THE MUMMY'S GHOST (1944)
Because nothing says Christmas Eve like a Mummy movie.
A sense of duty kept me slogging through this joyless pastiche of previous Mummy pictures. This time, David Carradine plays the high priest sent from Egypt to New England to recover the living mummy Kharis and the remains of his long lost Princess Ananka and return them to their tombs. Carradine played a mad scientist in THE INVISIBLE MAN'S REVENGE (1944) and Dracula in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944), and if you can look past the dark skin makeup which was supposed to make him look Egyptian, he sounds appropriately pious in the role. The notion that Ananka's soul has been reincarnated into a living woman is taken from THE MUMMY (1932). Surviving from the other sequels is the notion that it is very important for Kharis to carry away a helpless woman in her nightgown.
I am on record as enjoying THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1942), but there was no reason to identify with any of the characters in this film, and the actor who played the uppity young hero was especially irritating. THE MUMMY'S GHOST is notable for one unprecedented variation which would catch on as an occasional component of future horror movies: the Mummy wins, and the girl is not saved.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K
A sense of duty kept me slogging through this joyless pastiche of previous Mummy pictures. This time, David Carradine plays the high priest sent from Egypt to New England to recover the living mummy Kharis and the remains of his long lost Princess Ananka and return them to their tombs. Carradine played a mad scientist in THE INVISIBLE MAN'S REVENGE (1944) and Dracula in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944), and if you can look past the dark skin makeup which was supposed to make him look Egyptian, he sounds appropriately pious in the role. The notion that Ananka's soul has been reincarnated into a living woman is taken from THE MUMMY (1932). Surviving from the other sequels is the notion that it is very important for Kharis to carry away a helpless woman in her nightgown.
I am on record as enjoying THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1942), but there was no reason to identify with any of the characters in this film, and the actor who played the uppity young hero was especially irritating. THE MUMMY'S GHOST is notable for one unprecedented variation which would catch on as an occasional component of future horror movies: the Mummy wins, and the girl is not saved.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K