Trivia - DVD Review: The Mummy (1932)

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Like Satchel Paige, Universal Studios seemed keenly aware of the dangers of looking back. Something, of course, might have been gaining on them. Full speed ahead it was, then, for their popular horror films of the early 1930s, as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, and The Mummy all saw release in either 1931 or 1932. All those but the first starred Boris Karloff, the former William Henry Pratt of London, England, and an iconic horror star who truly suffered for his art in the form of tedious make-up sessions at the hands of Jack Pierce. The two men, artist and model, probably remain most responsible for the continued, decades-long success of the horror film-cum-romance The Mummy. Trying to associate the film with anything besides the intricately layered, sandswept crust of Pierce's foundation worn by Karloff seems unimaginable.

If the image of Karloff in character isn't already ingrained in first-time viewers' memories from clips and promotional materials, it will be after watching the film's first twelve minutes. Still unsettling, if not terrifying, after all these years, these initial moments are the closest the film gets to traditional horror conventions. The opening is 1921, at an Egyptian tomb obviously inspired by the heavily publicised Tutankhamen dig from that year. British Museum archaeologists are in the midst of a mummified Imhotep, standing upright in a wooden coffin. Despite uncovering a scroll that specifically warns against doing exactly what they do, the men inadvertently revitalise the dead. The unfortunate witness is Norton (Bramwell Fletcher), who's all alone when Karloff's Imhotep comes to life with eerie realism. Viewers see a completely made-up Karloff, in full mummy wrap, slowly open his eyes. Then it's a creeping hand. This mummy isn't seen walking or even barely moving. The final shot of the unearthed creature is merely a few strips of cloth bandages as Norton laughs maniacally. It's a memorable, amazingly effective sequence, directed and lit by the legendary German cinematographer Karl Freund.

What follows veers far closer to a tortured romance than a horror film. The year changes to 1932 and a fez-wearing gentleman who looks suspiciously like Boris Karloff comes calling on the current expedition. He identifies himself as Ardath Bey. As we learn, his death was tortuous and involved his love for Princess Anck-es-en-Amon, who's apparently been reincarnated as Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann) in present-day 1932. Bey/Imhotep aims to relieve his once and future paramour of her earthly existence so that they can again be together.