Saturday, April 1, 2017

THE MUMMY'S HAND - Universal Pictures (1940)

Jeez, I forgot it was April Fool's Day, so I guess that's the joke, there isn't one!!
The Mummy is a classic character no doubt, and a concept that hasn't seemed to fade over the years like some tanna stained parchment. Although there were mummy movies earlier than 1932, the Karloff version titled simply "The Mummy" will always remain the original classic, and that ain't no joke!

After that came tonight's Saturday Night Special in 1940, "The Mummy's Hand" with cowboy actor Tom (Captain Marvel) Tyler as the mummy! Then, it was "The Mummy's Tomb" in 1942, followed by "The Mummy's Curse" and "The Mummy's Ghost" both in 1944, and all three with Lon Chaney Jr. as The Mummy!

Just in case I screw it up, here are the cast members!

It's a tough row to hoe to be a high priest, and it's a long way to the top!

This is from a flashback scene that explains how the mummy came to be.

Wallace (The Mummy's Tomb) Ford is Babe Jenson, the comic relief character in the film!

Babe's partner on the right is Dick (The Atomic Submarine) Foran as Steve Banning! That's Michael (Attack Of The Puppet People, The Wasp Woman) Mark on the left!

This is a stopwatch from the 15th century!

The boys finally find somebody to invest into their venture, Cecil Kellaway as "The World's Most Amazing Magician," Solvani the Great! Cecil had 148 acting credits that included two "Twilight Zones," "Elegy," and "Passage On The Lady Anne!"

Solvani's daughter Marta doesn't like being taken to the cleaners by a couple of schlums on a phony baloney excursion into the desert, but they end up going anyway! Pretty Peggy's only other real venture into scary was "Horror Island!"

In opening a mummy's tomb, I would think the first sense to react would be smell, not sight!

Smell-O-Rama from this iconic scene just might have cleared the theater!
Like PHEW! What was that??

From 1915 to 1958, Charles Trowbridge had 232 acting credits, and he still wasn't smart or fast enough to get away from the mummy's hand!

Okay, are you ready for this one? Over the years, and besides being an evil high priest, George Zucco has had all of these roles, Dr. Pyke, Dr. Kammer, Dr. Harmsworth Bierd, Dr. LaFarge, Dr. Plauten, Dr. Waxton, Dr. Cardigan, Dr. Luis Virgo, Dr. Parry, Dr. Jeris, Dr. Edwin L. Jannery, Dr. Hugo Streger, Dr. Cameron, Dr. Robert Renault, Dr. Lloyd Clayton, Dr. Alfred Morris, Dr. Pavel Storasky, Dr. Joseph Van Ee, Doc Hugo Robbin, and Dr. Fortescue! Wow, that's a whole clinic!!

You have to be really slow to be killed by a one armed mummy with a limp!

Marta has had enough!

Or has she??

Don't worry, Steve Banning will rescue her!

Now this is one beautiful lobby card!
So, in 1955, Abbott and Costello met the mummy, and in 1959 Hammer came out with their version with Christopher Lee all wrapped up, then there was "Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb" in 1964 followed by "The Mummy's Shroud" in 1967, and the rest is history!!

2 comments:

TC said...

Besides Captain Marvel, Tom Tyler also played the Phantom in a serial. He also made about a bazillion Westerns. In big "A" Westerns, he usually played small parts, often as a bad guy (Stagecoach, The Westerner, San Antonio, Red River). In low budget "B" movies, he was a star, and usually played heroes, as in the Three Mesquiteers series, where he co-starred with Bob Steele and Rufe Davis.

Dick Foran also starred in "B" Westerns, and was a singing cowboy, like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.

I will always think of George Zucco as Sherlock Holmes' arch foe, Professor Moriarty.

kochillt said...

1937's CHEYENNE RIDES AGAIN features two Mummys for the price of one, as hero Tom Tyler faces off against villain Lon Chaney, most enjoyable.

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