# Mummy, The (1932)

### reviewed by
Mark O'Hara

    The Mummy (1932)

    A Film Essay by Mark O'Hara

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Karl Freund's The Mummy is part of the triad of great horror classics of the early 1930's. Along with Frankenstein and Dracula, The Mummy terrified early generations of movie-goers, and parts of it are still terrifying today.

A measure of the film's importance comes from its originality. Screenwriters of this time were not pestered with avoiding so many clichés; so when The Mummy begins at the site of a spooky archaeological dig in Egypt, viewers saw an early treatment of discoveries that had been in the news for decades. It had to be dramatic and scary to watch the mummified guardian Imhotep (Boris Karloff) commence to stir, break his arms free of their bonds, and send into madness one of the archaeologists who had invaded his tomb.

Years pass, and the plot alights on the life of another member of the ill-fated expedition, Sir Joseph Whemple (Arthur Byron). His friend Dr. Muller is concerned that a young woman, Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann), is in danger of being controlled by a tall, thin, mysterious Egyptian, who gives the name Ardeth Bey (Karloff). While Helen is in a disturbed state, Frank Whemple is charged with calming her. Quickly the two fall in love. Heightening the tension, Bey begins to pursue Helen, as he is convinced her body holds the reincarnated soul of the Egyptian princess Anckesen-Amon. In an agitated fit of telepathic rage, Bey kills Dr. Muller. Meanwhile, the Whemples are on to Bey, realizing he is Imhotep. What's more horrific is their realization that Bey is invincible - he cannot be defeated without the intervention of the ancient Egyptian gods, the same gods that Imhotep offended so many years before.

The ending of The Mummy is also the forerunner of countless showdowns between mortals and immortals. For its time the special effects are stunning, their power vitiated only by an abrupt cut to the ending credits.

Boris Karloff gets top billing, and rightly so. His body is excellent in its attenuation, his square shoulders giving his character a striking ascetic quality. Somehow we almost believe this man is a living mummy, his face crinkled by the ages. Certainly one of the creepiest shots in the film is a close-up used many times: the fez-wearing Imhotep/Bey glaring wide-eyed to a point just above the camera, in what seems like a still photograph. No music accompanies this shot; it is the character's intense concentration -- and the viewer's knowledge of his evil intentions - that lend the image its terrifying power. Further, Karloff's subtle and masterful body language conveys a manner that takes its time in building menace. The actor's demeanor was doubtless as singular at the time as it is nearly 70 years later: as we listen to his distinguished British lisp, we shiver in mute understanding.

An important issue is raised in the film - the idea that it is wrong for Egyptian artifacts to leave the country of their origin and appear in, say, an English museum. At the time of the film's setting, the laws have been changed and all artifacts remain in the Cairo museum. The filmmakers are to be praised for nodding to this correct method of showcasing history.

Much of the film is slow, particularly when Karloff is offscreen. When his Bey is luring Helen to his side, or disabling her guardians with his lethal mind powers, the tension makes the film very watchable. But the dialogue sags when the men are talking, or even when Frank is romancing Helen. One scene, in which Bey explains to the semi-hypnotized Helen the reason for his cursed state, is riveting. A flashback beginning in a pool of fog, the scene shows Imhotep, in love with the dead princess, trying to revive her body. Caught in his unholy deed, Imhotep is wrapped alive, and placed as a guard to the royal tomb. Many modern viewers would deem the flashback tacky, but it is a risk in narration for which the director should be commended. And the period costumes worn by the ancient Egyptians do lend a corny realism. We feel Imhotep's pain, especially the spasms in the eyes of the expressive Mr. Karloff as the bandages are wrapped about his head.

The sequels to this film are easier to watch. Though they are more Americanized, with the swaddled creature traipsing around, dragging his dusty leg, one arm still trapped in its rotting sling, sometimes an unconscious beauty in his arm, these follow-up films helped to set the patterns used in many "B" horror movies to come. But the simply titled The Mummy was the first, and no matter how many times its themes are remade and re-invoked, its ground-breaking status is beyond question.

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