THE BLACK CAT (1934)

Edgar G. Ulmer, 1941

Starring: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners

“Come, Vitus, are we men or are we children? Of what use are all these melodramatic gestures? You say your soul was killed and that you have been dead all these years. And what of me? Did we not both die here in Marmorus fifteen years ago? Are we any the less victims of the war than those whose bodies were torn asunder? Are we not both the living dead?”

Edgar G. Ulmer’s 1934 film The Black Cat is not really based on the Poe tale of the same name, but has much more sinister and unexpected delights including torture, necrophilia, skin flaying, and a satanic cult. This is one of the most unique, original, and controversial horror films of the ‘30s, though it may not be the most coherent work, and represents the heights Universal was able to reach before the Hays Code was locked into place. This was Universal’s biggest hit of the year and marks the first time their two most important horror stars, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, would appear together. Though they would appear together in eight films total, this is their finest film together and possibly Lugosi’s best work. 

A newly wed American couple, Peter and Joan, are honeymooning in Hungary when they get stuck sharing transportation with the sinister Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Lugosi). When their car breaks down in the countryside, the doctor suggests that they go to the near-by home of an old friend, so that he can treat Joan’s injuries. His friend, Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff), an architect who has spent the last fifteen years in a prisoner of war camp, now lives in a terrifying looking mansion built on top of an old fortress they fought in together during World War I. After Werdegast sees to Joan, he and Poelzig begin to argue and it comes to light that Poelzig stole Werdegast’s wife and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Hungarians during the war. Werdegast suffers from a paralyzing fear of cats and covets Joan. Poelzig, meanwhile, plans to sacrifice her during one of the meetings of his secret Satanic cult and keeps women beautiful preserved in glass cases throughout his mansion. 

Though this is only loosely inspired by Poe’s story — namely the wife’s death and plenty of ghostly cat imagery — Universal did what American International Pictures would do a few decades later with the Roger Corman and Vincent Price series of Poe-inspired films and capitalize on their own success. After the Lugosi-vehicle Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), Universal encouaged Ulmer to use the title of a Poe story, though the plot is mostly his own. The Black Cat is also one of the last truly successful horror films of the mid-‘30s that rode on the coattails of Dracula and Frankenstein. 

Lugosi and Karloff are at the height of their powers here. Lugosi is loosely given the role of protagonist, though that is not quite an accurate description of Werdegast’s complex character. Lugosi is more charismatic than ever, but his character here is far more disturbing than Dracula or the slew of mad scientists he played during the ‘30s and ‘40s. Karloff nearly steals the film out from under him with his depiction of Poelzig, an indisputably sinister man whose every moment on screen exudes evil and perversity. Statue-like, his shadow and silhouette looms large over many scenes. The rest of the cast pales in comparison to him, particularly David Manners as Peter Alison. Manners made somewhat of a career of playing bland leading men with a lot of dialogue, but little action. Here he is essentially repeating the role he played in both Dracula and The Mummy. Much like the women in Poelzig’s glass coffins, Julie Bishop (Sands of Iwo Jima, listed in this film as Jacqueline Wells) is little more than a set piece, though she has a few disturbing exchanges with Lugosi. 

Weregast is not what could really be described as a hero (or even an anti-hero). He slips Joan a hallucinogen when supposedly treating her injuries, slaughters a cat simply because it frightened him, and grows more unhinged and more obsessed with Joan through the course of the film. He is, of course, nothing compared to Poelzig, whose betrayal cost the death of thousands of Hungarians. Seemingly worse is his past manipulation of Werdegast’s wife. He married her, but eventually murdered her in order to marry Werdegast’s daughter. He keeps women suspended in glass coffins and the specter of necrophilia and rape looms large. His wife and Werdegast’s daughter is only briefly seen in the film and seems to spend most of her time in a drug induced haze. She wakes long enough for Poelzig to murder her. 

