The Mummy (1959)

It's strange to think that only 15 years separates Hammer Films' bright and colourful version of 'The Mummy' and the last of Universal's Lon Chaney fronted Mummy series. And yet, here it is: buoyed by the success of their recent internationally successful horrors, Michael Carreras' tiny British company forged on with this tale of Egyptian tombs and legends … … except that this has all the Egyptian atmosphere of a telephone box. Hammer were careful to reconstruct their take on 'Dracula (1957)' and 'Curse of Frankenstein (1958)' to take into account the modest budget at their disposal; 'The Mummy' makes little such concessions. As a result it is, to my mind, highly over-ambitious and unconvincing. There is a poky, studio-bound feel to the Tomb of Ananka and its surrounding settings that even tremendous actors like Raymond Huntley, Felix Aylmer and of course Peter Cushing cannot distract us from. Later, we revisit the tombs in a familiarly protracted flashback sequence.George Pastell makes the first of two appearances in this Mummy series, as respectful servant Mehemet Bey, and Michael Ripper is on hand as a poacher (in some much needed lightness during what is little more than a handful of cameos) once we are back in the easier-to-convey 1895 England. Christopher Lee's Kharis is so angry about the tomb of his princess Ananka being desecrated that he comes back from the dead, resurrected from the studio-swamp Bey's incompetent lackey's have inadvertently left him. Cushing's stoical John Banning happens to be married to Isobel (Yvonne Furneaux), the spitting image of Ananka.It's all a little staged and mannered and the story is highly reminiscent of a number of the Universal films, which were pretty familiar by 1944. Even some of the characters are very similar. Despite the intensity of the performers and the beautifully lit visuals, there is a staidness about Terence Fisher's direction ensuring that, unlike Kharis, the film never really comes to life (although clever camera angles make it appear the mummy could indeed be the ten-foot tall he is purported to be).Kharis is lean and powerful, and Hammer's best looking mummy. Lee's expressive eyes shine through the make-up, conveying the creature's emotion as required, but this added sense of humanity ensures that, despite his power, Kharis isn't particularly ethereal or frightening.Events do liven up during the final reel, where Kharis and Banning once again come face to face. But, as with Hammer's 'Curse of the Werewolf' the following year, an exciting finale is sadly too little, too late.

