The Mummy (1932)

A resurrected Egyptian mummy stalks a beautiful woman he believes to be the reincarnation of his lover and bride.

Director:

Karl Freund

Writers:

Nina Wilcox Putnam (from a story by), Richard Schayer (from a story by)

Stars:

Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Boris Karloff	...	Imhotep
Zita Johann	...	Helen Grosvenor
David Manners	...	Frank Whemple
Arthur Byron	...	Sir Joseph Whemple
Edward Van Sloan	...	Doctor Muller
Bramwell Fletcher	...	Ralph Norton
Noble Johnson	...	The Nubian
Kathryn Byron	...	Frau Muller
Leonard Mudie	...	Professor Pearson
James Crane	...	The Pharoh
Henry Victor	...	The Saxon Warrior (scenes deleted)
Arnold Gray	...	Knight (scenes deleted)

Storyline

In 1921 a field expedition in Egypt discovers the mummy of ancient Egyptian prince Im-Ho-Tep, who was condemned and buried alive for sacrilege. Also found in the tomb is the Scroll of Thoth, which can bring the dead back to life. One night a young member of the expedition reads the Scroll out loud, and then goes insane, realizing that he has brought Im-Ho-Tep back to life. Ten years later, disguised as a modern Egyptian, the mummy attempts to reunite with his lost love, an ancient princess who has been reincarnated into a beautiful young woman.

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Plot Keywords:

ancient egypt | archeologist | scroll | supernatural power | white cat | 

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Taglines:

Karloff - the uncanny... in his most startling role!

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The main theme music to the opening credits is the exact same movement from Swan Lake used to open Dracula one year earlier.

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Goofs

Imhotep has been sentenced to "the Nameless Death," yet his name is still inscribed on his coffin. The ancient Egyptians had chisels and should have been able to destroy the glyphs on the coffin that make up Imhotep's name, but it is untouched when his mummy is found.

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Quotes

Helen Grosvenor: Save me from that mummy! It's dead!

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Crazy Credits

Henry Victor, officially credited as The Saxon Warrior, never appears in the film because his scenes were removed from the final cut.

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Connections

Featured in The Face of Tutankhamun (1992)

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Soundtracks

Beautiful Love
(1931) (uncredited)
Music by Victor Young
Played during the ball sequence where Helen is telepathically called to the museum

User Reviews

The greatest Mummy movie ever made. Full of atmosphere and suspense.

I love the classic horror movies of the 1930s. They were made when the talkies were still novel and film makers were experimenting with storytelling approaches, often taking inspirations from German Expressionism (indeed 'The Mummy's director Karl Freund, who later directed another 1930s classic 'Mad Love', originally worked as a cinematographer on Fritz Lang's science fiction classic 'Metropolis' and several movies by F.W. Murnau). And it was before the Hayes Code kicked in and took a lot of the fun and thrills out of horror movies (just look at how safe and uninteresting horror became in the 1940s with a few notable exceptions e.g. the movies produced by Val Lewton). The film obviously owes a lot to 'Dracula' and Edward Van Sloan and David Manners from that film reappear here in similar roles. Karloff is brilliant as Imhotep a.k.a The Mummy, and stage actress Zita Johann is wonderful too, very striking with exotic good looks. Too bad she became very quickly disillusioned with Hollywood as she should have been a major screen star. Karloff and Johann are fantastic on screen together, and make 'The Mummy' impossible to forget. I was quite surprised to discover that this movie wasn't enormously successful when originally released, but it has obviously captured the imagination of thousands of film fans since. It is easily the best Mummy movie ever made (though I also have a fondness for Hammer's "Blood From The Mummy's Tomb' made almost forty years later), and much more entertaining and intelligent than the awful remake starring Brendan Fraser et al. 'The Mummy' stands alongside 'Dracula', 'Frankenstein', 'Island Of Lost Souls', 'Freaks', 'The Invisible Man' and 'The Black Cat' as one of the best horror movies of the 1930s, an era that has had an enormous impact on horror ever since. Highly recommended!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic French

Release Date:

22 December 1932 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Mummy

Filming Locations:

Rocky Buttes, Palmdale, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$196,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1