The satanism is relatively subdued compared to later films, but is the most powerful depiction of a satanic cult on screen in the ‘30s. Poelzig reads a book called The Rites of Lucifer and his large group of black robed satanists gather for a sacrificial ritual where Joan is the intended victim. The intense, almost blank expressions of devotion from most of the cult are deeply disturbing and creepily foreshadow the rise of Nazism, which was in full swing by 1934. In addition to the events unfolding at Poelzig’s mansion, the architecture is a claustrophic, hellish wasteland of dark angles, threatening shadows, and dizzying geometry. Not to mention the fact that it was the location of a military fortress and is built on top of a mass grave containing thousands of bodies, bodies presumably put there by Poelzig.

Poelzig’s character was inspired by two real life men. The first is The Great Beast 666, British occultist Aleister Crowley. Though it is unfair to call Crowley a satanist, he became the leader of a ceremonial occult society, the Ordo Templi Orientis, an offshoot of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The secretive Order included such well known writers of horror and/or the supernatural as Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, and Irish poet W.B Yeats. Crowley was also known for his libertine lifestyle, drug use, bisexuality, and helped spread the claim that he was “the wickedest man in the world.” The second and perhaps more influential figure actually gave Poelzig his name. Hans Poelzig was a German architect and set designer that mentored Ulmer during his early years working on the sets of German expressionist films. According to Ulmer, they worked on Paul Wegener’s expressionist horror classic The Golem together.

Ulmer’s use of German expressionist sets, light, shadow, and camera angles are one of the film’s strongest points. In terms of pure visual power, The Black Cat can easily be ranked alongside other Universal horror classics like Frankenstein and The Mummy. Ulmer got his start working with the major directors of German expressionism, such as F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, and Paul Wegener. By the time he moved to the U.S. and began a career as a director with Universal, he made enough of a name for himself that Universal gave him almost free rein on The Black Cat. Ulmer, whose career promised at least minor greatness, was nearly blacklisted after The Black Cat, due to its highly controversial subject matter and Ulmer’s affair with the wife of a studio head. He had a few other interesting films, such as Bluebeard (1944) and Detour (1945), before being completely relegated to the world of B-movies in the ‘50s, with such fare as The Man from Planet X (1951) and Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957). 

One of the most frustrating things about The Black Cat is the effect of censorship on the film. Some of the action is difficult to follow because certain scenes were cut by Universal. There was a supernatural subplot about Joan Alison transforming into a black cat, which was removed but can loosely be followed for the second half of the film. In many of the scenes were Joan appears, a black cat was on screen nearly seconds before. There is also allegedly a scene where Werdegast rapes her. Though there is little evidence of this in the remaining print, it is not difficult to image due to the constant, almost oppressive subtext of sexual covetousness. Though the plot is often a confusing mess full of unexplained actions and unanswered questions, this disorienting aspect gives the film a surreal, nightmarish feel. The abrupt, often cut-up feel of the editing emphasizes this.

The Black Cat is a testament to the connection between public consumption of horror and the looming specter of war, both past and future. Alongside its themes of satanism, sacrifice, murder, rape, necrophilia, torture, incest, and revenge, this is a deeply psychological film, one that attempts to deal with the horrors of war. Werdegast and Poelzig both deal with unresolved trauma and grief that manifests itself as madness, sexual repression, unhealthy familial relationships, perversion, and blood lust. Though the Alisons are fairly empty characters, they provide an important hetero-normative, American counterpoint for the foreign Werdegast and Poelzig, an entry way into understanding how the war effected Europeans in a way that it would never affect Americans. 

The Black Cat is available to watch on YouTube and a number of cheap DVD editions, the best of which is the Bela Lugosi Collection. This includes Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Raven, The Invisible Ray, and Black Friday. Lugosi was also in another film called The Black Cat from 1941, not to be confused with Ulmer’s far superior effort. 

