The Mummy (1932)
Posted on August 17, 2005
Filed Under Black and white, Classics, Monsters, Uncategorized
The Mummy is almost like an early greatest hits film for the fledgling Universal monster series, pairing director Karl W Freund (responsible for the lovely cinematography on Dracula) with Boris Karloff, then riding high on the success of Frankenstein. The combination is, predictably, absolutely electric; but whilst the film is undeniably a masterpiece, it’s also an unexpectedly quiet, almost dreamy affair. Wisely, Freund doesn’t try to get Karloff to repeat his Frankenstein performance as Im-Ho-Tep; all we see of the mummified version of his character is his face and hand, leaving the rest to the imagination. If you’re expecting to see archaeologists being chased by extras in bandages, you’ll be disappointed. Instead, the focus is on Im-Ho-Tep’s attempts to pass himself off as an elderly Egyptian local and find his lost love, and it’s here that Karloff proves his versatility, turning in a brittle, dignified but menacing performance as the 3,700 year old priest - a polar opposite to the previous year’s doleful monster. As ever with Karloff, his face says far more than words possibly could, especially with his unmistakeable eyes and jaw, but when he does speak (and he speaks a lot) it’s with admirable and compelling restraint; as such, he really convinces as a man driven by his love for a woman, and not just a monster.
The story is unhurried, and even if it lacks any real tension (the audience is always several steps ahead of the characters) the gradual drip-feeding of information sustains interest. Far more worthy of note is Freund’s direction; as with the best shots in Dracula, the camera is rarely static. This is particuarly effective in the early excavation scenes which still look absolutely magnificent; towards the end of the movie the interiors become a bit more mundane, but Freund ensures that, unlike Dracula, events never grind to a halt.
More of a tragic love-story than a horror, The Mummy opts more for creepy atmosphere than outright scares, but still thoroughly deserves its reputation as an early classic. Overall, not quite as essential as Frankenstein or The Invisible Man, but still highly recommended, if only to see what a truly sensational actor Karloff really is.
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