Universal Pictures released The Mummy on 22 December 1932.
It is one of my all-time favorite films. Like the best of the Universal horror films, it has a lot of heart. Imhotep is the villain but he’s also very sympathetic. And Boris Karloff shows the same depth of character that he did in Frankenstein and that he would in Bride of Frankenstein.
The first time I saw The Mummy, I loved that it wasn’t like most modern horror films. Sir Whemple (Arthur Byron) and Muller (Edward Van Sloan) argue whether the curse should be heeded. And inexperienced Ralph (Bramwell Fletcher) takes the opportunity to look in the box and remove the scroll, reanimating Imhotep, the mummy. But instead of killing Ralph, Imhotep just takes the scroll that he needs and walks on. Some might not like it for this reason. Even at the end, we are at least a bit ambivalent about Frank (David Manners) saving Helen (Zita Johann).
This doesn’t always work. I think it’s actually quite toxic in modern-day action films. Most superhero films, for example, only manage to develop their villains. Whiplash has motivation for his actions, whereas Iron Man is definitionally good despite just being a rich prick.
We do get some of this in The Mummy. But you do side with Helen. It’s not even clear in the film that she really is the reincarnation of the princess. And even if she were, Helen has a right to her own life. Imhotep rightly fails in his efforts. But it is due to Helen and Isis, not Helen’s friends. It is bittersweet — something you can’t say about many films today.
Another thing I love about it (typical of other Universal horror films of this era) is the lack of music. When Imhotep is first brought back to life, there is a very tense scene. But there is no music. Even the denouement lacks a strong score. The story, acting, and design are enough to engage us.
So on this, its 93rd birthday (just over a year before it goes into the public domain), let’s watch The Mummy!
The Mummy (1932) poster by Karoly Grosz via Los Angeles Public Library. It is in the public domain.
“Another thing I love about it (typical of other Universal horror films of this era) is the lack of music.”
Amen, mister! Few words bring as much weariness to my soul than “Music by Max Steiner” (unless it’s “Music by Dimitri Tiomkin”). Most movie music in any era is bad, but old movie music tends to be even worse.
I do love how Isis saves the day. Hooray for lady gods!
Isis ain’t gonna let the ladies down!
How you hate Max Steiner! I really think he was fine. But I will admit to not thinking that much about film music. It either works or not. And it absolutely doesn’t need to be good! But since I have you, I mentioned before how the cue for the Max Steiner credit is over-done. Check out the opening credits. I’ll bet you’ll laugh your ass off!
But what bugs me is the over-use of music. Can’t I be allowed my own emotions?! I hate feeling manipulated. I still remember sobbing at the end of Beaches and being totally pissed off. The crying was manipulated. The film sucked!
The world is saved! Thanks to Max Steiner, and ESPECIALLY Hal B. Wallis! Credit the assist to the French Resistance on your scorecards.
Well, I can never forgive Max for gunking all over the big “I won’t play the sap for you” scene in Maltese Falcon. But the rest of his score for that movie is alright. Generally my experience with older movies is, the fewer scores a composer did, the less hacky bad habits they fell into.
Ah, yes… manipulative movies. I fall for it, almost every time. And I do hate it. It’s not so bad in something like a Pixar movie, but in a movie like Beaches that’s about sad things happening to people instead of robots or talking toys, it pisses me off. I’m enough of a moral being to feel sad when bad things happen to people! I don’t need to be told how to feel!
Along those lines, I was looking into some stuff about It’s a Wonderful Life (as manipulative as they come), and here’s a fun Wiki find. Guess who was considered for mean Mr. Potter? One, Edward Arnold of The Devil and Daniel Webster — he could have acted circles around Lionel Barrymore’s hammy ass. Two… Vincent Price!
It wouldn’t have been a GOOD movie with Vincent Price… but it would have been a lot better!
I don’t know. With Vincent Price in that role, I might watch it every Christmas!
I just watched Coma (1978). It is surprisingly good. Of course, I love that 1970s paranoia. I’m a sucker for it. But Jerry Goldsmith did the score. I generally think he is great. But here? Wow! He makes the film seem like it is made for TV. And that goes along with Michael Crichton’s direction, which also makes it look like it is made for TV by a total hack. I don’t know. I feel sorry for film composers because they really can’t win. Goldsmith’s score worked well enough. I can’t exactly blame another worker for doing the minimum at times. I do it all the time!
Ha, and I just wrote about how great Goldsmith is. Well, like you say, everybody phones it in sometimes.
When he WASN’T phoning it in, I love how varied his work is. John Barry was good but he definitely had a “sound.” Chinatown and Star Trek I and Alien and Patton (one can debate the merits of the films) all have very iconic scores, and they’re nothing like each other. I love the one he did for Six Degrees — it’s a tango! John Williams had his good moments, but he never wrote a tango-themed score!
When I was writing that, I meant to say that he was usually great. I love his work! Another is Hoosiers where I think he’s critical. He sets the tone for the whole film. But the thing about film composers is that they really have to work fast. And I think Goldsmith had half a dozen composers working under him. He didn’t take credit but producers would come to him and he’d say, “Sure! Put Harry on it!” Or whatever.
I haven’t seen Hoosiers in 30+ years — I might try it out for Baseball Movie Night! It’s sports-related. And Hackman’s the best.
Didn’t Goldsmith write the score for Chinatown in basically a week? And there’s some points where you can tell, it’s just some person plunking a piano, probably while watching the “action” scenes. But the main theme is sooooo good! Better than that creep R.P. deserves, but that’s movies….
That theme is so good! It’s perfect for the film. As for RP, he really is a great filmmaker. It’s Towne’s screenplay that is most important here. But his direction matters. And I hate that he (and so many other directors whose work I like) is a total villain!
Yeah — there’s a lot of villains. I hadn’t really looked at movie history closely up until this last year. I knew some of the big famous stories and biographical Main Points of the big famous names. But the more I get a sense of the overall picture, the nastier it all seems. And a lot of it stems from the top, I think — shit rolls downhill. Not that this excuses RP being a rapist or BB killing people drunk driving.
But, say, actors shit-talking each other to Louella Parsons or whomever… I mean, the studio heads created this monster where everyone beneath them had to fight for the scraps cast from the master’s table (to go all Bible on ya). And then people like Lupino and Bogart tried forming their own independent production companies, and if they had one flop, those companies were sunk… yet the studios kept rolling along. Anybody who ever tried bucking them eventually went back, hat in hand, begging for forgiveness. No wonder so many people went crazy, and abused drugs/alcohol and did awful things under the influence they might not have done in a less nasty creative environment. (John Huston, driving drunk, sent his girlfriend face-first through the windshield; happily, she lived, and happily, she dumped him.)
Ugh. It’s all a mess. But that opening harp strum for the Chinatown theme! With the eerie strings behind it! Dear Lord, we film fans put up with a Lotta Evil for such things, but they ARE great.
I just wrote an article about Mack Sennett (coming out in a week or so). And when he retooled for sound films, he fired everyone. I decided just not to look into him as a human being. I didn’t have much to pick from for that day. So I didn’t want to spoil it. I know he was controlling and took way more credit than he deserved. But in the grand scheme of things, he was probably only as bad as all those bastards were.
Yeah jerkness is more the norm than the outlier in that world…
…but congrats on getting some love from Darin Wood! That’s so cool!
Thanks! I was a bit shocked, but I follow him on Facebook, so I figure that’s why he noticed so quickly. I’m thinking of doing an article about him (it will depend on whether I can get access to all his films). But I wish he had corrected my article. I have a feeling some of my statements aren’t true. But maybe not. I do my best!