The Mummy (1932) Film Review

The Mummy (1932) Director: Karl Freund

“Death… eternal punishment for anyone who opens this casket.
In the name of Amon-Ra the king of gods.”

★★★★★

Produced by Carl Laemmie Jr. and starring the “next Lon Chaney,” the great Boris Karloff (who had just gained international fame for his role in Frankenstein) The Mummy is another terrific installment in Universal’s classic “Monster Movies” series. It tells the story of Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian mummy who is accidentally reincarnated by a group of archeologists with the British Museum on a dig in 1921 (a nod to the Tutankhamun excavation of 1922). Young Oxford student Ralph Norton (Bramwell Fletcher) opens an ancient chest and reads the cursed “Scroll of Thoth” which described Isis raised Osiris from the dead. Needless to say, Ralph Norton goes mad. After being reincarnated, his first reawakening since being buried alive over 3,700 years ago, Imhotep spends ten years living as a modern Egyptian historian and gentleman named “Ardath Bey.” Donning a fez, he learns about modern language and culture in order to blend in. Ten years pass and in 1932 he returns to the archaeological site of his tomb in disguise in the hopes of raising his long lost lover from the dead. Instead, he finds a modern woman named Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann) who is part-Egyptian and bears striking resemblance to his long-dead lover. He uses strange ancient forms of magic and slowly awakens his ancient lover’s ghostly spirit within Helen. She becomes possessed, wandering around in a daze, speaking in the long dead language of ancient Egypt, befuddling her friends and referring to someone called “Imhotep.” Then a museum guard dies and Sir Joseph Whemple suddenly dies, as well, while “Scroll of Thoth” has been stolen from his room. While Dr. Muller and Sir Joseph’s son, Frank Whemple piece together the clues (Frank is in love with Helen), Ardath Bey drags Helen further into his world. In a famous scene, they are seated beside a smoking pool where he gives Helen an extended flashback, detailing how he mourned his deceased lover and disobeyed the Egyptian priests by trying to revive her. He was then buried alive in an unmarked grave and the slaves who buried him were killed to ensure no one would know his final resting place. At any rate, he tries to kill Helen with a sacrificial knife so that he can resurrect her as his mummified lover, but she prays before a nearby statue of the god Isis which suddenly comes to life, and burns the “Scroll of Thoth,” ending Imhotep’s reign of terror. At the end, Imhotep crumbles to death in a scene of intimate and intense lighting as Boris Karloff’s face begins to deteriorate. Dr. Muller and Frank Whemple arrive to rescue Helen.

The Mummy was inspired by the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922, and the subsequent Curse of the Pharaohs conspiracy theory, as alluded to early in the film. It also built upon the successes of Universal’s earlier horror classics, Dracula and Frankenstein (the initial intent of the script was to tell a story based on the 18th century occultist-magician Alessandro Cagliostro who allegedly attempted to make himself immortal). The look of Boris Karloff as the Mummy, was inspired by Rameses III, and the make-up ordeal was apparently quite a trial, requiring many hours of sitting for make-up and wrapping bandages every day from Boris Karloff. At one point, he passed out from suffocation, and he later called his role in this film “the most trying ordeal I have ever endured.” Lead actress Zita Johann was apparently brutally tormented by director Karl Freund on-set during shooting for The Mummy –the experience was so traumatizing that it permanently soured her view of Hollywood. Suffice it to say, this was a raucous three weeks of filming in 1932 amidst extremely long workdays and tensions on-set.

Like the monster in Frankenstein (1931), Imhotep is at least a partly sympathetic character. He is a tragic lover who was merely trying to revive his beloved paramour –he does not desire wealth or power– while he was simply put to death for sacrilege, though he doesn’t really care how many people get killed as he attempts to reunite with his lover. Interestingly enough, there was a real historical Egyptian named Imhotep; he was one of the original architects of the pyramids who was apparently elevated to the status of the godhood. In other words, he was far from buried alive like the Imhotep of The Mummy. At any rate, with a blending of modern science andarchaeology alongside various ancient supernatural superstitions, one sees many echoes of The Mummy in future films like Raiders of the Lost Ark. Despite being a somewhat choppy rip-off of Dracula, 1932’s The Mummy is still an endearing classic horror flick.

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Credits:

