The Mummy's Ghost

This horror yarn gives new meaning to term " 'til death do us part." This was a real quickie movie and it shows. However, it's one redeeming value is the mummy finally wins the girl, albeit, it may leave one with that sinking feeling.

"The Mummy's Ghost" is a sequel to "The Mummy's Tomb" (1942). In that film Kharis the Mummy (Lon Chaney) perished in a house fire. Also the old high priest (George Zucco) dies of old age while handing over his powers to a new high priest. In this film we find out that not only did Kharis survive the fire unscathed but the old high priest turns up alive and shaking.

This entry has the High Priest Yousef Bey (John Carradine) being assigned the task of going to America to retrieve the mummies of Kharis and his queen Ananka. Hero Tom Hervey (Robert Lowery) is courting a beautiful Egyptian by the name of Amina Mansouri (Ramsay Ames). Meanwhile Yousef Bey sets about arranging to take the two mummies back to Egypt. To this end he unleashes Kharis upon the community to murder anyone who stands in their way.

At the same time Amina starts to experience blackouts as she is being gradually taken over by the spirit of Ananka (the "ghost" of the title) to become the re-incarnation of Queen Ananka. This suddenly becomes a point of issue between Kharis and Yousef Bey until......

Becoming a "B" movie second feature series, the films did nonetheless benefit from Universal's expertise in making this kind of film. Although it features a "B" list cast and runs a scant 61 minutes, it is still an entertaining way to spend an hour.

Lon Chaney would continue in the role of the Mummy in "The Mummy's Curse" (1944) the final film in the series.

Lon Chaney doesn't say much to me as the mummy.The old high priest is still alive(yet again he thinks he's dying though)and he passes the job of feeding Kharis to one of his students again.This time their job has something added to it.Now they're going to get princess Annaka back to life.But along the way,they run into an unexpected suprise...........

"The Mummy's Ghost" is haunting and unforgettable thanks to the appearance of probably the most ravishing starlet to ever grace the screen: Ramsey Ames. She portrays the doomed Princess Ananka/Amina Monsouri heroine with a brooding, tremulous quality and when she sinks into the quicksand at the end with the mummy, you're shocked by watching her age into a 1000 mummy's bride. John Carradine is in great form as the high priest of arkham. Robert Lowery is unusually surly as the boyfriend. Reginald LeBorg directed this l944 classic. He originally wanted Acquanetta as the heroine but this sultry starlet fell and injured her shoulder on the first day of shooting. Ames was criminally ill-used by Universal but looked great in a short bob for the Republic serial, "G-Men Never Forget" in l947. Before she died two years ago from throat cancer, she remembered that Lon Chaney, who played the mummy, created many problems but she wouldn't specify. Other reports have it that Chaney was usually drunk by 12 noon. Ames was terrified he would stumble with her on the long, steep boardwalk to the remote shed and also into the swamp.wonderful atmosphere, classic musical scoring (originally from "Son of Frankenstein). Vera West does brilliant job in designing Ames beautiful white silk gowns.

Third in the Universal Kharis series, continuing after THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1942). Despite the increasingly familiar nature of these Mummy sequels, this one still has enough to make it brisk and enjoyable. A significant boost is added in casting John Carradine as the newest high priest who keeps Kharis (Lon Chaney) well fed and back on the march - this time with a new angle in trying to reunite the mummy with his princess Ananka, who is now reincarnated into the form of a sexy modern woman (Ramsay Ames).

For some lucky reason, Chaney thankfully invests some character into Kharis this time, allowing him to become visibly angered, frustrated, and even saddened during the course of the movie. The biggest drawback for this chapter is that Robert Lowery and Ramsay Ames are pretty lousy as the two leading lovers. Universal stock music is used to great effect in many sequences, and there is an offbeat ending that may be the best one of the series.

*** out of ****