Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily Entertainment GuideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsCannes Film FestivalStar WarsAsian Pacific American Heritage MonthSummer Watch GuideSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Mummy's Boys

  • 1936
  • Approved
  • 1h 8m
IMDb RATING
5.0/10
316
YOUR RATING
Barbara Pepper, Bert Wheeler, and Robert Woolsey in Mummy's Boys (1936)
Comedy

Two ditch diggers from New York join an archeological expedition to Egypt in hopes of striking it rich, unaware of the supposed curse.Two ditch diggers from New York join an archeological expedition to Egypt in hopes of striking it rich, unaware of the supposed curse.Two ditch diggers from New York join an archeological expedition to Egypt in hopes of striking it rich, unaware of the supposed curse.

  • Director
    • Fred Guiol
  • Writers
    • Jack Townley
    • Julius J. Epstein
    • Charles E. Roberts
  • Stars
    • Bert Wheeler
    • Robert Woolsey
    • Barbara Pepper
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.0/10
    316
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Fred Guiol
    • Writers
      • Jack Townley
      • Julius J. Epstein
      • Charles E. Roberts
    • Stars
      • Bert Wheeler
      • Robert Woolsey
      • Barbara Pepper
    • 9User reviews
    • 10Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos3

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster

    Top cast31

    Edit
    Bert Wheeler
    Bert Wheeler
    • Stanley Wright
    Robert Woolsey
    Robert Woolsey
    • Aloysius C. Whittaker
    Barbara Pepper
    Barbara Pepper
    • Mary Browning
    Moroni Olsen
    Moroni Olsen
    • Dr. Edward Sterling
    Frank M. Thomas
    Frank M. Thomas
    • Phillip Browning
    Willie Best
    Willie Best
    • Catfish
    Francis McDonald
    Francis McDonald
    • Rasheed Bey
    Frank Lackteen
    Frank Lackteen
    • Second Oriental
    Charles Coleman
    Charles Coleman
    • Kendall
    Mitchell Lewis
    Mitchell Lewis
    • Haroun Pasha
    Frederick Burton
    Frederick Burton
    • Professor Edwards
    Edith Craig
    • Sheik's Wife
    • (uncredited)
    John Davidson
    John Davidson
    • Cafe Manager in Cairo
    • (uncredited)
    Kay Garrett
    • Hotel Guest
    • (uncredited)
    Al Haskell
    Al Haskell
    • Native Policeman
    • (uncredited)
    Noble Johnson
    Noble Johnson
    • Tattoo Artist
    • (uncredited)
    Edward Keane
    • Ship's Captain
    • (uncredited)
    Ethan Laidlaw
    Ethan Laidlaw
    • Peters
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Fred Guiol
    • Writers
      • Jack Townley
      • Julius J. Epstein
      • Charles E. Roberts
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews9

    5.0316
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    1BA_Harrison

    Deservedly lost in the sands of time.

    This is the first film I have seen starring Wheeler & Woolsey, and it'll probably be my last, the painfully unfunny comedy duo failing to make me laugh even once. Clearly under the illusion that they're of the same calibre as Laurel and Hardy and The Marx Brothers, the guys deliver their stale brand of vaudeville humour with energy and confidence, but their act only serves to irritate, Bert Wheeler being particularly grating with his repeated forgetfulness.

    I only watched this one because I am a horror movie completist, and I had hoped for some zany 'mummy on the rampage' fun. What I actually got was a dire murder mystery, devoid of originality, laughs, and excitement. The plot sees ditch-diggers Stanley Wright and Aloysius Whittaker (Wheeler & Wollsey) hired as excavators on an expedition to Egypt, where archaeologist Phillip Browning (Frank M. Thomas) intends to return artefacts taken from the tomb of King Pharatimes, thus avoiding becoming another victim of the Pharoah's curse.

    The low point of the film for me was an attempt at comedic wordplay, the characters unable to say the phrase 'twenty miles as the crow flies'. It's the kind of thing that Bob Hope or Danny Kaye might possibly have made work, but Wheeler and Woolsey have no chance and the result is embarrassingly inept. I'm sure you will have your own 'worst moment' from the movie - there are plenty to choose from.

    The film doesn't even have the decency to feature a real mummy (the killer wraps himself in bandages to pretend to be a mummy), expects us to believe that Browning's pretty daughter Mary (Barbara Pepper) would be romantically interested in an absent-minded idiot like Stanley, and includes the obligatory stereotypical 'scared black man' (Willie Best).
    7didi-5

    minor league Wheeler and Woolsey

    Although Mummy's Boys has its moments, and although it always a pleasure to see Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey in a film, this one is really minor league after their run of greats in the pre-code early 1930s.

    Here the boys play loafers who go to Cairo to help on an archaeological dig, aided and hindered by the lumbering Willie Best, a sort of poor man's Stepin Fetchit, and distracted by Barbara Pepper, a low level love interest for Bert, who has a habit of forgetting things here rather than stealing things as he did in Cockeyed Cavaliers.

