The Mummy's Tomb

source: The Mummy's Tomb

Trailer—The Mummy's Tomb

The Mummy's Tomb

A resurrected wrapped monster goes on a murdering binge. A lunatic is seeking revenge against living members of a previous expedition. Universal seems to be running out of wrapping as well as new ideas. Most of the budget was probably spent on Lon Chaney Jr. to star as Kharis, the Mummy. Other players are George Zucco, Wallace Ford, Turhan Bey, Dick Foran and Elyse Knox. How much longer can this madness continue?

This takes places 30 years after "Hand" which means it should happen in 1970--but there's clear references to World War II! This has Kharis (Lon Chaney now) coming to Mapleton Massachusetts to kill the desecraters of an ancient tomb. How Kharis survived after being burnt to death in the previous movie and why he waits 30 years is never explained. With him is Mehemet Bay (Turhan Bay) to feed him tana leaves and order him about. It's pretty silly since the plot makes little sense and there are loopholes galore...but it sometimes works. The makeup on Chaney is effective, it moves fairly quickly, the acting isn't bad and it all leads up to a fiery climax. All in all an OK Universal horror film.

Fun, typical Universal"B".. In what must've amounted to a cost-cutting measure, over 10 min. of the film's 60 min. running time, is made up of scenes from 1940's The Mummy's Hand"!! This flick would mark Chaney's first of 3 appearances as Kharis. Look for Glenn Strange[Frankenstein's Monster from '44-'48]in an unbilled "bit" as a farmer calming a horse, during the Mummy's first attack sequence.

I loved the very first Universal Mummy movie with Boris Karloff in all his spookiness. It has a connection to mysteries of Egypt and Books of the Dead. Most of the other films from this genre have a real sameness to them. There is the man who travels with Kharis, the poor creature, buried alive and wrapped in cloth. His agenda seems to be to protect Kharis but he fails sometimes. This one hearkens back to the Mummy's Hand where the characters have now aged and gone on to a new generation. There is lots of death in this one, where people who the mummy realized were responsible for his struggles are done in. Soon the mummy has found a new love, and so he sets out to make things happen. Jealousy plays a role in this offering and sets the scene for another movie.

Okay, so this is pretty familiar stuff once again--you know, mad Egyptian cult leader and his resurrection of a mummy to exact revenge on those who have desecrated ancient tombs. About the only big differences here are having Lon Chaney, Jr. play the mummy for the first time and the action is moved to America (despite this making little sense). While this is far from the best mummy film, it is good old fashioned fun and I enjoy this much more than the overly special effects enhanced mummy films of the last decade because of the fun factor. The campiness and the whole ambiance are just so wonderful--and they remind you that the term "B-movie" isn't such a bad thing. Watch it and let yourself go--and have FUN!