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| Boris
Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Sir Joseph Whemple: [translating
inscription on box] "Death... eternal punishment... for...
anyone... who... opens... this... casket. In the name... of Amon-Ra...
the king of the gods." Good heavens, what a terrible curse!
Assistant: [eagerly] Well, let's see what's inside!
Ancient Egyptian king Imhotep is awakened
after centuries of slumber as a mummy and sets out to pursue the
more recent incarnation of his age-old love.
 Few films
have been more famously misnamed than this horror classic from Universal, and have led to more
confusion and disappointment due to the expectations raised by the film's title and poster
design. Anyone would expect the movie to feature Boris Karloff playing a terrible, bandage-clad mummy
lumbering about the shadows and generally scaring people out of their wits. But oddly enough, only the
immensely creepy opening scene has any such imagery, after which Karloff dons ancient priestly garb and
spends the rest of the movie unsettling his co-stars - and the audience - with much subtler tricks. It's a
film leagues removed from the Hammer remakes from the 1960s, and even less akin to the recent popular
adventure films helmed by Stephen Sommers. But putting any mummy-related expectations aside, it's a
beautifully staged, slow-moving but haunting picture with a strong romantic undercurrent that improves
with repeated viewings.
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The eight movies that were selected
as Universal's 'Classic Monster Collection' were released on Region
1 DVD some years ago, but have since gone out of print and have
been put on moratorium by Universal, awaiting a re-release.
These same eight titles were recently released on DVD for Region
2 and 4, available both separately and as part of an eight-disc
box set. The R2/4 release of Dracula doesn't include the
Spanish version of the film, but otherwise there are no major differences
with the original Region 1 versions.
The fullscreen image is framed
at its original aspect ratio of approx. 1.33:1. The source print
exhibits decent contrast and good blacks, but is marred by an overabundance
of damage and débris, ranging from minute nicks and scratches
to vertical lines running all the way up and down the frame.
The mono sound mix is as good as can be expected from an early sound
film like this, with intelligible dialogues but little in the way
of dynamics or fidelity.
The 30-minute documentary
'Mummy Dearest' does an excellent job documenting the backgrounds
of the production, filling in the appropriate amount of historical
context and insight. It's further enhanced by film historian Paul
M. Jensen's audio commentary track, in which he supplies
lots of screen-specific information, inncluding a great deal of
background on deleted scenes and why certain sequences that had
been scripted or even shot never made it into the final film. A
six-minute animated image gallery presents a sequence of
poster designsas well as numerous rare production stills and lobby
cards. The theatrical trailer rounds out these fine extras.Simple animation and a single music cue is employed
for the main menu screen.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed:
December 22, 2002
Click
here for IMDB info on The
Mummy .
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to return to the front page.
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