FAUST (1926)

F.W. Murnau, 1926

Starring: Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, William Dieterle

Though a number of early directors experimented with the Faust legend, such as Edwin Porter’s short in 1909 and other attempts in the ‘20s, German director Friedrich Willhelm (F.W.) Murnau’s 1926 version of the film is the oldest surviving direct feature length adaptation. His Faust remains one of the finest silent films and a shining example of the heights of German expressionism. Alongside Fritz Lang, Murnau (1888 - 1931) is the most important figure of German expressionist cinema and remains famous today for his early horror masterpiece, Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (1922). His most popular film, Nosferatu was an unofficial, unsanctioned adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula and was almost lost due to copyright issues with Stoker’s estate. Aside from a literary source, Nosferatu shares a number of themes with Faust, such as the struggle between good and evil, morality and desire, and fantastical, almost dream-like depictions of death and plague. 

Though many of them are forgotten or ignored, Murnau is also responsible for a number of other influential silent films. After serving in WWI, he began a film company with famed horror and German expressionist actor Conrad Veidt and produced a number of well-regarded silent films during the ‘20s in Weimar Germany. Some of these films influenced the upcoming horror boom of America cinema, particularly Der Janus Kopf (1920), a take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with Veidt and a young Bela Lugosi. He directed the now-lost film Satanas (1920) aka Satan, a three-part historical drama and morality tale about a number of figures facing temptation: an Egyptian pharaoh, an Italian prince (inspired by the Borgia family), and a law student during the Russian revolution. Conrad Veidt, who appears in a number of roles, makes a brief appearance as Satan during the final segment. 

Also of note are The Haunted Castle (1921), the surreal Phantom (1922), and Tartuffe (1926). The latter is an adaptation of Moliere's famous French Revolution-era play and features cinematography from the great Karl Freund, who regularly collaborated with Murnau and Fritz Lang and would go on to work with Universal in America, where he did cinematography on Dracula and directed The Mummy. Murnau also directed the melodrama The Last Laugh (1924) with Emil Jannings, who would go on to star in Faust, Murnau's final German film. The Last Laugh is important for its innovative camera work.

In 1926, Murnau accepted a job with Fox Studio, who promised him even bigger budgets and more creative freedom than he experienced at UFA Studios in Weimar Germany, and he made three films with Fox before dying in a car crash in Santa Barbara in 1931. The first, Sunrise (1927), is considered one of the greatest films ever made and received a number of awards at the first ever Academy Awards in 1929. He also directed the unsuccessful silent-sound cross over films, Four Devils (1928), a circus melodrama, and a romantic drama, City Girl (1930). 

Faust – Eine deutsche Volkssage was the third of Murnau’s films produced by UFA, the largest studio in Weimar Germany, who gave the director complete creative control and a budget of two million marks, twice what he had to work with for Tartuffe. Until Lang’s Metropolis the following year, it was UFA’s longest and most expensive production to date, with a six month shoot time. Swedish actor Gösta Ekman stars as Faust, appearing both as young and old version of the character with some incredible make up. German silent star and regular Murnau collaborator Emil Jannings costarred as Mephisto in a film-stealing role. It was particularly important for UFA that Jannings be cast in the film, as he was the biggest star in Germany at the time. The relatively unknown Camilla Horn appeared as Gretchen/Marguerite, in a role originally written for Lillian Gish. The famous American actress pulled out at the last moment because she wanted her personal cinematographer to shoot the film. German actor and director William Dieterle, who would soon emigrate to the U.S. with most of the German film community, appeared as Gretchen’s brother. He would go on to direct another important Faustian film, The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941). 

At the time of its release, German audiences had mixed feelings about Faust, because Murnau’s script included a blend of influences to create his own, unique version Faust that veered from Goethe’s popular, beloved story. Along with Hans Kyser, the scriptwriter, Murnau combined elements of Marlowe’s play, Goethe’s poem, medieval legend, and Charles Gounod’s opera. A devil, Mephisto, bets with an Archangel that if he can tempt and ruin a just, decent man, then Satan will rule the Earth. Mephisto begins by spreading the plague through a village inhabited by Faust, an alchemist in the later years of his life. His prayers to save the sick, dying, and starving villagers accomplish nothing, so he curses both God and his extensive academic knowledge and burns his alchemy books and the Bible. One book that he happens to spare shows him how to summon the Devil and make a pact that will give him unimaginable power. He performs the ritual and makes a pact with Mephisto, but it backfires and he is effectively banished from the village. 