Here's another colourful classic from those chaps at Hammer, made at the peak of their popularity in the late '50s. From here on they were on their way down, forced into lower and lower budgets in the '60s (forced to shoot two lots of films back-to-back in 1965 in order to utilise sets), remaking the same types of film again and again, and desperately trying to cling on to the last remaining viewers in the early '70s with added gore and sex. THE MUMMY is a faithful retelling of previous entries in the genre, only this time with different names and lots of colour. Hammer made their mummy (played by Christopher Lee) a frightening, towering figure of evil, and scenes of it striding across the countryside, caked in mud and slime after rising from a bog, manage to be very frightening indeed.It's also a surprisingly tame film, at least in the version I saw, tame enough to get a PG rating in the UK. The only grisly moment comes when Lee gets his tongue cut out in flashback, but MARK OF THE DEVIL this isn't! We witness the event from behind Lee's head instead. Supposedly, racier/gorier versions were shot for foreign markets, and I'd love to see a print of one of these one day - it would certainly make interesting viewing.Anyway, in the tradition of their previous hits THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and Dracula, this film has a great score from James Bernard, good photography and lots of nice scenery/sets and costumes. Full use is made of the colour film available to Hammer, making it a very nice picture to look at. My only real complaint with this film would be the running time, which feels very short (although it isn't really). A fair quarter of an hour is taken up with a lengthy flashback scene explaining how Lee came to be buried in the princess' tomb. Therefore the film feels very short, and there's not a lot of opportunity to build up atmosphere. Instead what we get is a surprising amount of action and lots of shots of Lee coming out of his tomb and prowling the countryside while menacing music plays on. What more could you want from Hammer? Of course the third pairing of Cushing and Lee is the factor that really makes this film unmissable (just about any film starring the pair is a classic, with perhaps the exceptions of THE GORGON, I, MONSTER, and NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT). Lee plays the monster once more, using only his eyes to convey loneliness and sadness as the titular character. Indeed he puts in a sympathetic performance, yet still manages to be frightening when we first meet up with him. Cushing, on the other hand, does what he does best, i.e. be the hero and fight evil. He does get a couple of excellent fight scenes with Lee set in a library, where he rolls over desks in a display of sudden agility and even spears the mummy with a poker (an idea of his own). Cushing's character is typically noble and intelligent, yet not as interesting as his Doctor Frankenstein or Van Helsing - in fact, John Banning is quite a bland role, but Cushing breathes life into it with his typical skill and makes all of the scenes in which he appears professional and worthy.An excellent supporting cast flesh out the ranks, including Yvonne Furneaux as the glamorous damsel in distress (given shamefully little to do, though, aside from be carried by the mummy). Felix Aylmer is the fussy, selfish elder Banning, who probably deserves the strangling that he gets, when the mummy breaks through the bars of his padded cell and attacks him (again a great moment). Further down the cast list, Michael Ripper puts in a comic bit part as a drunk poacher who can't believe his eyes, George Pastell is suitably evil as a suspicious foreigner, and old-time performers like George Woodbridge (a staple for Hammer) lend solid support.The special effects are limited, but there are some excellent scenes involving the mummy getting shot where huge holes are blown in his chest - very convincing too. The ending sees the mummy taking Banning's wife and walking back into the bog, before putting her down and getting gunned to death by surrounding policemen (KING KONG anybody?), which manages to be quite tragic and fitting. The Egyptian scenes and flashbacks look convincingly done on a low budget, and the mummy kills a string of people to keep the horror content flowing. In all, this is another well-made classic from Hammer, with all the correct elements, and the best mummy movie I've seen so far.

A pretty good mummy movie about John Banning (Peter Cushing) and Kharis (Christopher Lee) - fun to watch.This is NOT a remake of Universal's The Mummy 1932 with Boris Karloff. Karloff's mummy was Imhotep NOT Kharis. There was bits and pieces of this film that were reminiscent of the Karloff classic but NOT a remake of it. This film is NOT a remake of Universal's Mummy Kharis series either. Tom Tyler played Kharis in The Mummy's Hand followed by Lon Chaney Jr. in 3 of the Universal Mummy films (Tomb, Ghost, Curse). The film is almost a mixture of all of the Universal mummy movie stories rolled into one - not exactly but almost.I would have rated this one higher if the ending made more since. John Banning shot Kharis in shoulder and looked like close to the stomach but the mummy Kharis survived. The ending Kharis was shot and went down in swampy waters. I'm guessing Banning didn't hit a vital organ but the other shooters at the end did hit a vital organ. Also the movie ended abruptly - seems like just a bit more at the end with John Banning and the other guys "summing things up" would have really been nice.7/10

It is 1895. British archaeologists John Banning (Peter Cushing), his father and his uncle discover the tomb of Princess Ananka. John stays in his tent after injuring his leg. Egyptian Mehemet Bey warns them not to go in. Once inside, his father finds the Scroll of Life, reads from it and gets struck down in a catatonic state. Mehemet is able to steal the Scroll. Three years later back in London, his father revives to tell John that the mummified high priest of Karnak, Kharis (Christopher Lee), was reanimated. John doesn't believe him and then Mehemet unleashes the mummy on his father using the Scroll.This is B-horror done relatively well, which means that this is still a minor bore. The dialog and the staging is stiff but the acting is better than most. It's helped by some good British actors starting with Cushing. The mummy emergence from the mud is a good idea. He looks much better dirty and muddy. The kills are done off screen. It's still the old way but it's done well.