TRAILER TRASH: Mummy Edition!

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Retro Review: The Mummy's Hand

I've confessed my secret preference for the Kharis Mummy series of the 1940s over the much more highly regarded Boris Karloff Mummy of 1932 here in the Vault before. It's an opinion I've maintained ever since first discovering the '40s series a couple years ago. See, some may despise me for it, but the first Universal Mummy film has never been a favorite of mine. It was the Kharis series that gave me what I was really craving when it came to mummy action...

Eight long years after Boris Karloff made the role of Imhotep his own in Universal's classic film The Mummy, the studio decided to completely "reboot" its franchise (geez, sound familiar?). What they did was start over completely from scratch, with a brand new mummy and a whole new story. This mummy was the one and only Kharis, and his story would begin in this 1940 B-movie gem.

That was another major shift that had occurred at Universal from the time of the original Mummy to the dawn of the new decade. Whereas the horror films put out by the studio had once been considered major deals, by the end of the 1930s, horror had been shuffled off to Universal's B-lot. In other words, they were not quite treated as seriously, or given as large of a budget. So by all rights, The Mummy's Hand should've been an entirely forgettable affair.

However, Universal decided to have a lot more fun with this new Mummy film, to let loose and not take things so seriously. And the result, for my money, was pure classic horror gold. The Mummy's Hand is great fun, a true B-horror film of the highest order, and one which gives the viewer exactly what he/she is looking for.

For example, whereas Karloff's Mummy had been a fairly slow affair, with an admittedly nuanced performance from Karloff and very little in the way of mummy action, The Mummy's Hand gave us a true lumbering, bandaged mummy, wreaking havoc throughout the movie, choking victims left and right, and coming across as nothing less than a 1940s proto-Jason. As opposed to Imhotep, who only appears in mummy get-up very briefly in the film, and spends the rest in the human(ish) form of Ardeth Bay.

I remember always being somewhat disappointed as a kid, because I didn't get to see much mummy hyjinks in the 1932 film--at least not in the way I expected. What I had expected was a mindless, hulking creature who does his master's bidding and squeezes the life out of unfortunate humans. But what I didn't realize until all those years later, was that the image of the mummy which I had formed in my mind actually originated in this film, The Mummy's Hand. And just to show you how infuential it was, it was this film, and not the 1932 Mummy, which Hammer Films actually remade in the form of their 1959 version of the The Mummy.

Veteran B-movie helmer Christy Cabanne sat in the director's chair for this one, and while I'm not claiming it was any brilliant piece of directing by any stretch of the imagination, the man certainly knew how to deliver a fine piece of genre entertainment. And Elwood Bredell, who would later go on to lens such Universal horror flicks as The Ghost of Frankenstein, Hold That Ghost and The Invisible Woman, sets the perfect mood with some nicely atmospheric photography.

Although uncredited, it was movie makeup legend Jack Pierce, Universal's go-to guy for 20 years, who provided the distinctive makeup for Kharis. And the makeup used in this first installment was noticeably superior to that used in the later films of the series. Particularly chilling are Kharis' jet-black eyes, presumably created using some early (and no doubt extremely uncomfortable) movie contact lenses. He's also played by stuntman Tom Tyler, who seems to be given much more to do, ironically, than Lon Chaney Jr. was given in the role in the subsequent sequels. Bottom line, Kharis is one terrifying movie monster.

Popular movie cowboy Dick Foran stars as Steve Banning, the spotless and vaguely annoying hero archaeologist who uncovers the mummy and releases his curse. Much more interesting to me is his "comic relief" sidekick Babe Jenson, played by Wallace Ford--a.k.a. Phrozo the Clown from Freaks. Also of note is 1940s B-horror legend George Zucco in the supporting role of Banning's clueless colleague Prof. Andoheb. Instantly recognizable character actor Cecil Kellaway, fresh off an appearance the previous year in the classic Wuthering Heights, shows up here as The Great Solvani, the wealthy stage magician who funds the Egyptian expedition.

