The Mummy (1959)

Director:

Terence Fisher

Writer:

Jimmy Sangster (writer)

Release Date:

16 December 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Torn from the tomb to terrify the world!

Plot:

In the 1890s a team of British archaeologists discover the untouched tomb of Princess Ananka but accidentally...

Plot Keywords:

Tomb | Mummy | Revenge | Swamp | Remake

Cast

Peter Cushing	...	John Banning
Christopher Lee	...	Kharis, the Mummy
Yvonne Furneaux	...	Isobel Banning / Princess Ananka
Eddie Byrne	...	Inspector Mulrooney
Felix Aylmer	...	Stephen Banning
Raymond Huntley	...	Joseph Whemple
George Pastell	...	Mehemet Bey, Alias Mehemet Akir
Michael Ripper	...	Poacher
George Woodbridge	...	Police Constable
Harold Goodwin	...	Pat
Denis Shaw	...	Mike
Gerald Lawson	...	Irish Customer
Willoughby Gray	...	Dr. Reilly
John Stuart	...	Coroner
David Browning	...	Police Sergeant

Also Known As:

Terror of the Mummy (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:88 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1960) | USA:Unrated | West Germany:16 | UK:X | Canada:PG

Filming Locations:

Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

A door that Christopher Lee must crash through was accidentally bolted by a grip before the scene is shot. Lee's shoulder was dislocated when he broke down the door, but the shot remains in the movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scene where the mummy breaks through an upper window and into Stephen Banning's padded cell at the asylum, a large smudge of the swamp mud that covers the mummy suddenly appears on the cloth wall, even before Christopher Lee slides down it, reflecting a prior take.

Quotes:

John Banning: Seems I've spent the better part of my life amongst the dead

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mule Skinner Blues (2001)

influential and fun cheapie from my buddies at Hammer

The Mummy capped off an impressive initial run of horror movies from Hammer Studios. Believe it or not, it was mostly downhill from here; the company's subsequent efforts tended to be tackier and cheesier. But the "big three" (Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Mummy) are all solid horror flicks with, oddly enough, some of the most crisp and colorful photography I've ever seen.

There are some weaknesses here, though. The Egypt flashback waffles on for quite a while, and then we get ANOTHER flashback when Banning Sr. resurrects the mummy. However, the beginning and ending are well-paced and exciting, so most sins are forgiven. Lee's Mummy is spectacular; he's goddamn huge, and it's very impressive to watch him crashing through doors and French windows, absorbing shotgun blasts as if they were pinpricks (I hear Lee actually got injured several times making this movie; I can't say I'm surprised!)

My favorite scene is the ideological debate between the Egyptian badguy (a very cool performance by George Pastell) and Peter Cushing's snooty archaeologist character. Their heated exchange adds a bit of texture to the story and even makes me sympathetic to the villain's POV. However, subtext goes out the window again for the violent final confrontation.

On a side note, the exceedingly brilliant BBC show Doctor Who practically remade this movie twice. The episode "Tomb of the Cybermen" features Pastell as a guest star in a story involving an ill-fated archaeological dig, and "Pyramids of Mars" once again pits a hapless poacher against killer mummies. Just thought I'd mention it.