Curse that dang mummy, who's he think he is anyway, Lon Chaney??
Well, the reason this classic has got our ear tonight, is because at the very beginning of the film, the viewer is treated to this special moment, a pretty cool song by the lady of the house, the Belgian beauty Ann Codee, as barkeeper Tante Berthe! The song is called "Hey, You" and was written by her husband Frank Orth, along with another gentleman, Oliver Drake. Ann and Frank had a vaudeville act back in the day, called what else but "Codee and Orth!" 
Unless something changes, this will be the last sound clip we feature! It's gotten far too complicated to be fun any more, and Kurt Katch as Cajun Joe agrees 100%. So our focus will no longer be on the music, but more on the films themselves. I thought offering up a short sound collage was a good way to give more insight, but I didn't know it was going to be such a headache. So welcome to the new look....
Peter Coe is Dr. Ilzor Zandaab, racial profiling aside, is it really possible to trust a guy wearing a fez?
What's really incarnately evil is the power duo of Dr. Zandaab with the fez, and Martin Kosleck, the future supremely execrable Professor Peter Bartell in "The Flesh Eaters!"
They've got a lot in common! Looks like the prefect couple to me!!
Virginia Christine is Princess Ananka, and you gotta admit, she cleans up pretty good!!
Kharis, the peeping mummy! What a perv!
You better watch out, because in about 15 minutes of so, I'm gonna get you!!
Kind of an awkward time to catch up on your pole dancing techniques, isn't it ladies?
This is one awesome painted backdrop, and they wisely use it more than once!
It's not bad enough that Lon had to wear all those bandages, and carry Christina around, now it's time to go up stairs! Great!!Big Thanx to Douglas McEwan for sharing the following tasty bit of information, and correction in the Comments Section:
"I knew Virigina Christine a little bit, who was a wonderful woman, the wife of lip-popping Fritz Feld. I talked with her once about this movie. She told me that when Lon as Kharis had to carry her up those worn and uneven temple steps, she was strapped to him under her and his costumes, so he literally could not drop her.
Unfortunately, they shot it after lunch. In those days, sad but true (Remember, this is what Virginia Christine told me herself, face-to-face), Lon drank his lunch and was very drunk when they shot it. (Universal usually tried to get Lon's scenes in all movies shot in the mornings, because he was always useless after lunch.)
So predictably, Lon fell in doing the scene, fell on her! Since she was strapped to him, she couldn't get loose or out from under this much, much larger person, and was severly squished aganst the steps under Lon until they could first cut her loose and then roll him off of her. They could not roll him off of her when she was still strapped to him, It was impossible.
So Lon then went off to his dressing room to drink the rest of the day away, and Eddie Parker came in and shot the scene. That's Eddie Parker carrying her up the stairs in your screencap above."
The lighting on this shot is really cool, and they use it on each group of people that come down the stairs!
Despicable contra Loathsome, who will come out behind?
The pith helmet just sets off the whole shot!
"The man in the fez, he turns around and sez, I'd like to help you make your trip!" - Country Joe
All right kids, go off, and be good now, ya hear? Right!! You can't tell me they didn't knock it out before they even got out of the tomb!
some great stills in there..My second fave mummy sequel.Gooo get 'em Kharis....we'll still be hear waiting when you catch up.
ReplyDeleteAin't never gonna do it without the fez on....
ReplyDeletei'll still come here everytime...
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I never did listen to the sound clips anyway. I just like reading your reviews.
ReplyDelete"racial profiling aside, is it really possible to trust a guy wearing a fez?"
ReplyDeleteLaurel & Hardy wore fezzes in Sons of the Desert, their best movie, and I trust them. My Grandpa was a Shriner and so wore a fez, and I trusted him. These days Doctor Who sometimes wears a fez. He said: "I wear a fez now, fezzes are cool." I trust The Doctor, don't you?
What really drives me nuts about this movie is that it's set just outside the swamp where the mummy and his girl friend sank in The Mummy's Ghost, by Mapleton in Massachusettes, yet the movie is set in Louisiana!!!
