"He went for a little walk! You should have seen his face!"

Happy Halloween. The last major Universal horror picture produced in the 1930s and 40s that I have not discussed is The Mummy (1932). It has become the most successful modern franchise as the Brendan Frazier remake and sequels have been huge hits in the late-90s and early-00s.

The Mummy was the first classic horror picture from Universal that was not based on a book, or even a myth for that matter. Egypt and mummies have always fascinated the Western world. For many centuries the tombs have been dug up in the name of science or looted in the name of greed. In 1922 the tomb of King Tut was uncovered. This sparked a new wave of interest in Egyptology.

The interest in Egypt was still strong a decade later when Carl Laemmele Jr. decided to add another monster to the Universal rogues gallery. He commissioned some writers to find a novel about something scary in ancient Egypt. There was no such book in print, so Laemmele had the writers come up with an original story.

Like most things in Hollywood, the writing process was long and took a number of writers to accomplish. But when it was all finished, Laemmele had his mummy story. John L. Balderston was a writer involved with the project. He had also received writing credits on Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931). He also covered the discovery of King Tut’s tomb for the “New York World” in 1922. So he was somewhat familiar with Egypt and its ancient traditions. He was sure familiar with the excitement and tragedy surrounding the opening of a tomb.

Karl Freund was brought in to direct. He had been cinematographer on Dracula. Jack Pierce once again did the make-up. This was a much more challenging role for him, at least during the beginning scenes when Boris Karloff is covered in bandages and his skin is so wrinkled with age. Karloff was the mummy of course and he had to endure more long hours in the make-up chair. He is great in this movie as he was in Frankenstein.

There isn’t much else that can be said about The Mummy that hasn’t been said about the other Universal movies. It is more interesting than scary. Eerie in places, comical in others to today’s audiences. Still, it is worthwhile to watch, especially on Halloween night.