Mephisto further tempts him with youth and wealth, and promises him the Duchess of Parma, who is about to be married. Mephisto kills her groom and Faust is entranced by her, permanently sealing the diabolical pact. Faust quickly abandons the Duchess for an innocent young girl, Gretchen. Though she rejects his advances, Mephisto tricks her with a piece of enchanted jewelry. His liaison with Gretchen results in tragedy and the deaths of her mother and brother, as well as Gretchen’s deflowering and pregnancy. In a delirium, she kills her child and is sentenced to burn to death. Faust, finally repenting, rejects Mephisto’s gifts and throws himself on the fire, which results in his ultimate salvation. 

Though audiences may have been ambivalent about Murnau’s interpretation of Faust, the film went on to influence future cinematography and special effects techniques. Murnau filmed with two cameras and shot from multiple angles, often using many takes for each scene. As a result, there are a number of versions of the film that survive in different prints around the world. The original release was just 86 minutes, but the somewhat recently restored version by Kino International, released it on a two-disc, special edition DVD, is stretched to 116 minutes and contains a number of reconstructed scenes that were previously thought to be lost. 

Aside from the ground breaking camera work, Faust was influential for its powerful visuals and dynamic opening and concluding scenes, as well as the intensely claustrophobic tone. Walter Röhrig, set designer on the hugely influential Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, created much of the film’s impressive look. Though some of the second act romantic drama between Faust, the Duchess, and Gretchen can seem slow or overly melodramatic by today’s cinema standards, the opening includes some of the most memorable visuals of German expressionism. Cinematographer Carl Hoffman captured almost surreal visions of the plague ravaged town with hooded figures and corpses dumped in pits, as well as a winged Satan overlooking the village accompanied by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and Faust’s ritualized book burning and invocation of Satan. Elements of the supernatural are dream-like and almost represent a series of tableaux rather than a cohesive narrative. Though this is not strictly a horror film and more closely follows the structure of a morality tale, there are undeniable elements of horror, the surreal, and the fantastic. The character of Faust pales in comparison to Janning’s Mephisto, who reigns over the film as its unlikely protagonist. In addition, the dismal, almost nihilistic ending, where both Faust and Gretchen burn alive, gives little consolation despite the fact that it is technically a happy ending. 

Though there were a number of horror films being made during the period by Murnau and his contemporaries, fantasy was a huge gamble for UFA. Other films from Weimar Germany occasionally used elements of the supernatural, the fantastic, or the horrific, but these were often explained away, as in the ground-breaking German expressionist classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). The only other major film from the period to explore fantasy, magic, and German legend was Fritz Lang’s two-part Die Nibelungen (1924). Based on German myth, Lang relates the tale of the hero Siegfried and his various adventures with dwarves, dragons, sword fighting, and political intrigue. As with Die Nibelungen, Faust seems to have some elements of Germanic mythology other than the medieval legend of Faust. Janning’s Mephisto is a trickster at heart and, whether intentional or not, seems to borrow from the often malicious Nordic trickster god Loki. Mephisto is occasionally comic and often charismatic, certainly more so than Faust, and was a major influence on further adaptations of the Faust tale and depictions of Satan as a charming trickster. 

Faust comes highly recommended and is a must-see classic of German expressionism, often ignored alongside more famous films of the period. The Kino restored 2-disc edition comes highly recommended, though you can also watch it online for free. 

