The Mummy's Hand (1940)

"The Mummy's Hand" is actually quite a good film but it takes a bit of a while to warm up. The build-up takes up about 25 minutes or more but still good.George Zucco - excellent as villains - is on good form as the evil Egyptian High Priest who plans the destruction of the people who desecrate the tomb of an Egyptian princess.Tom Tyler is OK in the title character (now called Kharis).Released in 1940, "The Mummy's Hand" was one of the earliest horror films from the second cycle from "Universal" studios.

Eighth billed Tom Tyler plays The Mummy here (just above Sig Arno as The Beggar) partly due to his slight resemblance to Boris Karloff, who played the original in 1932.The mighty George Zucco disembarks from a train and moves silently though a crowd. We are then treated to his subsequent meeting with The High Priest (Eduardo Cianelli). Through the swirling mists, we see flashbacks from the original 'The Mummy (1932)', only with Tyler substituted for Karloff as Kharis, cursed and entombed for ever. What strikes me immediately about this is how the style is completely different from the original film – there is no slow build up, no particular infusion of atmosphere, just straight into the film and on with the story.3000 years has elapsed, and it seems it is time to resurrect Kharis with the aid of three tana leaves. Nine leaves will animate Kharis – 'but never must you brew more than nine leaves, or Kharis will become a soulless demon with a desire to kill.' Also unlike the original, there is a rich vein in humour in this, from Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and especially his friend Babe (Wallace Ford), who achieve financing for their archaeological trip from The Great Solvani (Cecil Kellaway) and his headstrong daughter Marta (Peggy Moran), who inevitably falls for Banning. The humour works because it stems from the likable characters and is scattered throughout, and provides a good contrast to the dark magic elsewhere.Kharis is an impressive Mummy. His painful gait, slow determined movements, post-production blacking out of eyes and swatches of bandages looking less like a suit than would be apparent in further sequels – all these things serve to give him a determined yet spectral appearance. Tom Tyler is in it only briefly (indeed, some of his scenes are repeated through the 80 minute running time), but makes such a good job of the role, it is a great shame he was not brought back for future films in this series.Some critics dismiss 'The Mummy's Hand' as the 'usual mumbo-jumbo', which is unfair. The formulaic inclusion of tana leaves, lost princesses and High Priests hadn't really become formulaic before this, and only took hold as subsequent Mummy films rolled on. This is possibly the most enjoyable of the series (and the most impressive looking, making good use of the huge ceremonial set from James Whale's 'Green Hell' earlier the same year), after the original, which retains a platform all of its own.

The other three Universal Kharis films succeeding were pretty uninspired and uneven, though not without their good parts, however The Mummy's Hand while less than perfect and not exactly great is actually rather decent. Universal are nowhere near at their best here and The Mummy with Boris Karloff also from Universal from eight years earlier is the better film, but of the four Universal Kharis films The Mummy's Hand is easily the best of the four and the only one to come close to a good film.It does start off rather sluggishly and takes too long to get going, it's all relevant but one does wish that the film got to the point quicker than it did. Two performances didn't come over so good, Wallace Ford's bumbling gets irritating after a while and Eduardo Ciannelli is for my tastes rather stiff. And I do have to agree about some of the comedy, some of it is witty and amusing but too much of it was intrusive and unnecessary so it felt more annoying than funny.Visually however The Mummy's Hand is a solidly made film, the best-looking of the four Universal Kharis films most certainly, everything's professionally shot, moodily(appropriately) lit and crisply edited, the sets are suitably atmospheric and it's clear what the time and place is meant to be. The score fits well and is haunting, again the best score of the four films, being very stock in the other three. The story while not much new is interesting and doesn't try to do anything too simple or complicated, while it has more than one type of film genre it didn't feel muddled or have the feeling of not-knowing-what-it-was-trying-to-be and once it gets going it is quick moving and is pretty exciting and atmospherically spooky. The direction is decent and while none of the performances are award-worthy the performances are solid enough, George Zucco's excellent(brimming with sinister authority) performance standing out. Cecil Kellaway is very likable and Tom Tyler is surprisingly good as Kharis, he's actually genuinely unnerving(particularly the eyes). Dick Foran is amiable and Peggy Moran brings charm and spunk to her role.Overall, a decent if not great film and easily the best of the Universal Kharis films. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox

The Mummy's Hand (1940)*** (out of 4) Universal decided to reboot the 1932 film with entry, which started the series from scratch. This time out, Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and his buddy Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford) lead an expedition in search of the tomb to an Egyptian princess but instead they find the body of the mummy Kharis (Tom Tyler). Soon the mummy is brought back to life by a professor (George Zucco) who plans to use him for evil reasons.In my opinion THE MUMMY'S HAND is the best mummy film the studio ever made. Whereas the original with Boris Karloff might have been better made, it's was also rather boring in spots and there's no doubt that it left you wanting more of the mummy. That's certainly not the case here as we're given an excellent cast, some great locations and best of all is that the mummy is used quite often and to great effect. Tyler certainly has the right build for the part and he manages to make for a very effective mummy. The costume itself is extremely good but the highlight has to be his pitch black eyes.The film has some nice comedy running throughout but it also works well as an adventure tale and a horror film. The horror elements are extremely good with an effective music score, some great locations and the before mentioned mummy. It also doesn't hurt that we're given a terrific cast with both Foran and Ford doing fine work in their parts and Peggy Moran is good as well. Cecil Kellaway is also nice in his bit and there's no question that Zucco owned his role.THE MUMMY'S HAND kick-started the series and while future films were entertaining, there's no question that they dropped a bit into "B" movies. This one here was certainly the best the studio ever made and remains a solid picture.