Wednesday, August 18, 2010

MUMMY'S BOYS - Roy Webb - "Why Don't You Look Where You're Lookin" (1936)

Oh, No, not another Mummy Movie!! Welcome to WTF!? Wednesday! Most people probably think that Boris Karloff's 1933 version of "The Mummy" was the first Mummy Movie ever made, but in reality if you count cartoons and shorts, there had been Mummy characters in 13 previous releases dating back to 1889! "Mummy's Boys" would be #22 in the list, and "Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy" would be way down at number 43! "Cléopâtre" was the title of the 1899 short where a man cuts up a mummy, and brings back to life a woman inside!

7 time Oscar nominated Roy Webb composed the music for "Mummy's Boys!" Roy Webb had 264 composing credits beginning way back in 1929, with about half of them uncredited! That's just the way they did it back in the old days! Some of the more famous titles are "Millionaires In Prison," "Mexican Spitfire Out West," "A Girl, A Guy, And A Gob," "I Married A Witch," "Curse Of The Cat People" and the Roky Erickson inspiring "I Walked With A Zombie!"

Vaudeville comedy team and lowly ditch diggers Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey need to try to come up with a better gig for themselves. Woolsey is the wise-crackin' stogie smokin' guy with the glasses, and his pal Wheeler has a most peculiar attribute, he can't remember a damn thing. Thoughts and events come back to him hours or days later, and sometimes if he just goes to sleep, he'll remember when he wakes up! In the top picture, Wheeler is trying to remember where their lunch box is, but the Boss just thinks they are goofing off!!

After they get fired, they see this ad, and decide to apply for something they have experience at, digging!! Their headgear proves that they know what they are doing!

Once the boys land in Egypt, they immediately have conflicts with the locals! Tried and true, they handle the situation with their respective 'wise guy' and 'I can't remember' routines!

The always amazing Willie Best as Catfish is brought in for some comedy bits like here where Woolsey sez to him, "I'm surprised at you believin' in ghosts" to which Catfish responds "I'm surprised at you not believin' in 'em!"

Time to go to the site of the dig, dig, dig-a-rooni, because you know that's where the action is, and speaking of action, how come they never had a song and dance number in this film? That was one part of the whole vaudeville routine they left behind for some reason!

Wheeler gets the map tattooed on his back so he won't forget where it is!

Time for the standard Egyptian death warning! If it seems kinda formulamatic, it's probably because Director Fred Guiol had been doing shorts and flicks with the likes of cats like Laurel and Hardy since 1923. Check a couple of these short titles just for kicks, "The Haunted Honeymoon," "Flaming Flappers," "Aching Youths," and "Ukulele Sheiks!"

Finally they make it to the entrance of the tomb........

.......But you guessed it, somebody's watching!!!

Moroni Olsen as Dr. Edward Sterling puts the fear of God in Catfish! This was an odd role for Moroni, a gifted actor who normally stuck to much more dramatic features. Born John Willard Clawson, and being deeply religious, John changed his name to Moroni, which was the name of the the Angel, who Joseph Smith, founder of The Mormons said, revealed to him the location of the Book of Mormon. Pretty heady stuff!!

Just like in a lot of other horror/comedy type films, "Mummy's Boys" has no real monster, but instead just some evil henchman in disguise, in this case, Moroni Olsen!

Even though Dr. Sterling did a fine job of wrapping himself up like a real mummy, in the end, it's the boys, and a rather large vase that prevail!! Before I forget, this post wouldn't have been possible without the assistance of the one and only Professor Grewbeard, so Thanx, and Rock on Prof!!

Monster Music

Monster Music
AAARRGGHHH!!!! Ya'll Come On Back Now, Y'Hear??