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The Mummy
Credits
Title: The Mummy
Genres: Horror
Directed by: Karl Freund
Written by: John L. Balderston; Nina Wilcox Putnam; Richard Schayer
Produced by: Carl Laemmle, Jr.
Music by: James Dietrich
Cinematography: Charles Stumar
Edited by: Milton Carruth
Production
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Released: December 22nd, 1932
Rating: Unrated
Running time: 73 mins.
Country: USA
Language: English
Budget: $196,000 [1]
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The Mummy is an American feature film of the horror genre and a part of the "Universal Monsters" film series. Although Universal Pictures produced several mummy-related movies, the original film is a self-contained story with no connection to the others. It was directed by Karl Freund with a script written by John L. Balderston based on a story by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer. It premiered theatrically in the United States on December 22nd, 1932. The film stars Boris Karloff in the role of evil mummy Imhotep with Zita Johann taking on the female lead of Helen Grosvenor. The film also stars David Manners as Frank Whemple, Arthur Byron as Sir Joseph Whemple, Edward Van Sloan as Doctor Muller and Bramwell Fletcher as the shrieking Ralph Norton.

Plot[]

Cast[]

Credited cast[]

Actor Role
Boris Karloff Imhotep/Ardath Bay
Zita Johann Helen Grosvenor
David Manners Frank Whemple
Arthur Byron Sir Joseph Whemple
Edward Van Sloan Doctor Muller
Bramwell Fletcher Ralph Norton
Noble Johnson The Nubian
Kathryn Byron Frau Muller
Leonard Mudie Professor Pearson
James Crane The Pharaoh
Henry Victor The Saxon warrior

Uncredited cast[]

Note: The following is taken from the full credits list for this entry on IMDB. As it is a website with user-submitted information, some of the data listed here, including character names may be inaccurate.

Actor Role
C. Montague Shaw Gentleman #1
Leyland Hodgson Gentleman #2
Eddie Kane Inspector's assistant
Tony Marlow Police inspector
Pat Somerset Helen's dancing partner
Arthur Tovey Nubian

Notes[]

  • The tagline for this film is "It comes to life!"
  • The Mummy was filmed at the Universal Studios lot between September and November of 1932. Exterior Egyptian sequences were filmed at Red Rock Canyon State Park and the Mojave Desert in California.
  • Scenes involving the Saxon warrior were deleted from the final cut of the film.
  • Leyland Hodgson, Eddie Kane, Tony Marlow, C. Montague Shaw, Pat Somerset and Arthur Tovey were all uncredited for their participation in this film.
  • The makeup applications used to transform actor Boris Karloff into the aged mummy Imhotep was a painstaking and uncomfortable ordeal for Karloff. He has been quoted as saying that the application and removal of the makeup was "the most trying ordeal I [had] ever endured". [2]
  • Boris Karloff spends only nine-minutes onscreen in full mummy makeup. For the rest of his scenes, where he assumes the alias of Ardath Bey, he has very little makeup.
  • As with many of his earlier horror works, Boris Karloff was credited only as KARLOFF in the film (all capitals).
  • The name Imhotep is taken from a Third Dynasty Egyptian chancellor and high priest in service to the king, Djoser. Imhotep is considered to be the first architect and engineer and physician in early history. [3] The name Imhotep was also used for the central antagonist in the 1999 film version of The Mummy, which is regarded as a remake, but is only loosely based on the original film.

Recommendations[]

Universal Monsters films

Mummy films

Boris Karloff films

See also[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. IMDB; The Mummy (1932); Box office & business.
  2. Vieira, Mark A. (2003). Hollywood Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic. New York: Harry N. Abrams. pp. 55–58. ISBN 0-8109-4535-5
  3. William Osler, The Evolution of Modern Medicine, Kessinger Publishing 2004, p.12

Keywords[]

1920s | 1921 | 1930s | 1932 | Ancient Egypt | Archaeology | British Museum | Cats | Cairo | Curse | Dead animals | Dogs | Egypt | Egyptian Museum | Hotel | Inspector | Mummies | Museum