I know that the 1932 Mummy will always be considered the unquestioned classic, and I'm not denying it is a better-made picture overall. But what I'm also saying is that The Mummy's Hand is just a lot more fun--a movie you can kick back with if you're in the mood for some true golden age Universal movie monster mayhem. This is the stuff that the "monster kid" generation was weaned upon. It's got chills, thrills, adventure and a generous dose of hokiness. It may be no somber, brooding masterpiece of cinematic horror, but when I think of ancient, bandaged, Egyptian dudes, The Mummy's Hand will always be the film that first comes to mind...

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Mummy Dearest

For many fans of the glory days of Universal horror, there are certain films that epitomize the era: the Frankenstein series, the Dracula series and The Wolf Man would be among them. Also among them would be Boris Karloff's 1932 The Mummy.
However, I wanted to point out a series of Universal films that gets short shrift from fans of classic horror, partly due to the legendary status of Karloff's 1932 picture. I'm referring to the "Kharis" mummy films of the 1940s, which I recently had the pleasure of rediscovering. I'm even going to go on record as saying that I prefer the "Kharis" series to the original.
This might seem blasphemy to some, but this series, relegated to relative obscurity and almost never mentioned in discussions of Universal horror, delivers the goods much better than Karloff's film. Even as a kid, I greatly preferred these movies, mainly due to the fact that the character of the mummy really lives up to your expectations of what a mummy should be--as opposed to the first movie, in which Karloff only appears as an actual mummy in the beginning, and then spends the rest of the flick as a weird wrinkled guy in a fez. Chances are, when you think of the mummy as a movie monster, you're really thinking of Kharis, whether you realize it or not.
Released between 1940 and 1944, The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost and The Mummy's Curse are among the most underrated pictures of horror's golden age. The '40s is known for its dearth of solid horror pictures, due in large part to the real-life horrors of World War II. Even the vaunted Frankenstein and Dracula series devolved into the juvenile during this period. I would argue that the "Kharis" series are the finest horror movies put out by the studio during the 1940s--and that's including The Wolf Man.
The quartet of films has nothing to do with the 1932 Mummy, in which Karloff played not Kharis but an entirely different dead Egyptian, Imhotep. This series tells its own story, of a shambling eternal killing machine, many of whose scenes still have the power to chill the blood, and in whose appearance and movements one can see an early influence on the zombies created by the likes of George Romero and Lucio Fulci. Furthermore, it can be argued that Hammer Films' 1959 The Mummy is based much more on these films than it is on the Karloff picture.
The "Kharis" series is not given the credit it deserves, perhaps due to the inescapable shadow of Karloff's earlier classic, or maybe the fact that horror movies had been relegated to B-movie status at Universal by the '40s. But fans of old school horror would do well to unearth this often overlooked series, as I did. Although the quality decreases as the series goes along, they are all highly enjoyable, and the continuity between the sequels is actually stronger than in other Universal horror series.
Although it hasn't been updated in years, here's an excellent site devoted entirely to the "Kharis" series, for those who want to find out more.

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Hellboy to Duke It Out with Drac, Frankie & the Gang?

Ever since the Hellboy property came over to Universal, the rumors on the net have been swirling about the possibility that Universal's most cherished cinematic creations, the famed "Universal monsters" of the studio's classic 1930s-1950s horror films, might cross over into the world of everyone's favorite crimson ass-kicker. Feeding into these rumors has been director Guillermo del Toro's professed long-time love for these icons of the genre.

The rumors of Hellboy doing battle with the likes of Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon were further solidified earlier this week at the premiere of 30 Days of Night, when IESB.net cornered Mike Richardson, publisher of the Hellboy comic book and owner of Dark Horse Entertainment, to find out what we can expect from Hellboy 2. You can see the video interview for yourself here. Richardson states that such

a crossover is in fact being discussed, and it's clear from his reaction that it's more than mere speculation at this point.

Expect Hellboy 2 to hit theaters next summer. Also expect to witness the biggest silver screen battle royal since Godzilla took on King Kong.

On a side note, The Vault of Horror acknowledges the passing today of the great Joey Bishop, last of the fabled Rat Pack.

And on another side note, for all the horror/wrestling crossover fans out there, be sure and pick up the Dec. 2007 issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated, on sale now--cover story by yours truly...

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