As I wrote in my book The Q Guide to Classic Monster Movies:
"Either the screenwriters forgot that the two previous movies had been set in Massachusettes, dificult to believe given that Curse was shot while Ghost was still in theaters, OR they thought quicksand flowed about 2000 miles from Massechusettes to the Lousiana bayous, OR Kharis carried Ananka in his arms, pursued by Tom and the villagers - on foot - for 2000 miles before sinking into the marsh, OR no one involved with The Mummy's Curse gave a rat's ass about what they were doing. Which could it be? I'm stumped."
They DO establish that this movie takes place 25 years after The Mummy's Ghost, which, in the Kharis movie timeline, sets this movie 55 years after The Mummy's Hand, which was set in 1940. This means that The Mummy's Curse takes place in 1995!!! Does this movie look like 1995 to you? Or does it look more like 1944?
I knew Virigina Christine a little bit, who was a wonderful woman, the wife of lip-popping Fritz Feld. I talked with her once about this movie. She told me that when Lon as Kharis had to carry her up those worn and uneven temple steps, she was strapped to him under her and his costumes, so he literally could not drop her.
Unfortunately, they shot it after lunch. In those days, sad but true (Remember, this is what Virginia Christine told me herself, face-to-face), Lon drank his lunch and was very drunk when they shot it. (Universal usually tried to get Lon's scenes in all movies shot in the mornings, because he was always useless after lunch.)
So predictably, Lon fell in doing the scene, fell on her! Since she was strapped to him, she couldn't get loose or out from under this much, much larger person, and was severly squished aganst the steps under Lon until they could first cut her loose and then roll him off of her. They could not roll him off of her when she was still strapped to him, It was impossible.
So Lon then went off to his dressing room to drink the rest of the day away, and Eddie Parker came in and shot the scene. That's Eddie Parker carrying her up the stairs in your screencap above.
Sorry to be mouthy but here's another point that othered me in thta movie.Yes, that is an extemely cool ancient Egyptian temple on the hill (Where no one for miles could miss seeing it), but who built it? This is supposed to be Louisiana! Did Indians build that?
ReplyDelete"You better watch out, because in about 15 minutes of so, I'm gonna get you!!"
"Kind of an awkward time to catch up on your pole dancing techniques, isn't it ladies?"
Both of those lines made me laugh.
Great comments all, dropping the sound clips is going to allow us to do a lot more classics!
ReplyDeleteDoug,
Anytime you can chime in with interesting details like that Virgina Christine story, please do! Always glad to share a laugh!
Eegah!!
Its exhausting watching Lon sometimes ,all bundled up as the Mummy or wearing that hair on his face as the Wolfman knowing his probably toasted! and with all those hot lights on top of that..I'd be dropping 'em left and right...lol.."come get this mummy offa me!"
ReplyDeleteI've said it before, and I'll say it again: "Poor ol' Lon Chaney Jr..."
ReplyDeleteI also want to thank Doug for the great comments. I might have to check out your book!
Looking forward to the new format and an expanded potential now that the pesky copyright shite involved with the sound is outta the way. Thanks so much for all the awesome soundclips over the years, I heard some great tunes and amazing dialog. "Black leather black leather kill kill kill!"
I posted earlier but it vanished into cyberspace this tidbit about Peter Coe, the guy in the fez, whom I always thought was kinda hot.
ReplyDeleteFun Fact: Edward D. Wood Jr., famed terrible director of Plan 9 From Outer Space, and subject of the great-but-highly-fictional Tim Burton movie, died on Peter Coe's living room sofa.
Like Lon berfore him, Ed was a tragic alcoholic, and by the end of his life, was broke, unemployable and drunk 24/7. With no where to live, Peter Coe, who was his friend (And also a friend and hunting companion of Lon Chaney Jr. I wouldn't want to go hunting with a notorious drunk. Come to think of it, I wouldn't want to go hunting. Killing for "fun," is sick) kindly allowed Ed to live on his sofa for a while. One day, Peter walked into his own living room, and there was Ed, dead on his sofa.
They don't call it Hollyweird for nothing.
Funny how people in movies are terrified of mummies that can't walk faster than
ReplyDelete2 m.p.h.
If Dan Quayle wore fez, people might have taken him more seriously....