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.

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 ****

A "tough, old bird" may not be an apt enough description of George Zucco's high priest character in the Mummy series. Somehow, still alive and shaking, he passes on the priesthood of what is now referred to as "Arkham" to Yousef Bey (John Carradine) & once again feels the need to recap the mummy's life history, which has been altered since "Mummy's Tomb". Now the story goes that the once exalted Princess Ananka died an accursed death and that Kharis was buried with her. Now it's the task of Yousef to go to Mapleton and bring the royal dead of Egypt back to their homeland.

Meanwhile, the wafting scent of tana leaves in the air attracts Kharis to the home of one Professor Norman. As Kharis shambles his way towards the cup of life, a young dish named Amina Mansouri (Ramsay Ames) gets a chance to show off her talents in filling out a nightgown as she sleepwalks her way to the very same house. Anyone else notice that black cat that ran in front of Ames during this scene? I believe that's called foreshadowing.

The reincarnation angle from the original Karloff "Mummy" gets dusted off. The spirit of Ananka has left its mummified shell & taken residence in the body of Amina. Now Kharis must go about what must be for him a pleasant task of carrying off yet another woman clad in white (it's the only activity that gets his "dead" arm to work) and hope that another high priest won't succumb to any lascivious thoughts lurking in the back of his mind.

But, that's not how things work out, for the life of an undead character stuck in repetitious sequels penned by unimaginative story writers is a hard one. The only merciful thing to do would've been to let Kharis & his Princess drown in eternal bliss, but the call of the box-office demanded one more sequel (Amon-Ra help us).

This mummy film is one of a series of four produced by Universal Pictures in the 1940s--well after their original film starring Boris Karloff. While none of these films opened up a lot of new ground, they were good escapist fun--for kids and adults willing to suspend reality and have a good time. I personally LOVE these old Universal horror films--even the lesser ones like this film. This one's plot isn't so special (except once again the mummy somehow makes it to America), but it stands out due to the acting of George Zucco and John Carradine--two wonderful veteran horror actors who played up the campiness of the film and made it far more entertaining.

The film looks a lot less impressive than the newest mummy films from Hollywood, but they still managed to be fun. Plus, the newer films, in my opinion, lack fun because they are so special effects-driven. See this film and have a good old fashioned time.

"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.