• Directed by: Karl Freund
  • German Bohemian-born cinematographer Karl Freund (1890-1969) also shot silent classics like The Golem (1920), Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis (1927), Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), F.W. Murnau’s The Last Laugh (1924). He was a pioneer of the moving camera (or “unchained camera”). However, director Tod Browning preferred a static camera, which is why the few moving shots that are shown in Dracula are crane shots and tracking shots for establishing purposes. He directed the Universal classic The Mummy (1932) and episodes of television’s I Love Lucy. He was married twice and had one daughter whom he rescued from Germany in 1937 –she almost certainly would have been sent off to a concentration camp. His ex-wife Susette remained in Germany, where she was imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp and then ultimately murdered at the Bernburg Euthanasia Centre in March 1942. Freund died in Santa Monica at the age of 79 in 1969. The Mummy was his directorial debut.
• Screenplay by: John L. Balderston, who previously adapted the John L. Balderston version of Dracula for Broadway
• Story by: Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer
• Produced by: Carl Laemmle Jr.
• Starring:
  • Boris Karloff…..Ardath Bey, Imhotep, The Mummy
    • William Henry Pratt, or “Boris Karloff” (1887-1969), also billed as “Karloff the Uncanny,” was as erudite an English gentleman as one could find in the Golden Age of Hollywood. His parents initially intended for him to pursue a diplomatic career but he intentionally failed the test and emigrated to Canada in 1909 before relocating to Hollywood, working odd jobs and driving trucks to support his family. His iconic portrayal of Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein (1931) was actually his 82nd film, and his most famous role. He reprised the role in two more Frankenstein installments —Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939), the latter of which he apparently regretted due the Monster’s violent, unsympathetic portrayal. He also appeared as Imhotep in The Mummy (1932), and voiced the Grinch in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966), which won him a Grammy Award. He later played Victor Frankenstein in a 1970 adaptation of Frankenstein. In total, he appeared in 174 films, was married six times, and had one daughter. However, a longtime heavy smoker, he contracted emphysema after returning to London later in life, an incident which left him with only half of one lung still functioning. He then contracted arthritis and bronchitis in late 1968 and was hospitalized. He died of pneumonia the following year at the age of 81. He never legally changed his name to “Boris Karloff,” always signing his official documents as “William H. Pratt, a.k.a. Boris Karloff.”
  • Zita Johann…..Helen Grosvenor, the half-Egyptian daughter of the English governor of Sudan
    • Born Elizabeth Johann, “Zita Johann” (1904-1993) was born in Austria-Hungary. Apparently, Zita Johann was actually a believer in supernatural phenomena like reincarnation, she was interested in the occult, cabalism, mysticism, and she claimed to have levitated on a spiritual retreat. She and Karl Freund had a rocky working relationship on the set of The Mummy. He forced her to stand beside a board without an actor’s chair to keep her skirt straight without creases, and she would sometimes shout at him to move the “goddamn camera.” She claimed to experience an out of body, near death experience when she fainted during filming for the scene beside the smoky pool. In a deleted scene, Freund forced her to film a scene while unprotected from lions, and he also attempted to scapegoat her with the studio by asking her to film a scene topless (his intent was to claim that Zita Johann was not abiding by his wishes). However, she surprisingly agreed, challenging him to get those scene past the censors. In her lifetime, she had three tumultuous marriages but never had any children. She briefly dated John Huston in 1933 but they were in a severe car accident due to Huston’s drinking in which she was sent through the windshield of Huston’s car.
  • David Manners…..Frank Whemple
    • Born Rauff de Ryther Duan Acklom, David Joseph Manners (1900-1998) was a Canadian-American actor who appeared in films like Tod Browning’s Frankenstein (1931), Frank Capra’s The Miracle Woman (1931), Karl Freund’s The Mummy (1932), and Edgar G. Ulmer’s The Black Cat (1934). Despite a brief marriage to a woman, Manning was gay. In later years, he took an interest in writing novels, studying philosophy, and painting. He died in 1998 at the age of 98 in Santa Barbara, California.
  • Arthur Byron…..Sir Joseph Whemple
    • Arthur William Byron (1872-1943) was born into a family of thespians, he was the son of actors Kate Crehan and Oliver Doud Byron and he was a nephew of the stage actress Ada Rehan. He appeared in over 300 stage productions before turning to film acting. He and his wife had two daughters and a son. He died of a long-suffering heart ailment in 1943 at the age of 71.
  • Edward Van Sloan…..Dr. Muller
    • Edward Van Sloan (1882-1964) was best remembered for his roles in the Universal Monster series, in films like Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), and The Mummy (1932). Apparently, he was always quick to point out the flaws in his movies like Dracula (he never thought much of the film). He and his wife had one child. He died in 1964 at the age of 81.
  • Bramwell Fletcher…..Ralph Norton
    • Bramwell Fletcher (1904-1988) started in theatrical and Broadway productions before embarking on a Hollywood career in the late 1920s. He had a brief role in The Mummy (1932) as the young student who goes mad at the start of the film when Imhotep comes to life. He was married three times and had three children –his first marriage to tumultuous actress Helen Chandler who appeared in Universal’s Dracula (1931) as Mina Seward.
  • Noble Johnson…..The Nubian Servant
    • Noble Johnson (1881-1978), later known as “Mark Noble,” was of African-American descent. an American actor and film producer. He appeared in silent films like The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) with Rudolph Valentino, Cecil B. DeMille’s original The Ten Commandments (1923), The Thief of Bagdad (1924), and Dante’s Inferno (1924). He appeared in classic talkies like The Mummy (1932), The Most Dangerous Game (1932), King Kong (1933) as a native chief, and Son of Kong (1933), as well as Frank Capra’s classic Lost Horizon (1937) as one of the porters, and one of his final films was John Ford’s She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949).
  • Kathryn Byron…..Frau Muller
  • Leonard Mudie…..Professor Pearson
  • James Crane…..The Pharoh
  • Henry Victor…..The Saxon Warrior (scenes deleted)
  • Arnold Gray…..Knight (scenes deleted)
  • Florence Britton…..Nurse (uncredited)
  • Jack Deery…..Party Guest (uncredited)
  • Bill Elliott…..Party Guest (uncredited)
    • Fans of old low-budget “B” Westerns may recognize a young “Wild Bill Elliott” or Bill Elliott in the party scene. During this period, he was a very prolific bit player, appearing in over 20 feature films in 1932 alone, before climbing into the saddle and becoming a top-billed western star.
  • Leyland Hodgson…..Gentleman #2 at Cairo Party (uncredited)
  • Eddie Kane…..Inspector’s Assistant (uncredited)
  • Tony Marlow…..Police Inspector (uncredited)
  • George Regas…..Egyptian at Princess Deathbed (uncredited)
  • Nick Shaid…..Egyptian (uncredited)
  • C. Montague Shaw…..Gentleman #1 at Cairo Party (uncredited)
  • Pat Somerset…..Helen’s Dancing Partner (uncredited)
  • Arthur Tovey…..Nubian (uncredited)
• Cinematography: Charles Stumar
• Edited by: Milton Carruth
• Music by: James Dietrich
• Production Company: Universal Pictures