THE MUMMY'S CURSE

Leslie Goodwins, 1944

Starring: Lon Chaney, Jr., Peter Coe, Virginia Christine

Thankfully the last entry in Universal’s unabashedly painful Kharis series, this follows basically the same plot as The Mummy’s Hand, The Mummy’s Tomb, and The Mummy’s Ghost with a few notable twists. The series in general hasn’t made a whole lot of sense, but this final film really takes the cake. In an effort to follow the bizarre timeline set up by the earlier films, this actually takes place in the mid-‘90s, though it still looks a hell of a lot like the ‘40s. And, to make matters worse, the film is inexplicably set in Louisiana. The Mummy’s Hand took place in Egypt (which makes sense, as these are films about a mummy), while the following two were bizarrely set in the Massachusetts suburbs. At the end of the last film, The Mummy’s Ghost, the mummies of Kharis and his beloved Princess Ananka sink into the swamp (?) of Massachusetts. 

In The Mummy’s Curse, the mummies arise again in a swamp, though the film never bothers to explain how we came to Louisiana. Kharis and Ananka are revived when an engineering company drains a local swamp, though the Cajun workers are afraid of the legend of the two mummies (really). Two doctors from a local museum arrive to locate and retrieve the mummies. One of the two doctors, Dr. Zandaab, secretly meets up with Ragheb an Egyptian priest, who has reclaimed Kharis’s body and hidden him. Zandaab and Ragheb perform the tana leaf ritual and resurrect Kharis, who is desperate to find Ananka. Meanwhile, she has risen on her own in the guise of a beautiful young woman, but she is lost and confused. The rest of the film basically follows Kharis’s desperate attempts to get Ananka back, which often result in murder. Ragheb, meanwhile, has his eye on a local girl, Betty, but Kharis violently intervenes. 

This is fortunately Lon Chaney, Jr.’s last performance as Kharis, and though he was pretty awful throughout, this is definitely his bulkiest and most awkward turn in the role. Also, for some reason, even though Kharis is supposed to be a murderous mummy, he intervenes on Betty’s behalf and gets violent revenge on Ragheb for his betrayal and deviation from the plan (uniting Kharis and Ananka). 

There aren’t a lot of positive things I can say about this film. Virginia Christine (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the Folgers commercial lady later in life) is somewhat compelling as Ananka and her rise from the swamp is probably the best scene in the film. There’s another decent scene where Kharis murders an old Cajun woman who is sheltering the newly awakened, confused Ananka. Unfortunately the woman has a musical number, so it’s probably for the best that Kharis dispatched her as quickly as he did. The rest of the actors are incredibly dull, no doubt hampered by the very boring script writing. As is par for the course in these later, bottom of the barrel Universal film, there is some recycled footage from The Mummy and The Mummy’s Hand. 

I can’t recommend The Mummy's Curse, but if you really have a powerful desire to see it, it is available as part of The Mummy: The Legacy Collection set. This film is an absolute mess and basically rehashes much of the superior The Mummy’s Ghost, except with that bizarre Louisiana swamp setting. 

SPIDER BABY

Jack Hill, 1967
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr, Carol Ohmart, Beverly Washburn

Though I’m not generally a fan of “killer family” movies, Spider Baby is one of the first and remains one of the best. Rob Zombie tried to recreate some of its genius for House of 1000 Corpses, going so far as to cast Spider Baby star Sid Haig and give his career a minor revival, but Zombie has nothing on the master of exploitation, Jack Hill. Better known for his later exploitation films such as The Big Doll House (1971), The Big Bird Cage (1972), Coffy (1973), Foxy Brown (1974), and Switchblade Sisters (1975), this is Hill’s first feature film and contains some of his most overt horror elements. Thankfully, U.K. based label Arrow Films has gone all out for their recent release of Spider Baby on Blu-ray and DVD.

