The Mummy [Blu-ray]

Director: Karl Freund Karl Freund

Overview

The Mummy represented Boris Karloff's second horror starring role after his "overnight" success in Frankenstein. Brought back to life after nearly 3,700 years, Egyptian high priest Imhotep wreaks havoc upon the members of the British field exposition that disturbed his tomb (shades of the King Tut curse). While disguised as a contemporary Egyptologist, he falls in love with Zita Johann, whom he recognizes as the latest incarnation of a priestess who died nearly 40 centures earlier. Spiriting Zita away to the tomb, he relates the story of how he had dared to enter her ancestor's sacred burial crypt, hoping to restore her to life. Caught in the act, he was embalmed alive and his tongue was cut out for his act of sacrilege. Now that he has returned, he intends to slay Zita, so that they will be reunited for all time in the Hereafter. Despite its melodramatic trappings, The Mummy is essentially a love story, poetically related by ace cinematographer and first-time director Karl Freund. Jack Pierce's justly celebrated makeup skills offers us two Karloffs: the wizened Egyptologist and the flaking, rotting mummy, who though only seen for a few seconds remains in the memory long after the film's final image has faded. Best line: "It went for a little walk." The Mummy was followed by four stock footage-laden sequels, none of which approached the power and poignancy of the original.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/04/2013
UPC:	0025192178801
Original Release:	1932
Rating:	NR
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:14:00
Sales rank:	25,871

Special Features

Mummy dearest: a horror tradition unearthed; He who made monsters: the life and art of Jack Pierce; Unraveling the legacy of The Mummy; The Mummy archives; Feature commentary by Rick Baker, Scott Essman, Steve Haberman, Bob Burns and Brent Armstrong; Feature commentary by film historian Paul M. Jensen; 100 years of Universal: the Carl Laemmle era; Trailer gallery

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Boris Karloff	Ardath Bey
Zita Johann	Helen Grosvenor/Princess Anckesen-Amon
David Manners	Frank Whemple
Edward Van Sloan	Dr. Muller
A.S. Byron	Sir Joseph Whemple,Frau Muller,Sir Joseph Whemple,Actor
Bramwell Fletcher	Norton
Noble Johnson	the Nubian
Leonard Mudie	Professor Pearson
Eddie Kane	Doctor
Tony Marlow	Inspector
Arnold Gray	Knight
James Crane	Pharaoh
Henry Victor	Warrior

Technical Credits

John L. Balderston

Karl Freund	Director
John L. Balderston	Screenwriter
Carl Laemmle Jr.	Producer
John P. Fulton	Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

Starring Boris Karloff in a legendary performance, the original Mummy is one of the most elegant, atmospheric horror films ever made. In subtle yet utterly convincing mummy makeup, Karloff is less a monster than a lovelorn wraith -- superbly sinister yet tragic. Mistaking an archeologist's fiancée (Zita Johann) for the woman he loved and lost thousands of years earlier, Karloff attempts to take her back to the grave with him -- literally. Karl Freund, the German cinematographer on such silent masterworks as Metropolis, directed The Mummy for Universal, displaying an Expressionist flair for dramatic lighting and striking camera angles. Made on a low budget, The Mummy creates a mood of pervasive, poetic creepiness, rather than out-and-out terror. The DVD version is close-captioned and includes production notes, commentary by film historian Paul M. Jenson, and an original documentary by David J. Skal, Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed.

Barnes & Noble - Kryssa Schemmerling

Produced by Universal and scripted by John Balderston, The Mummy is essentially a remake of that team's already then-classic Dracula (1931). Once again, the undead, in this film a 3,000-year-old high priest brought to life by the desecration of his grave, may only possess a woman by turning her into an echo of himself. Karl Freund, one of the veterans of German expressionism, had photographed the Bela Lugosi version of Dracula but had obviously been heavily stifled by Tod Browning's stilted direction. Here, with the able assistance of director of cinematography Charles Stumar, Freund is allowed a second chance and he rarely lets his camera remain immobile for long. Never before, and rarely since, has the German silent school been used to better effect in a Hollywood production; not only do the many tracking shots add the kind of visual excitement completely lacking in Dracula, Freund also accomplishes a sense of ethereal romance spanning time and distance. If Freund is the true star of The Mummy, Boris Karloff remains a close second. With his angular face and physique and that slight lisp, less was often more, and as Imhotep, Karloff never overplays but creates instead a believably brittle 3,000-year-old, whose power lies more in thought than deed. Accolades should also go to Zita Johann, the Broadway actress' only truly memorable screen performance. Reportedly, screenwriter John Balderston had recommended Katharine Hepburn, but wiser heads prevailed and Johann went on to create one of the most memorable ingenues in horror film history. According to film lore, makeup artist Jack Pierce spent hours upon hours wrapping Karloff in his conventional mummy getup but Freund wisely used only close-ups of the actor's face and hands, leaving it up to the viewer's imagination as to what exactly made poor Bramwell Fletcher go mad in perhaps The Mummy's best-remembered scene.

All Movie Guide - Hans J. Wollstein