The Mummy: The Legacy Collection (The Mummy / Mummy's Hand / Mummy's Tomb / Mummy's Ghost / Mummy's Curse)

 

 

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This Universal DVD release of the original Mummy franchise,part of its' "Legacy Collection" and like the other entries in the series,is a must own for all true horror fans.
The first thing you notice about the original 1932 "The Mummy" is the atmosphere.Universal was the best,bar none, at creating gorgeous and elaborately dark and moody sets that appropriately generated just the right atmosphere.In this case it is ancient Egypt and in and around the pyramids.Why you can almost feel the dust and sand.
Boris Karloff plays the title role to a tee in the original 1932 picture ,fresh from his breakthrough role in "Frankenstein".He is Karis a high priest whose love Princess Ananka dies.He is so overcome with grief that he tries to bring her to life but is caught doing so.He is sentenced to death and is wrapped and buried alive.
About 2,500 years later in 1932 the tomb of Ananka is discovered by archeologists and is removed to a museum.Karis comes alive at this disturbance and becomes determined to re-awaken his love from her sleep.Her spirit flees into the body of a local woman.He tries to befriend the museum staff but things get just too frustrating and he takes matters into his own hands.He captures the woman in whose body the princess' spirit resides but she is confused and is having nothing to do with it all.She calls on Osiris to help her and the Egyptian Goddess strikes Karis down.
The franchise continues with The Mummy's Hand(1940).This time a Dr.Banning(recently from the Scripps Musueum) with his friend Babe are trying to find some kind of archeological find in Egypt that will restore the museums'faith in him.They find a piece of pottery which leads them to discover the tomb of Priness Ananka.A sect which has comes down through the ages dedicated to Karis and the Princess decide to kill the infidels who have dared to open and desecrate the tomb.They reawaken the Mummy(who apparently didn't toatlly kick it seven years earlier;played by Tom Tyler) who goes on a rampage killing everyone it can get its moldy clutches on.It is touch and go but in the end Dr.Banning and Babe come through it all with the Princess in their grasp and the Mummy "dispatched".
"The Mummy's Tomb"(1942) takes place about 30 years later with Dr.Banning and Babe that much older.The film begins with the good doctor talking to his son,sister and friends about his expedition 30 years before.Later that night the mummy sect ressurects Karis(played from now on by Lon Chaney) who sole aim is to kill every member of the expedition starting with Banning,which he does.The town is crawling with reporters as word spreads about the murder and the curse of the Mummy.An older Babe also shows up and he too succumbs in Karis' clutches.Bannings' son becomes the next target.The sect decides Karis should capture his girlfriend but the townsfolk set a trap and capture him on the second floor of a house.There they set it ablaze with the Mummy seemingly seared to a crisp.
"The Mummy's Ghost"(1944) takes place in the same town where Banning lived.This time a professor who had been involved with the Mummy case in the last film is first victim in this one.The leader of the Karis sect(John Carradine) seeks the spirit of the princess who this time seems to have inhabited another young girl in the town.He works out of a local cave/mine and eventually the killings in the town arouse the suspicions of everyone.The girl in question often talks strangely and has been found lying on the ground close to where the Mummy travels and kills.Finally she is captured by Karis and the chase is on.But this time the Mummy actually escapes carrying his "love" into a local swamp and the pair disappear into the quagmire never to be seen again.
Finally in the last installment "The Mummy's Curse"(1944) we find the owner of a construction company contracted to drain the very swamp the Mummy and his princess disappeared into some time before.The workers he has hired are of course jumpy and leary of the entire area to begin with with talks of curses and strange goings on.Unknowingly during their work they release the Mummy who is found by the co-hort of an archeologist sent to the swamp to investigate the mummy story.His cohort however has sinister plans and is really there to take the Mummy and the princess(if found) back to Egypt where they belong.They hold up in the ruins of an old monastery and do their works from that location.Around this time the woman in whose body the princess' spirit resides(from the last picture)also is inadvertantly uncovered and also comes to life.She is confused and dazed and is found by one of the local residents.But Karis finds her and kills everyone who would get in his way to keep her.The townspeople of course spring into action,again out for a piece of the mummys' hide.The chase leads to the old ruins where in the end the Mummy seemingly gets killed under the falling fragments of a corner of the monastery.
As the series progressed the films got slightly weaker with each successive one and the plot threads that bound each to the other got thinner also.But they were all solid money makers for the studios(some more so than others) and they all hold up pretty well today.
All films have been wonderfully restored.There is a documentary called"Mummy Dearest:A Horror Tradition Unearthed",there is film commentary for the original movie provided by film historian Paul Jensen,the "Mummy Archives" and all the original theatrical trailers are included.
All considering this set is a must have for all true horror fans.This Legacy collection gives us all a chance to see these films in a wonderfully restored and pristine condition as never before.They have been out for about four years now so before they disappear altogether may I suggest,if you haven't already,start your collection of this must have classic collection today.

This is a great collection of the Mummy films including the original movie with Boris Karloff and fantastic make-up by Jack Pearce (a master). Also included are the 4 sequels wich turn out to be pretty good little thrillers with Lon Chaney Jr. as the Mummy with the same great make-up by Jack Pearce. It comes in an handsome packaging on 2 discs.My only drawback is that the top left corner of the box was crushed enough that i could not fix it. Please Amazon try to be more careful with the product shipping and handling. Getting damaged goods is a real drag for collectors.

After Frankenstein made him a star, the studio looked for another vehicle for Boris Karloff, and The Mummy was it. The first Mummy film (1932) has the magnetic Karloff, who doesn't actually spend much time in the severe Mummy bandage makeup, but somehow sort of regenerates into almost human form, probably for the sake of his own comfort after what he went through on Frankenstein. He's still a magnificent villain and an excellent actor, opposite a striking female lead in a film with good production values that puts the cartoonish remake decades later to shame.

The sequel films (four more flims in the series) don't have Karloff, and I found them average at best, with irritating comic relief sidekicks, perky dogs that lead the hero to the Mummy, no real explanation for how the Mummy survives destruction each time, and recycled plots. I suppose they're interesting to watch once, to see how the series degraded.

Worth buying, however, for the original film and extras, a decent documentary (though much of the information is related second hand, by film historians), and the trailers and commentary.

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