In an old country house, a small, inbred family lies in wait. The two Merrye sisters and their brother suffer from a genetic disorder that causes them to mentally regress as they physically mature. Virginia (Jill Banner) is obsessed with spiders, which she keeps as pets, and her favorite game involves trapping visitors in her “web” and stabbing them with her “fangs.” Ralph (Sid Haig) is mute, violent, sex obsessed, and enjoys eating cats. Elizabeth (Beverly Washburn), the youngest and most normal (so far), sometimes has a penchant for using a pitchfork when she feels threatened. The family chauffeur, Bruno (Lon Chaney, Jr.), keeps watch over them until some of their distant relatives show up with a lawyer, eager to take the family home away and convinced their madness is just a ruse. When their cousins are determined to spend the night, they get far more than they bargain for and meet the rest of the Merrye clan... who are hidden away in the basement due to their insatiable hunger for human flesh. 

Jack Hill’s debut feature is utterly, delightfully bizarre and will please fans of weird ‘60s and ‘70s cult horror. This is certainly Hill’s weirdest, most imaginative film, but don’t go into it expecting a horror version of his classic exploitation films. Overall this is as much a black comedy as a horror film and there are some truly amusing scenes, such as the dinner the two girls serve the family. There are also some neo-gothic, haunted house elements, as much of the action takes place in a very Addams Family-esque home. Spider Baby is a unique blend of influences and includes some humor and sexual moments that are likely to be a little offensive to any overly PC-viewers, along some very effective scares and moments of surprising terror. Elizabeth and Virginia are both young, wholesome-looking girls that are prone to displays of discomfiting violence and overt sexuality. Examining the film with the benefit of time, the family is reminiscent of the Manson cult to a certain extent, which was coincidentally operating at the same time, though their family murders would not occur until the year after Spider Baby’s release. 

There are some decent performances throughout the film from a range of recognizable faces. Lon Chaney, Jr. gives one of his best late-period performances as the protective Butler and was allegedly so excited to appear in the film that he even took a break from drinking for the shoot. Carol Ohmart’s (House on Haunted Hill) lingerie scenes are particularly memorable and she is charismatic as cousin Emily, so obsessed with greed that she willingly ignores the very real insanity afoot in the house. The actors who play the three children — Sid Haig, Jill Banner, and Beverly Washburn — steal the film, particularly the grunting, animalistic Haig and the unpleasantly sexy, Lolita-like Banner.  

With a 1.67:1 aspect ratio and an AVC encoded 1080 high definition transfer approved by Jack Hill himself, Arrow really did an excellent job with Spider Baby, and this is one of the finest restored prints they’ve released in a while. There is some slight speckling throughout, but otherwise the print looks great and is devoid of the wear and age damage usually expected from such a relatively obscure film. The black and gray contrast levels look particularly nice and Alfred Taylor’s memorable cinematography is certainly better defined than in previous releases. 

Of course Spider Baby has already been released on DVD, but in addition to the lovely looking print, the main reason to pick up this release is the sheer amount of extras provided by Arrow. To start with, there’s an entertaining and informative audio commentary from director Jack Hill and star Sid Haig. There are a number of great interviews, including a 2012 panel discussion from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences FILM-TO-FILM Festival with Jack Hill and actors Quinn K. Redeker and Beverly Washburn. The Hatching of Spider Baby is a collection of interviews about the making of the film with Jack Hill, Sid Haig, Mary Mitchell, Joe Dante, and others. 

This is a two-disc set with both a Blu-ray disc and a DVD. Spider Stravinsky: The Cinema Sounds of Ronald Stein is a featurette about composer Ronald Stein, who worked on Spider Baby, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, and other films. The Merrye House Revisited is an on location interview with Jack Hill about the house used in the filming of Spider Baby. In addition to all these featurettes, there is an alternate opening title sequence, some extended scenes, a trailer, and behind the scenes stills. One of Jack Hill’s early short films, The Host (1960), is also included and features Sid Haig in his first major role. The release comes with a reversible sleeve with new artwork from Graham Humphreys and a booklet with essays from Stephen R. Bissette and a reprinted article from FilmFax Magazine that includes interviews with the cast and crew. 

