No mummies here (of the "living" variety anyway), but it does have a very sinister George Zucco in an Egyptian setting (sound familiar?).
While on an expedition in Egypt, an American archaeological team unearths the rare "Seven Jewels of the Seventh Pharaoh." A local businessman of dubious reputation, Abbadi (Zucco...who really is "a baddie" in this movie), along with his henchmen, go about stealing the famed jewels and replacing them with fakes. In order to divert suspicion and pin the crime on someone else, Abbadi invites to Cairo a renown antiquities collector from Stockholm, Sweden who, along with his daughter, are held captive and framed for the theft.
When strange things start occurring in Cairo, the local inspector teams with a pair of the archaeologists to solve the mystery. Suspecting Abbadi of some misdeed, they are tipped off by his wife and plan a rendezvous with justice in an abandoned system of antiquated aqueducts underneath the city. As is typical of this genre, one of the archaeologists is the serious "straight man" and the other is the "comic relief." A little bit too much comic relief in a film that clocks in at a mere 59 minutes, but as I said, Zucco is VERY diabolical here, so maybe it's warranted.
Some huge plot holes here, but the gist is understood. The stereotypes depicted border on absurdity and do not expect historical accuracy (a cabbie named "Yahudi"??...in Egypt???) Not among the best mystery movie by any means, but it is a Universal picture from the "Silver Age" of horror and the stock musical score adds a real sense of suspense to this film. Undoubtedly, though, it is the usually superior performance of George Zucco that makes this worth seeing. 5/10
