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 A "legendary performance" by Boris Karloff is a "landmark in the annals of
screen history." Im-Ho-Tep is brought back to life after 3700 years . He was a
high priest who was "embalmed alive" after trying to revive the woman he loved.
Once revived he goes to look for her. The film is described as a "brooding
dream-like" one and it also called a "masterpiece." Can't really argue with
any of that except for him being embalmed alive. He wasn't. He was entombed
alive, but all they did was wrap him in bandages and dump him in a coffin. 1932, 73 minutes, DVD
A year after Universal released Frankenstein and Dracula and a year before The Invisible Man , The Mummy made its debut. Starring Boris Karloff as both the Mummy and the ancient high
priest Im-Ho-Tep, I think its the best of the Universal horror movies of the
period. It opens in the deserts of Egypt in the 1920s. An British team of
archeologists have made what they believe to be an important find. A mummy and
chest have been found. The subject of what is contained in the chest is the
main topic of conversation. The head of the expedition wants to open it, but
his buddy who is well versed in the occult and all sorts of superstitious
nonsense is against it, saying that the symbols on the chest show that whoever
opens the chest is subject to all sorts of legal liability and such (i.e.
eternal damnation) and thus it should not be opened. The other says no, they
have to open it in the interests of science. He ultimately decides just to
wait until his pal is not around and open it at that time. Of course, there is
a
third guy involved. The third guy in situations like this are commonly
referred to as "the dummy." The dummy wants it opened now! So, like a kid on
Christmas Eve, he sneaks into the tent with the chest and when he's sure that
no one is around, he breaks the seal! He pulls out an ancient scroll and
begins reading from it. Flash across the room to where the mummy is napping and
we see that he is coming to! Yipes! You can see him saying, "what the devil is
that dude muttering about? I'm trying to get some shuteye!" The Mummy ambles
over to where Dummy is reading and sticks he paw on the scroll saying, "I'll
take that" and he walks out of the tent and into the desert night! The dummy
is left, laughing hysterically, saying that the mummy "went for a little walk."
That was unsettling and the scene was well thought out. The mummy didn't kill
the guy, he left him insane! Such are the dark and wondrous powers of ... The
Mummy! Flash forward to the present (1932) and we've got some more dudes looking in
the desert for mummies and stuff. I think some of the same people (not the
crazy dummy) were involved as from the initial expedition, but all these old
British fossils from the 30s look pretty much like Colonel Mustard to me.
They're concerned because they haven't found one dried up Egyptian corpse to
exploit at their museum. Suddenly a tall, tan, leathery looking chap shows up
and announces that he just might know the whereabouts of tomb with girl-mummies
and everything. Im-Ho-Tep is his name and he is a man of quiet dignity when
he's not plotting your untimely demise. All the Brits look at each other and
say "screw it" and go where IHT directs them. It should be noted that the
Brits willingly took this guy's suggestion because it wasn't them having to do
all the digging. I bet there were several Egyptian diggers looking at IHT out
of the corner of their eyes and muttering "big, leathery jerk!" in his
direction. They find everything IHT promised them and everyone is happy. Per
some agreement with the Egyptian government all the loot is stored at the Cairo
museum. I think that was to cut down on the Mummy's travel expenses. That
allows the movie to spend the entire time in Egypt. That was good for this
flick as the sets were well done and maintained an air of decay and age. That
sense of age serves to amplify how powerful IHT's drive is, that in the face of
thousands of years he can keep chugging along chasing his dream.  Im-Ho-Tep pretty much moves into the museum where this woman mummy is displayed
and the guards are like, "wow, he's really interested in ancient Egyptian
culture, just like that guy in Blood Feast!" Actually they tell him to get his 5000 year rump out because the museum is
about to close. Then the Brits arrive and see him and say that he should come
and visit with them or some crap. They try to pat Boris' arm, but he's a
little like the MonsterHunter in that he doesn't appreciate some guy trying to
play grab-ass with him. He may have been out in the desert a long time, but
hasn't been out there that long. Boris says no thanks, I'm still stalking this here girl-mummy. At
some point in time he's doing some kind ancient Egyptian raise the dead gimmick
with the scroll he ripped off and it has an effect on the female star of the
movie. I gagged when I saw her. She was quite a homely lass with gigantic
fish eyes. I felt like she was making them stick out on purpose. It turns out
that her mother was Egyptian and her father was Marty Feldman. Having Egyptian
blood helps explain why IHT is having this effect on her. It turns out that
she is the reincarnation of his long dead girlfriend. That was quite a lucky
break that while he was drooling over the rotting corpse in the museum,
upstairs at the museum party the reincarnated version of her was right there
shaking things down on the dance floor with one of the Brits (a young one) from
that second expedition. Eventually a museum guard gets himself killed by Boris
and then there is a confrontation between the Brits and Boris. They managed
to recover the scroll and have hidden it and Boris wants it back. They won't
give it back so Boris scowls and exits. Shortly thereafter Boris' nubian slave
appears and steals the scroll. Boris kills one of the dudes by some trick with
his hand. Things are really moving now and the woman that Im-Ho-Tep thinks is
the reincarnation of his dead honey is lured to IHT's batcave.
