In early 1932 Carl Laemmle Jr, fresh off his 1931 triumphs of “Dracula” and “Frankenstein” found himself interested in making more Horror films based on literary novels of the macabre. He hired Richard Shayer to find a story worth adapting. Shayer and his writing parter, Nina Wilcox Putnam, wrote a nine page treatment based on the story of famed Italian occultist, Alessandro Cagliostro. The story, based in San Francisco, was about a 3000 year-old alchemist who achieved immortality. Although Carl Laemmle liked the idea, he decided to show it to screenwriter John Balderston to see what he thought. Balderston, having contributed to both “Dracula” and “Frankenstein”, was well respected and trusted by Laemmle. Before becoming a screenwriter, however, John Balderston was a journalist for the New York World, and in 1922, he was on hand to cover the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings. The remarkable find and the spectacular artifacts within were still very fresh in his mind and in the mind of the worldwide public. Balderston reset Shayer and Putnam’s story in Egypt and quickly fleshed out a new screenplay. Carl Laemmle Jr absolutely loved it, and production started soon after on THE MUMMY.
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THE MUMMY tells the story of Imhotep (Boris Karloff), an Egyptian priest who had been mummified alive for loving the princess Ankh-es-en-amon. He is revived 3000 years later by a reckless archeologist (Bramwell Fletcher) who reads from the forbidden Scroll of Thoth. Using the name Ardeth Bey, Imhotep spends 10 years haunting modern Cairo searching for the reincarnation of Ankh-es-en-amon. He meets a woman named Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann) and becomes convinced that he has found his reincarnated love at last. It is his intention to kill, mummify, and resurrect her in order to make her his immortal bride. It falls to Egyptologist Dr. Muller (Edward Van Sloan) and Helen’s suitor Frank (David Manners) to try and stop him.
Settling upon a director was a bit of a trial, with Tod Browning, James Whale, and Robert Florey all passing on the project. Karl Freund, most notably the cinematographer on “Dracula” and “The Golem”, was finally hired only two days before shooting was scheduled to begin. Although the shoot went on schedule, THE MUMMY was Freund’s first Hollywood feature and lead actress Zita Johann suspected from her very first day on set that he was setting her up as the scapegoat if the film failed. Her suspicions were reinforced by Karl Freund’s unreasonable and erratic demands of her during the production. He refused to let her sit between takes so “her dress wouldn’t wrinkle”. She was provided no protection from lions on the set while filming a scene that was ultimately cut from the film. He demanded she perform nude even though he and she both knew full well the censors would never allow it. The experience was so awful Zita Johann walked away from Hollywood shortly after the release of the film.
Despite this, there is a lot that THE MUMMY gets right. Of particular note, as usual on the Universal Horror films, make-up effects are top-notch. The legendary Jack Pierce designed and applied the make up and once again showed why he was the best in the business. Although Imhotep’s look in the majority of the film is not terribly elaborate, the make up in the film’s opening – the resurrection scene – was incredibly complex. Pierce based much of the look in this sequence on the well-preserved mummies of Seti I and Ramesses III. Always the trooper, Boris Karloff endured 8 hours of the application of spirit gum, clay, and cotton – then being wrapped in linen which had been aged in acid. Mercifully, the scene only required one shooting day, and then Karloff spent the last two hours painfully removing the clay and gum from his face. The result was worth it, however, as it is the mummy’s appearance in the opening of the film that fans have held in their memory for all these years. The look of the mummy in this scene is haunting and bone-chilling.
THE MUMMY was another smash for Universal – continuing the studio’s winning streak to three great Horror films. It also solidified Boris Karloff’s status as a major star. Indeed, the posters advertising the film simply had the name KARLOFF splashed above the title – no first name required. Although the film never had any direct sequels, it was remade several times, notably Hammer Studios’ 1959 remake and its sequels. Universal remade the film themselves in 1999 – turning the property into a fun adventure film starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. Universal has even announced another remake of THE MUMMY to go into production soon. This is a testament to the enduring power and quality of the 1932 original, and its deserving place in our cultural history.
Parental Guide - Almost totally family friendly. Only the opening might be a little frightening. 8+
THE MUMMY fun facts –
The name Ardath Bey is an anagram of “Death by Ra”.
Zita Johann fainted on the set during a particularly hard day of filming. She awoke to the sight of Boris Karloff, in full Mummy makeup, looking down on her and saying; “Zita, darling, are you all right?”
In order to depict the events in the flashback scenes as ancient, Karl Freund designed the sequence to resemble a silent film – complete with lower frame-rate, stagy gesticulations, and exaggerated make up. This illustrates just how completely sound had taken over cinema by 1932.
There was an extended reincarnation sequence that depicted Anck-es-en-Amon’s lives throughout history, but it was cut at the last minute with little explanation. This upset many of the cast and crew, particularly Zita Johann, who was a firm believer in reincarnation.
Imhotep - “No man ever suffered as I did for you.”
Ralph Norton - “He went for a little walk! You should have seen his face!”
Imhotep – “You will not remember what I show you now, and yet I shall awaken memories of love, and crime, and death.”