarnation of the soul of his ancient lover, Princess Ankh-es-en-amon.
The film also features Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward van Sloan, Bramwell Fletcher, Noble Johnson, Kathryn Byron, Leonard Mudie, James Crane and Arthur Byron.
A 1959 British Hammer film entitled ''The Mummy'', starring Christopher Lee in the title role, was actually a remake of two later Universal horror films about a different living mummy, Kharis, entitled ''The Mummy's Hand'' and ''The Mummy's Tomb''.

Contents

Plot Summary

Behind the scenes

Cast

See also

External links

Plot Summary

An ancient Egyptian priest comes back from the dead due to an ancient life giving spell that was accidentally read by an archaeologist who discovered him. The title character seeks his love for whom he was mummified alive for attempting to resurrect, and mistakes a beautiful young woman for her and attempts to make her his bride, and also attempts to mummify her, so she can be reborn as he was. In the end the archaeologists stop Imhotep (The Priest) from doing so by burning the scroll which contained the spell that gave him life and he dissolves away into dust.

Behind the scenes

''The Mummy'' very closely parallels the studio's classic from the year before, ''Dracula'', with almost identical scenes, some of the same cast members in extremely similar roles (David Manners and Edward Van Sloan), and ''Dracula'' cinematographer Karl Freund as director. Some critics have called ''The Mummy'' an instant remake of ''Dracula'', produced so the studio could cash in. ''The Mummy'' was not based on an earlier novel or play, but those familiar with the lesser known works of Arthur Conan Doyle may notice some striking similarities between the film and Doyle's short story "The Ring Of Thoth" (to be found in "The Captain Of The Polestar"). If there is any debt on the part of the film's writers, it has never been acknowledged.
The film used names for the mummy and his wife from history and from word play. The name "Ardath Bey" is a gag credit - a pig Latin rendering of Karloff's often-mimicked pronunciation of his own first name. 'Ardath Bey' is also an anagram of "death by Ra". Imhotep, the mummy's real name, was the first architect in history. He lived in old kingdom Egypt. Ankhesenamun was the name of the wife of the pharaoh Tutankhamun.
Although the Mummy wasn't on screen for more than ten minutes (and for long shots a wrapped dummy appears to have been used), Boris Karloff wore a whole body suit and a highly elaborate eight-hour makeup job for the short time he was on screen.
Boris Karloff was billed as 'KARLOFF' by Universal, dropping his first name for several years during this period when his career was at its height before reverting back to both names by the time ''Son of Frankenstein'' was produced.

Cast

★ 'KARLOFF' as Im-ho-tep, alias Ardath Bey

★ Zita Johann as Helen Grosvenor/Princess Anck-es-en-Amon

★ David Manners as Frank Whemple

★ Arthur Byron as Sir Joseph Whemple

★ Edward Van Sloan as Dr. Muller

★ Bramwell Fletcher as Ralph Norton

★ Noble Johnson as The Nubian

★ Kathryn Byron as Frau Muller

★ Leonard Mudie as Professor Pearson

★ James Crane as The Pharaoh

See also

★ ''The Mummy (1959 film)''

★ ''The Mummy (1999 film)''

External links

★

★ ''The Mummy'' at the All Movie Guide