The Mummy's Curse (1944)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Leslie Goodwins

Writers:

Leon Abrams (story) and
Dwight V. Babcock (story) ...

Release Date:

22 December 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

ALL NEW THRILLS -- as the most dreaded curse of the ages strikes again! (Realart re-release ad)

Plot:

An irrigation project in the rural bayous of Louisiana unearths Kharis the living mummy (Lon Chaney Jr.)...

Plot Keywords:

Mummy | Monastery | Secret Cult | Murder | Swamp

Cast

Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Kharis (as Lon Chaney)
Peter Coe	...	Dr. Ilzor Zandaab
Virginia Christine	...	Princess Ananka
Kay Harding	...	Betty Walsh
Dennis Moore	...	Dr. James Halsey
Martin Kosleck	...	Ragheb
Kurt Katch	...	Cajun Joe
Addison Richards	...	Pat Walsh
Holmes Herbert	...	Dr. Cooper
Charles Stevens	...	Achilles
William Farnum	...	Michael, the Sacristan
Napoleon Simpson	...	Goobie

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (Certificate #10432) | Finland:(Banned) (1948) | Sweden:15 | UK:H (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (2001) | USA:Unrated (DVD)

Filming Locations:

Bayou, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The Mummy (1932) was set in 1932, the year of its release. The first sequel, The Mummy's Hand (1940) is also chronologically coherent, set in 1940. The Mummy's Tomb (1942) takes place thirty years following the events of "Hand", with The Mummy's Ghost (1944) approximately two years after that. We learn that this movie is set an additional twenty five years after "Ghost", meaning that the events take place around 1997.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the scene in the old abandon monastery, when we see Kharis in his sarcophagus for the first time; the servant of the Highpriest of Amon-Ra opens the sarcophagus and modern hinges, with modern screws, are visible.

Quotes:

Cajun Joe: I know the swamp like my finger.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)

Soundtrack:

Hey, You!

Louisiana Mummy

My My, when I hear folks talk about how Universal never made a bad horror film, I hark to this short, rather mundane picture which serves as basically nothing more that a rehash of the former four mummy films. It is not a bad film really, but it is very far from being good. Seems that the mummy and his princess are buried in the mud of the Louisiana swamps. An industrial excavation is going on in the area, and mummy experts come down to give their aid as well. Well, surprise, surprise. The mummy is found, people start to die, and we have some short chase sequences, a final scene where mummy does his mummy thing, and of course the flashback scene. A mummy film would not be complete without going back to former films and explaining who the princess and Kharis were, and, in the process, chewing up the running time and saving on film and actors. Lon Chaney plays the bandaged one with what seems a total lack of interest. He stumbles from here and there, but has little to do and little motivation. The rest of the cast is okay. Peter Coe as the Mummy priest is not too good, but some good character acting does come from his henchmen(particularly Martin Kosleck) and a great comic performance by Napoleon Simpson as Goobie. The best scene is the scene where the princess comes out of her boggy grave covered with mud, then walks into the swamp waters and comes out a model for a hair commercial...her hair vibrant, bouncy, and not wet! Her dress also in great, fantastic shape. I should look so good after staying in a swamp bog for twenty five years. Despite the logic of the scene, it is wonderfully photographed. I also liked the humour, which I think was intentional, of the mummy continually coming close to getting his girl yet failing several attempts.