The Mummy (1932)

★ 6.7 1h 13m IMDb
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An ancient Egyptian priest named Imhotep is revived when a British archaeological expedition finds his mummy and one of the researchers accidentally reads an ancient life-giving spell. Imhotep escapes from the field site and searches for the reincarnation of the soul of his lover.

The Mummy

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Cast

Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff as Imhotep / Ardath Bey Died 1969 · Camberwell, London, England, UK William Henry Pratt (November 23, 1887 – February 2, 1969), better known as Boris Karloff, was an English-born actor who emigrated to Canada in 1909. Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror...
Zita Johann
Zita Johann as Helen Grosvenor / Princess Anck-es-en-Amon Died 1993 · Deutschbentschek (near Temesvar), Austria-Hungary (now Timişoara, Romania) Zita Johann (born Elisabeth Johann) was an Austrian-American stage and screen actress, best known for her dual role as Helen Grosvenor / Princess Ankhesenamón in the 1932 film The Mummy. Born July 14,...
David Manners
David Manners as Frank Whemple Died 1998 · Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada David Joseph Manners (born Rauff de Ryther Duan Acklom, April 30, 1900 – December 23, 1998) was a Canadian-American actor who played John Harker in Todd Browning's 1931 horror classic Dracula. The fol...
Arthur Byron
Arthur Byron as Sir Joseph Whemple Died 1943 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Arthur William Byron (April 3, 1872 – July 16, 1943) was an American actor, the son of actors Kate Crehan and Oliver Doud Byron. He played a mixture of British a...
Edward Van Sloan
Edward Van Sloan as Dr. Muller Died 1964 · Chaska, Minnesota, USA Edward Van Sloan (born Edward Paul Van Sloun) was an American screen and stage character actor best remembered for his roles in Universal Studios horror films..
Bramwell Fletcher
Bramwell Fletcher as Ralph Norton Died 1988 · Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK Bramwell Fletcher was born on February 20, 1904 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. He was an actor, known for The Mummy (1932), Random Harvest (1942) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934). He was married to...

Audience Reviews

tiailds 6/10 Jan 16, 2016
After watching Frankenstein and Dracula, this one is far above them.

"Is it interesting?" This one kept my interest for quite a while, though the editing was a major flaw.
2 out of 3.

"Is it memorable?" If I think of classic monster movies, I will think of this one. Especially the story.
2 out of 3.

"Is it entertaining?" That is the biggest problem. We have a great bad guy with a recognizable motivation, but out protagonists bumble along. The characters aren't evenly represented. I knew who was going to win or lose and stopped caring why. Just was waiting to find out how.
1 out of 3

Start with 1, 1+2+2+1=6
It might be a while but would watch again. Would also mention it to others, but let them judge how good it was. It's not for everyone.
John Chard 7/10 Jul 10, 2016
Put it back. Bury it where you found it. You have read the curse. You dare defy it?

The Mummy is directed by Karl Freund and written by Nina Wilcox Putnam, Richard Schayer and John L. Balderston. It stars Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Arthur Byron, Edward Van Sloan, and Bramwell Fletcher. Music is by James Dietrich and cinematography by Charles J. Stumar.

The first of Universal's Mummy films follows the story of Imhotep (Karloff), who after being awaken from his tomb by expedition workers, believes his lover has been reincarnated in the body of a modern woman.

It's undeniably slow moving, it's stagy, and away from Karloff the acting and dialogue is just about reaching average qualities. Yet there's a haunting quality to the pic, with a number of genuinely eerie sequences. The shadowed photography helps greatly for funereal atmospherics, while it's somewhat refreshing to find a film of this type not resorting to shock tactics to get your attention.

An important film in a lot of ways and well worth a look for those interested in the history of Horror Film. 7/10
CinemaSerf 7/10 Jul 23, 2023
When a team of British Museum explorers discover the tomb of an Egyptian princess, they also discover the mummy of her forbidden lover "Imhotep" (Boris Karloff) and a secret scroll that has the power, when read aloud, to restore the dead to life. It's on reading that document in the crypt that the mummy is restored to life and escaping for the moment, he determines to return and rescue his princess at all costs so he can restore her too. As it happens, ten years later, a young woman "Helen" (Zita Johann) whose father is a British administrator, is in Cairo - and she is the spitting image of the dead princess. Might she even be a reincarnation? Well "Imhotep" certainly reckons so and she is to be the body selected for the soul of his reincarnated love. It's quite interesting in that this mummy lives in plain sight. There are no bandage wrappings to trail behind him, there is no lurching statically - Karloff's depiction is far more human; and I felt far more menacing. His personification here has a calculating menace to it that I thought worked quite effectively as the story heads to it's actually rather sad denouement. The supporting cast - including the rather sterile Johann - are competent enough at providing a template for our mummy to plunder and though maybe there is just a little too much dialogue - perhaps an overcompensation from silent films - it's still one of my favourite iterations of this compelling and mysterious story.

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