The Mummy's Tomb (1942)


Although not on the same level as The Mummy Universal managed to breathe some life into the old concept of bandaged corpses coming back to life to punish those who disturb their resting place.  It was done on the cheap and was more of a comic adventure film than a horror movie, but it made money.  It did take a couple years, but it's no surprise that they went back to the well again, with Griffin Jay again heading up the scriptwriting. 

It is 30 years after the expedition to find the tomb of Princess Ananka resulted in Prof. Stephen A. Banning (Dick Foran) and his partner Babe Hanson (Wallace Ford) in not only the find of a lifetime but a battle with the undead Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr.) and the High Priest of Karnak, Andoheb (George Zucco).  Andoheb survived being shot by Hanson but, like his predecessor, his time has come and the mantle is passed to Mehemet Bey (Turhan Bey).  It turns out Kharis survived as well, and Mehemet brings the mummy to the America.  Upon arriving he obtains a caretaking job at a cemetery in the town of Mapleton and sets about getting revenge.

He directs Kharis to kill everyone involved in the expedition and their descendants.  This includes Stephen's son John (John Hubbard).  However, Bey becomes obsessed with John's fiancé Isobel (Elyse Knox) to the consternation of Kharis.  The killings draw the attention of the local law and, led by John, they attempt to rescue Isobel and get rid of Kharis forever. 

This movie is barely feature-length, running just over an hour.  Fifteen minutes of that hour is taken up with highlights from The Mummy's Hand.  That leaves 45 minutes, some of which is recycled footage from Frankenstein.   The original expedition took place in 1940 and, despite this, there is nothing that would set this movie in 1970.  The idea of a 30-year time jump makes no sense because Universal was not going to give director Harold Young the money to do something of that caliber, and this was just over a year into our involvement in World War II.  There wasn't a lot of frivolous money to spend.

The main draw, of course, is Lon Chaney, Jr.  He is fresh off his success as Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man.  Tom Tyler played Kharis in The Mummy's Hand, and Chaney takes over for the rest of the series.  The makeup is pretty good, but Chaney isn't given much to do except limp around and lurk.  Kharis, as explained in the first film, had his tongue cut out, so we get more of a mindless monster rather than the scheming villain that Imhotep was in The Mummy. 

This is still fun in its own way but is so obviously churned out.  It served its purpose at the time as part of a double-feature bill back when people would go to the cinema to see a full billing of newsreels, cartoons and movies that filled up a day.  Nowadays it feels like barely enough to fill a television episode.  

The Mummy's Tomb (1942)
Time: 61 minutes
Starring: John Hubbard, Elyse Knox, Turhan Bey, Lon Chaney, Jr.
Director: Harold Young

 

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