The Mummy's Shroud (1967)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

John Gilling

Writers:

John Gilling (writer)
Anthony Hinds (story)

Release Date:

15 March 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Beware the beat of the cloth-wrapped feet!

Plot:

In 1920 an archaeological expedition discovers the tomb of an ancient Egyptian child prince. Returning home with their discovery...

Plot Keywords:

Mummy | Tomb | Archeologist | Sequel | Desert

Cast

André Morell	...	Sir Basil Walden
John Phillips	...	Stanley Preston
David Buck	...	Paul Preston
Elizabeth Sellars	...	Barbara Preston
Maggie Kimberly	...	Claire de Sangre
Michael Ripper	...	Longbarrow
Tim Barrett	...	Harry Newton
Richard Warner	...	Inspector Barrani
Roger Delgado	...	Hasmid
Catherine Lacey	...	Haiti
Dickie Owen	...	Prem
Bruno Barnabe	...	Pharaoh
Toni Gilpin	...	Pharaoh's Wife
Toolsie Persaud	...	Kah-to-Bey
Eddie Powell	...	The Mummy

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | UK:X | USA:Approved (PCA #21434)

Filming Locations:

Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Trivia:

Peter Cushing is often credited as Narrator, but Hammer Films had no record of who the Narrator is.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Trailer Cinema (1992) (TV)

Michael Ripper Shines!

With a tag-line like "Beware the beat of the cloth-wrapped feet" how can you go wrong? I found this Hammer entry to be thoroughly enjoyable. It was Hammer's third foray into the land of the Pharaohs first with their wonderful version of The Mummy with Cushing and Lee, then the very entertaining Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, and followed by this serviceable "sequel" of sorts at least as subject matter is concerned. Hammer would do one more Mummy movie - the lamentable Blood from the Mummy's Tomb. The Mummy's Shroud tells the story via prologue of a very young Pharaoh being deposed by his evil uncle, being led to the desert by his faithful servant Prem, dying, and being entombed. We then move to 1920 with an archaeological group looking for his tomb, finding it, and well you know what comes next. Is there anything really original about the story here? Not really, but it is executed with Hammer quality production values, good acting, a beautiful, haunting, melodic score by Don Banks, and some first-rate set pieces. John Gilling directs with his customary finesse for detail like he used in other such Hammer films like Plague of the Zombies. There are some great scenes in this film from the ending in the museum to the deaths of several key characters. The Egyptian sweeper finding the first body was in particular very eerie and well-shot. Andre Morrell may have top billing but is MIA throughout most of the picture. The real star of the film is John Phillips as a thoroughly unlikable, wealthy British financier of the whole expedition. Phillips plays the arrogant, duplicitous, self-centered man with great aplomb. The other actors are all effective with Elizabeth Sellars as Phillip's wife and Richard Warner as a police inspector standing out. But the best performance belongs to British everyman character actor Michael Ripper who first of all gets a pretty juicy part in terms of screen time here but also is allowed to flex his acting muscles and range. Ripper is very strong in a somewhat thankless role as Phillip's press secretary and do-it-all man. One reviewer already talked about in length the scene where Ripper breaks his glasses and I concur that it is a powerfully tragic, ironic, and wonderfully shot scene. The Mummy's Shroud is certainly not one of the best of the House of Hammer but I do think it was one of its better movies as the sixties began to wane. I haven't nearly the respect/love/admiration of Hammer's seventies films as I do for its sixties films. Now I will wrap it up!