At Im-Ho-Tep's secret hideout, complete with reflecting pool that lets you see
into the past, IHT uses flashback sequence to tell her and the audience how
he came to be. We're transported back to ancient Egypt where Im-Ho-Tep's
girlfriend has died. Boris doesn't like this, so he rips off a scroll from
some temple or tomb and goes to the tomb where the girl has been laid to rest.
He starts his magic mumbo jumbo voodoo stuff to snap her out death when he's
busted by the guards. He broke a serious rule so they wrap him up in a bunch of
Ace bandages while he's still alive and dump him in a coffin. He was brought
back to life when Dummy read the scroll. The flashback scenes were very well
done. They had a nightmarish quality partly because there was no sound. Every
so often Boris would narrate some part of a scene, but within the flashback
itself you couldn't hear anything. It was also edited like a person's thoughts
might be. Chunks of events were presented, none in their entirety, only the
highlights that would be burned in a person's memory. It certainly makes
Im-Ho-Tep more sympathetic to us. Every thing he's doing is because he loves
this woman. Is there any nobler purpose? Women probably hope that their mate
would do that for them and the men would like believe that they would. After
the flashback, Im-Ho-Tep's woman is like, "ohh, now I get it." She actually
doesn't remember anything so she goes back home to the Brits. They know what's
up and everyone decides that she should stay put and avoid further contact with
the Mummy. But the problem is that the longer she avoids him the more her
strength is sapped by resisting his siren song. Eventually she goes back and
the Brits resolve to be there to put a stop to his moldy plans.  It's showdown time! Im-Ho-Tep has got everything ready to go and his big plan
is to kill her so that she can be made a living mummy like him. She hears this
and smartens him up in a hurry. "Mummy, you're a great guy and I'll always
love
you, but I'm just not in love with you. It's been 4000 years and we've grown
apart. Don't make me get a restraining order." Of course, the Mummy's been
pining away for centuries so you can imagine that he's not one of those guys
you're going to make a clean break with. In fact, his response to her "let's
see other people" speech is something along the lines of a dagger in the ribs.
Before he can do that though the woman shouts out ancient voodoo of her own and
this statue of some animal headed freak comes alive and turns Im-Ho-Tep to
dust. The crisis is over. And the Brits show up to gawk. This one lived up
to the hype. Sympathetic villain, great atmosphere, creepy backstory all
combine to make this an experience that draws you into a world where a man
could keep the flames of passion burning through death and time. The Mummy as
a monster only makes a very brief appearance at the beginning when he makes off
with the scroll. It doesn't matter though, because the character of Im-Ho-Tep
is much more intriguing than the Mummy as shambling heap of terror would have
been . Karloff is
great and I think he pulls off a better job here then in Frankenstein. You felt pity for the Frankenstein Monster, but you identify with Im-Ho-Tep.
Who among us hasn't wanted to let go of someone. Who hasn't fought tooth and
nail to keep someone from walking out on them? Like Im-Ho-Tep, you're sure
that you're right and they're wrong, but you end up losing them anyway and feel
like the Mummy ended up - moldy dust on the floor of some Egyptian museum with
a bunch of British losers high-fiving your demise.
Reviews © 2004
MonsterHunter
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