So, this is my last post of this year's "Countdown To Halloween," and I couldn't figure out if I wanted to use the "Shindig Halloween Special" from 1965, "The Paul Lynde Halloween Special" from 1976, or the last of the Gossamer trilogy starring Duck Dodgers, but then I decided to do something classy and just go all out classic for a change!
For a good 40 years or so, Horror movies were dominated by a mere handful of creatures!
The whole Frankenstein family, Vampires, Werewolves, Invisible People, Jekyll and Hyde characters, and Mummies! Of them all, it's obvious that Vampires have stayed at the top of the game, but they are eternal creatures, so what more would you expect, but the Mummies, except for a couple of exceptions, have finally ran out of Tana leaves, and are a dying breed, literally, and figuratively!!
On the right is the legendary George (The Flying Serpent, The House Of Frankenstein, The Mummy's Ghost, The Mad Ghoul, The Mad Monster, The Monster And The Girl) Zucco as the Mummy's keeper, Andoheb!
"The Mummy's Tomb" is a revenge movie! The Westerners violate the ancient Egyptian tombs and are sentenced to death! It's no wonder the U.S.A. still pays millions of dollars to Egypt year after year!
But the life force of the Mummy is this potion of Tana leaves that just got spilled on the floor! Set him on fire, and the world is free of the Mummy's revenge forever! (Almost!)
The Mummy didn't die in that horrific scene, because, well, dead people can't die!
So the Mummy gets a new owner, and he's shipped off to America!
The always entertaining Turhan (The Mad Ghoul, The Climax, The Amazing Mr. X) Bey as Mehemet Bey is the new Boss of the Mummy, and just like any good Boy Scout, he pledges to have the Mummy do his job, and kill all of the family of anybody that had anything to do with desecrating their holy resting place!
Cool Police lab, figuring out shit the good old fashioned way!
When he said get rid of ALL the family members, he meant it!
Mary (The Bride Of Frankenstein, The Body Snnatcher, The Invisible Man Returns) Gordon was one of those kind of people that movies would be lost without! Largely uncredited, she was in over 300 films as a housekeeper or a cleaning woman, etc!
I love shots of newspapers!
Oh, sure, they'll figure it out now with all these journalists on the case!
The star of the show is Lon Chaney Jr. as the Mummy! Kharis is his name! The dichotomy is that he is slower than a five some of mole asses, but, if he catches you, your goose is cooked, it's over!
Elyse Knox is Isobel Evans. She's planning on marrying into a family that doesn't have much future!
I like her outfit, but I swear she wears it for about 3 days! In this movie Dick Foran is Stephen Banning, and in "The Mummy's Hand" he plays Steve Banning!
Finally, it's time to change!!
Elyse was also in "Free, Blonde and 21," and she had the recurring role of Anne Howe in six Joe Palooka movies!
Kharis is not happy with Mr. Bey when he is told to go and kidnap the girl because he wants to marry her! That just wasn't part of the program, and Kharis knows it!
But since he just won the employee of the week award, he goes out to do his job! Believe it or not, even though she looks like she is in her 20's, Isobel's Mom just tucked her in!
Let the marriage ceremony begin!
Some things just aren't meant to be, and Kharis goes up in flames again!
She's still wearing that same top!
I hope you had a good time, and thanx again to all the good folks who make the Countdown happen!
HAPPY HELL ON EARTH YA'LL!!!
2 comments:
The whole point of The Mummy's Tomb seemed to be to kill off everyone left over from The Mummy's Hand.
And the victims in Mummy movies always seem to back into corners, or to run into blind alleys. Otherwise, the slow-moving Kharis would never be able to catch them.
Dick Foran was a star in "B" Westerns. I think he may have been a singing cowboy, like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.
I will always think of George Zucco as Professor Moriarty in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. And of Mary Gordon as Mrs. Hudson, Holmes' landlady.
At the end, when the townspeople form a posse and chase down the monster, some of them look more like Transylvanian villagers (complete with lederhosen) than New England citizens. Maybe The Mummy's Tomb used footage from Frankenstein (1931)?
All astute observations TC. Thanx for the added details, cause those are all things I'd have said myself if I had a bit more time to devote to this project!
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