Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971)

Director:

Seth Holt
(more)

Writers:

Bram Stoker (novel)
Christopher Wicking (writer)

Release Date:

17 May 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

A severed hand beckons from an open grave!

Plot:

An archaelogical expedition brings back the coffin of an Egyptian queen known for her magic powers to London...

Plot Keywords:

Severed Hand | Tomb | Ring | Mummy | Relic

Cast

Andrew Keir	...	Prof. Julian Fuchs
Valerie Leon	...	Margaret Fuchs / Queen Tera
James Villiers	...	Corbeck
Hugh Burden	...	Geoffrey Dandridge
George Coulouris	...	Prof. Berrigan
Mark Edwards	...	Tod Browning
Rosalie Crutchley	...	Helen Dickerson
Aubrey Morris	...	Dr. Putnam
David Markham	...	Dr. Burgess
Joan Young	...	Mrs. Caporal
James Cossins	...	Older male nurse
David Jackson	...	Young male nurse
Jonathan Burn	...	Dickerson's Male Companion
Graham James	...	Arthur, museum Romeo
Tamara Ustinov	...	Veronica
Penelope Holt	...	Nurse
Angela Ginders	...	Nurse
Tex Fuller	...	Madman in Restraints
Luis Madina	...	Priest (as Madina Luis)
Omar Amoodi	...	Priest
Abdul Kader	...	Priest
Oscar Charles	...	Priest
Ahmed Osman	...	Priest
Soltan Lalani	...	Priest
Saad Ghazi	...	Priest
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harry Fielder	...	Local man (uncredited)

Directed by
Seth Holt
Michael Carreras		(uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Bram Stoker		novel "Jewel of the 7 Stars"
Christopher Wicking		writer

Produced by
Howard Brandy	....	producer

Original Music by
Tristram Cary

Cinematography by
Arthur Grant

Film Editing by
Peter Weatherley

Production Design by
Scott MacGregor

Makeup Department
Ivy Emmerton	....	hair stylist
Eddie Knight	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Christopher Neame	....	production manager
Roy Skeggs	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Michael Murray	....	third assistant director
Derek Whitehurst	....	assistant director
Lindsey Vickers	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Don Picton	....	assistant art director
Tony Baines	....	draughtsman (uncredited)
Bill Beavis	....	scenic artist (uncredited)
Jimmy Carreras	....	print boy (uncredited)

Sound Department
Tony Dawe	....	production sound mixer
Roy Hyde	....	sound editor
A.W. Lumkin	....	recording director (as Tony Lumkin)
Dennis Whitlock	....	dubbing mixer
Dan Grimmel	....	sound maintenance (uncredited)
Jack Harris	....	sound camera operator (uncredited)
Mike Silverlock	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Michael Collins	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Neil Binney	....	camera operator
Roderick Barron	....	clapper (uncredited)
Roderick Barron	....	loader (uncredited)
Bob Jordan	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Peter Woods	....	camera grip (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Rosemary Burrows	....	wardrobe supervisor

Music Department
Philip Martell	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Betty Harley	....	continuity
Sarah Mathiesen	....	stand-in: Valerie Leon
Philip Campbell	....	unit runner (uncredited)
Sally Pardo	....	production secretary (uncredited)

Production Companies

• EMI Films (presents) (as EMI Film Productions Limited)
• Hammer Film Productions (as A Hammer Production)

Distributors

• Anglo-EMI Film Distributors (1971) (UK) (theatrical)
• MGM-EMI (1971) (UK) (theatrical)
• American International Pictures (AIP) (1972) (USA) (theatrical)
• Astral Films (1972) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (USA) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (video)
• Works Editora (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Argentina:18 (re-rating) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Australia:R | New Zealand:R18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG | Norway:(Banned) (1972-2003) (cinema release) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Elstree Film and TV Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

EMI Films

Trivia:

The UK cinema version was cut by the BBFC to remove a shot of George Coulouris being struck across the face by male nurse James Cossins as there was public concern about the treatment of mental patients at the time.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Todd drives off to 'get help.' You see his car racing down the road. Margaret uses her ancient powers to raise a wind that flips the roof of Todd's convertible to vertical. As Todd reaches up to try to lower the roof, you can see grass around the car, and the car is clearly not moving! Next moment the car hits a tree.

