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 | Princess | Mummy | High Priest | Archaeologist

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
Frank Sieman	...	Bill at the Red Lion
Stanley Meadows	...	James, Engerfield Attendant
Frank Singuineau	...	Head Porter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Clarke	...	Priest (uncredited)
John Harrison	...	Priest (uncredited)
Frederick Rawlings	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Terence Fisher

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jimmy Sangster		writer

Produced by
Michael Carreras	....	producer
Anthony Nelson Keys	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Franz Reizenstein

Cinematography by
Jack Asher

Film Editing by
Alfred Cox
James Needs

Casting by
Dorothy Holloway

Production Design by
Bernard Robinson

Makeup Department
Roy Ashton	....	makeup artist
Henry Montsash	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Don Weeks	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hugh Harlow	....	third assistant director
John Peverall	....	assistant director
Tom Walls	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Charles Davis	....	master carpenter
Don Mingaye	....	assistant art director
Lawrence Wren	....	master painter
Arthur Banks	....	master plasterer (uncredited)
Eric Hillier	....	props buyer (uncredited)
Mick Lyons	....	construction manager (uncredited)
Tom Money	....	property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Roy Hyde	....	sound editor
Jock May	....	sound recordist
Jim Perry	....	boom operator
Alan Thorne	....	sound camera operator
Charles Bouvet	....	sound maintenance (uncredited)
Claude Hitchcock	....	sound department (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Bill Warrington	....	special effects

Stunts
Eddie Powell	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Tom Edwards	....	still photographer
Len Harris	....	camera operator
Harry Oakes	....	focus puller
Jack Curtis	....	chief electrician (uncredited)
Alan McDonald	....	clapper loader (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Molly Arbuthnot	....	wardrobe supervisor
Rosemary Burrows	....	wardrobe assistant (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Chris Barnes	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
John Hollingsworth	....	conductor
John Hollingsworth	....	music supervisor
John Hollingsworth	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Arthur Kelly	....	studio manager
Marjorie Lavelly	....	continuity
Andrew Low	....	egyptologist
Ken Gordon	....	cashier (uncredited)
Colin Reid	....	publicist (uncredited)
Margaret Robinson	....	mask maker: Egyptian masks (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Hammer Film Productions

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1959) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1972) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (1986) (Finland) (TV)
• Warner Home Video (1987) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (1992) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2002) (USA) (VHS)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV3) (2004) (Finland) (TV)
• Universal International Pictures (UI) (19??) (Netherlands) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

USA:88 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Netherlands:14 (original rating) | 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:

Christopher Lee's mummy walk isn't entirely acting. Besides the injuries to his back and shoulder noted above, he also injured his knees and shins while doing scenes in the studio-tank "swamp" - he couldn't see where the various pipes and fittings under the swampy water were.

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 Kharis slides down it, reflecting a prior take.

Quotes:

Poacher:I've seen the likes tonight that mortal eyes shouldn't look at.
Irish Customer:You've been around to Molly Grady's again.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "British Film Forever: Magic, Murder and Monsters: The Story of British Horror and Fantasy (#1.5)" (2007)

Almost as good as Universal's 'The Mummy'. Features a terrific performance from Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee makes a menacing Mummy, even more powerful and threatening than Karloff's.

When Hammer started making horror movies in the 1950s that were inspired by some of the classic Universal movies of the 1930s they had to tread carefully. Universal threatened legal action if they copied the makeup of their Frankenstein's monster for example, which is the reason the Monster (played by Christopher Lee) looked quite different to Karloff's in Hammer's 'Curse Of Frankenstein'(1957). By the time they made 'The Mummy' two years later some kind of understanding had been entered into and this movie, though it isn't credited as such, and the characters names have been changed, is pretty much a remake of the 1932 Universal classic which starred Boris Karloff. Once again Lee plays the Karloff role, except a second character played by George Castell has been created for this version, so we don't get to see Lee without his bandages, apart from a brief flashback sequence. Peter Cushing plays the leading man role, an archaeologist who is initially sceptical but soon must accept the existence of the Mummy. Yvonne Furneaux plays Cushing's devoted wife who is also a dead ringer for Princess Ananka, the woman the Mummy loved centuries earlier. Furneaux is probably best remembered for playing Catherine Deneuve's sister in Polanski's classic 'Repulsion', and also appeared in another sixties art film classic Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita'. Cushing gives a terrific performance as usual. I've yet to see a Hammer movie where he didn't. Lee makes a menacing Mummy, even more powerful and threatening than Karloff's. Though I still love the original version of 'The Mummy' this one is almost as good. In fact it's very difficult to choose one over the other. Both come with my highest recommendations and wipe the floor with the recent tongue in cheek versions starring Brendan Fraser et al. It's a pity that Hammer didn't make more Mummy movies starring Cushing and Lee. I do however highly recommend Hammer's 'Blood From The Mummy's Tomb', even though it has no connection to 'The Mummy' and doesn't feature either actor.