    Although Woolsey's reactions were predictable and a bit tiresome by this stage in the series, little Wheeler is as charming and cute as ever. There is no musical number, which is a shame, as the film drags somewhat without the distraction of some song 'n' dance.

    Not the best W&W, and perhaps not the one to start with, but worth a look.
    5bkoganbing

    Mummy's Boys And The Professor's Daughter

    Long before Abbott&Costello were teaming up with all the Universal horror characters, over at RKO Wheeler&Woolsey took their turn at the horror genre with Mummy's Boys.

    They introduce it with a plot gimmick straight out of the Depression. The guys are digging ditches at what looks like a Works Progress Administration Project. And they're not getting along too good with that. But Woolsey spots a newspaper advertisement where diggers are sought for an Egyptian expedition. He correctly reasons why not put their newly acquired skills towards something positive and see an exotic part of the world.

    The guys sign on to an expedition headed by Frank M. Thomas who has the idea to take the treasures that were dug up in the last expedition back to Egypt and the tomb they came from because they're bringing bad luck. An unusual string of fatalities keep happening to those who were on that first expedition, a lot like what was happening to folks who were on the famous King Tut expedition in the Twenties. Wheeler gets an additional reason for coming along, he gets stuck on the professor's daughter, Barbara Pepper.

    Of course in Egypt and on the trip going there, the boys get in all kinds of trouble. My favorite is how they get tangled up with desert sheik Francis McDonald and his harem.

    Moroni Olsen as another archaeologist gets a chance to do a great crazy act in the end, something different from a character actor who usually had quite serious roles.

    It's not quite as good as either the A&C horror spoofs or some of the earlier Wheeler&Woolsey work, but Mummy's Boys will generate more than a couple of laughs.
    7Ron Oliver

    Wheeler & Woolsey Go Crazy In Egypt

    Two zany ditch diggers join an expedition intent on returning a cursed treasure to the burial chamber of Egyptian King Pharatime. But when a crazed killer starts spreading comedic terror in the tomb, who will come rescue the MUMMY'S BOYS?

    This starts out as a suspense tale, with mysterious deaths & a Pharaoh's curse, but it soon becomes a typical Wheeler & Woolsey comedy (Bert Wheeler is the one with the curly hair; Robert Woolsey has the cigar & spectacles). The Boys are always fun to watch and this film is no exception, even if the plot is exceptionally silly. Unlike Laurel & Hardy, who relied heavily on slapstick & physical humor, Wheeler & Woolsey's comedy derived largely from the dialogue. Their best bit here: the `twenty miles as the crow flies' routine.

    Barbara Pepper is Wheeler's love interest here; Willie Best adds to the craziness.
    vandino1

    Another sorry dud from Wheeler & Woolsey

    This was the third to last film made by the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey and it's pretty weak stuff. Totally forgettable. As an Egyptian Mummy curse movie it at least has a dark and mysterious look to it, and is ably directed, but this is a comedy and it has the bad luck of having the "laughs" provided by W & W. Unless you have a fondness for stale vaudeville patter, you're not going to find much humor from the work of this trying team. There is a reason these guys are mostly forgotten: they weren't funny. But, oh, do THEY think they are. In film after film, including this one, the duo practically burst out laughing at their own antics. And this film was a financial flop when it came out; so much so that RKO even fired the director Fred Guiol right off the lot. He only managed to keep a career in Hollywood because of his pal, director George Stevens. Amazingly, this stale muffin was written by THREE writers. As one critic put it at the time: "Mummy's Boys" is a seven reel comedy that is eight reels too long." I would like to add that there is one Wheeler & Woolsey comedy that, to me, was actually pretty funny: 'Diplomaniacs.' It has a zany Marx Brothers feel to it and is very reminiscent of W.C. Fields' wacky film 'Million Dollar Legs.' Even Wheeler & Woolsey could score once, in my book.

    More like this

    High Flyers
    5.8
    High Flyers
    The Rainmakers
    5.9
    The Rainmakers
    The Nitwits
    5.9
    The Nitwits
    Hold 'Em Jail
    6.1
    Hold 'Em Jail
    Cracked Nuts
    6.0
    Cracked Nuts
    Caught Plastered
    6.1
    Caught Plastered
    Kentucky Kernels
    6.0
    Kentucky Kernels
    Diplomaniacs
    6.4
    Diplomaniacs
    Brooklyn Orchid
    5.7
    Brooklyn Orchid
    Silly Billies
    6.2
    Silly Billies
    Girl Crazy
    5.9
    Girl Crazy
    Singapore Woman
    5.8
    Singapore Woman

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      From an exhibitor speaking to the trade journal Motion Picture Herald: "The poorest picture this team has turned out. I can't understand why the producers don't give this famous team some story to work on. They are just as good as they ever were if given half a chance, but this last story couldn't get a laugh in a feeble-minded institution."

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 2, 1936 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Los chicos de mamá
    • Production company
      • RKO Radio Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 8 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Barbara Pepper, Bert Wheeler, and Robert Woolsey in Mummy's Boys (1936)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Mummy's Boys (1936) officially released in India in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb app
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb app
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb app
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.