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Other Notes:

• Story writer Richard Schayer based the plot for The Mummy loosely on the plot bears a strong resemblance to a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle entitled “The Ring of Thoth.” He and writer writer Nina Wilcox Putnam also based the plot on a 18th century occultist magician Alessandro Cagliostro who has achieved immortality. However, writer John L. Balderston was then hired by Carl Laemmle to draft a script (interestingly enough, Balderston was present for the opening of Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus when he worked as a reporter for The New York World). Screenwriter John L. Balderston is credited with coming up with the Egyptian mummy theme for the film. At its earliest stages the film was simply envisaged as a horror vehicle for Boris Karloff with no real connection to Egypt at all. Balderston was a known history enthusiast.
• Unlike its predecessors, Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy was not based on a novel but was instead inspired by the real-life opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.
• The opening scenes are a collection of still shots of actual archaeological digs.
• After the initial credits, text appears on the next two screens: “This is the Scroll of Thoth. Herein are set down the words by which Isis raised Osiris from the dead./ Oh! Amon-Ra – Oh! God of Gods – Death is but the doorway to new life – We live today – we shall live again – In many forms shall we return – Oh, mighty one.”
• The main theme music to the opening credits is the same movement from Swan Lake used to open Dracula (1931).
• The newspaper photos of the golden inner sarcophagus of Anckesenamun were actually those of the real Tutankhamun.
• At the beginning, the British Museum archaeologists in 1921 in Egypt are led by Sir Joseph Whemple (Arthur Byron) and Dr. Muller (Edward Van Sloan), along with young Oxford student Ralph Norton (Bramwell Fletcher).
• Boris Karloff’s ring from this film is presumed lost.
• Several scenes were cut from the film and have been lost aside from some stills, including scenes of Anckesenamun reincarnated throughout history (the cuts greatly angered Zita Johann).
• “Ardeth Bay” is an anagram of “Death by Ra.”
• Jack P. Pierce was head of the make-up department at Universal. He previously created the monster in Frankenstein (1931), also played by Boris Karloff, and he completed the extraordinary brittle, crumbling makeup in The Mummy, which was created using spirit gum or collodion and cotton applied to Karloff’s face. The application of the makeup took hours (often eight hours) and many trial and errors. Karloff’s mummy makeup was based on the appearance of Seti II. Jack Pierce’s makeup was considered so outstanding that the “Hollywood Filmograph” journal honored him with a special award. It was presented at a ceremony by Boris Karloff himself. After Pierce’s death in 1968, the trophy was believed lost until many years later, when a sink was removed from an old makeup studio at Universal, it was amazingly rediscovered.
• The film depicts Princess Ankhesenamun as a member of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, and places her time of death at 1730 BC.
• Hungarian artist Willy Pogany (1882-1955) designed many of the brilliant hieroglyphics and symbology in the film.
• In ancient Egyptian, the name Imhotep reportedly translates to “I come in peace.”
• Apparently, the script originally was called “Cagliostro,” based on the famous Italian “prophet”/charlatan who claimed that he had lived for several centuries. It then was rewritten to profit from the love of all things Egyptian since the finding of King Tut’s tomb, retitled first “The King of the Dead”, then later “Imhotep.” It only became “The Mummy” just before general release.
• The film depicts the Cairo Museum (commonly known as the Egyptian Museum). The real-life Cairo Museum opened in 1902.
• A book called “Dirilen Mumya” (or The Resurrected Mummy) served as a key source of inspiration.
• The Anubis statue and some of the rest of the set was used in Perils of Pauline (1933), Chapter: 6.
• The opening archaeological dig takes place in 1921. The rest of the sequences take place in 1932.
• Subsequent films in The Mummy series included: The Mummy’s Hand (1940) starring Tom Tyler, The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), The Mummy’s Ghost (1944), and The Mummy’s Curse (1944) all three starring Lon Chaney Jr., and a final film Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) starring Eddie Parker.

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