Quotes:

Corbeck: The meek shall NOT inherit the earth. They can't be trusted with it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Curse of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (2001) (V)

Underrated entry in the Mummy series

"Blood from the Mummy's Tomb" is one of Hammer's most under-rated features.

**SPOILERS**

Margaret Fuchs (Valerie Leon) is having nightmares about ancient Egypt, and one it's queens, Queen Tara, (Valerie Leon) who was buried with one of her hands cut off and fed to hyenas. To cheer her up before her birthday, her father, archaeologist Julian Fuchs, (Andrew Keir) gives her a large ring he has found. Her boyfriend, Tod Browning, (Mark Edwards) is infatuated with it and takes it to see a friend, Geoffrey Dandridge, (Hugh Burden) who freaks out when he sees the ring. When Professor Fuchs leads an expedition to her dig site, the spirit of Queen Tara is released by their meddling, and Margaret becomes strangely affected by it. When she and Tod get home, they find Julian in a coma-like state. While trying to care for him, Margaret comes across one of her fathers' acquaintances, Corbeck, (James Villiers) who informs her and Tod of the true nature of the discovery of Queen Tara. The two try to figure out what has happened to Margaret before the spirit of Queen Tara fully envelops Margaret.

The Good News: This is probably one of the best-looking Hammer films. The amazing sets are so eerie and striking that it really catches your eye. It also adds to the suspense of the scenes since the realisticness of them plays out in the viewers' mind. They are so intricately made that it almost looks like they used ancient Egyptian props straight from a tomb and put them directly in front of the camera. The tomb is the most impressive, with the beautiful sarcophagus in the middle as the best example of this. The decorated head filled with jewels of many different colors, the headdress, and the overall design it has is simply marvelous and looks very nice. Even the large hieroglyphics on the walls look outstanding. It really does look like an actual Egyptian tomb inside. It really looks very nice and up to Hammer's usual high standards. Even the kills were pretty good. Always going for the jugular was a nice adaptation to give the killer, as it makes for some nasty kills along the way, but it doesn't provide for any creativity. However, it allows for a lot of blood to flow, as this is one of the bloodier films from Hammer. There weren't a lot of kills in the beginning, but once this got rolling, they came fast and furious. This is one of the many films Hammer made that effectively used shadow and suggestion. The first one is clearly the highlight, as the victim is inside an insane asylum, straight-jacketed and held down when a vicious wind begins to howl and starts blowing things around the room. He notices a snake sculpture on the wall is missing and he goes over to try to get out, but he is trapped inside. He notices that the snake sculpture's shadow on the side of the wall slowly approaching him, and gets even more frantic and hysterical, and the wind picks up and before we know it, there's a dead body in the room. All of the shadows and other images in the film are nice uses of suspense to give the film a little something extra, just to spice up the action. Speaking of spice, Valerie Leon is one of the better and busty heroines of the Hammer staple. She spends a lot of time in the film wearing negligee, and sometimes less, so this is something many red-blooded males will want to see.

The Bad News: This is probably one of the slower entries in the series, so it takes a while to get going and for us to care for the characters, but once it gets going, it's not that bad. For a mummy film, we don't see the mummy in the film all that often. Even more so, it isn't a mummy in the traditional sense that we know of, covered in layers of moldy bandages and shuffling about. Here, not only is it rarely seen, but it isn't the traditional mummy, so fans may be disappointed with it if it's a blind buy based on the title.

The Final Verdict: This is one of the more under-rated Hammer films, and it does have more than enough going for it to be recommended. Lack of kills in the beginning may slow the pace down, but the last two-thirds is packed with kills and enough answers to questions to make it worth the investment. Hammer fans should check this one out, while mummy fans may be disappointed since it only has very limited screen-time.

Today's Rating: PG-13: Violence and brief rear Nudity