Known under a variety of titles including The Livers Eaters, The Maddest Story Ever Told, and my personal favorite, Cannibal Orgy, Spider Baby suffered from poor marketing and was largely forgotten alongside Hill’s later exploitation films, but it comes highly recommended and deserves to be seen by a much wider audience. This weird little gem is one of the highlights of late ‘60s American horror and should be part of every horror fan’s collection. The Arrow Blu-ray release is the finest edition currently available, but don’t forget that this release is Region B, which means that if you live in the U.S., you need a multi-region Blu-ray player to watch it. 

THE MUMMY'S GHOST

Reginald Le Borg, 1944

Starring: Lon Chaney, Jr, John Carradine, Robert Lowery, Ramsey Ames, George Zucco

The third film in Universal’s Kharis series, a loose re-imagining of The Mummy, we have watched the murderous mummy Kharis try to reincarnate his beloved Princess Ananka in Egypt in The Mummy’s Hand and in Massachusetts (why?) in The Mummy’s Tomb, and though he was killed at the end of each film, he is back (still in Massachusetts) for The Mummy’s Ghost. 

The film follows the same opening as the first two: the High Priest dies and passes on his knowledge about the mummy Kharis to his disciple, this time named Yousef Bey. Bey travels to the Massachusetts suburbs to revive Kharis and help him rescue the violated tomb of his ancient love, Princess Ananka. Professor Norman, from the previous film, explains the legend of the mummy to his college class. One of the students, Tom, has a girlfriend of Egyptian descent, Amina, who has a strange response when he tells her about the Professor’s lecture. Soon Norman experimentally uses the tana leaves and revives Kharis, who comes to his home and kills him. For some reason Amina is on the scene in a trance, but faints when she sees Kharis. Bey uses the leaves to summon Kharis and retrieve Ananka’s body from the local museum, but when Kharis touches her body, it disintegrates. Kharis flies into a rage, but Bey realizes it must mean that Ananka has been reincarnated in human form. Can Bey locate Ananka before Kharis kills again?

Overall I have to admit that this is probably the best film in the Kharis series, possibly tied with the first, The Mummy’s Hand. The Mummy’s Ghost (unlike Ghost of Frankenstein there is no ghost in this film and Universal was clearly giving up at this point) is certainly better than the second and final films of the series. With that said, there are still a laughable number of problems, first and foremost, the timeline. For some reason we are still in the U.S. and, to account for The Mummy’s Tomb taking place 20 years after The Mummy’s Hand, this is somehow set in the ‘70s. 

One of the strongest elements of the film is the unexpectedly bleak ending. Amina possessed by the reincarnated spirit of Princess Ananka, actually withers and decays into mummy-form and Kharis takes her into the swamp for a final oblivion. Well, “final” until the last film in the series. Let’s not even address the fact that I’ve lived in Massachusetts and there is no swamp. This is also the first film in the Kharis series where the female protagonist and the Princess Ananka actually have any plot importance whatsoever. You think the screenwriters would have gotten to that before the third film, but apparently not, and for some reason they decided that the more Amina becomes possessed by Ananka’s spirit, her hair should become like the bride of Frankenstein. 

There are one or two nicely creepy moments, particularly when Professor Norman uses the tana leaves to awaken Kharis, presumably just out of curiousity. Predictably, Kharis sneaks up on him and kills him in his darkened study. This film also recycles the least amount of footage from other films, though there is supposedly a clip of the temple taken from The Mummy’s Hand. Though that might seem like a positive thing, Reginald LeBorg (also directed several of the Inner Sanctum films) has created a thoroughly bland film with little visual interest or stylistic appeal. Someone also thought it would be a good idea for the virtual hero of the film to be the male protagonist’s dog, Peanuts, who is actually the one to discover Amina’s kidnapping and lead the search party. I wish I was making this up. 

Finally, how is that all the Egyptian priests featured in The Mummy and the Kharis films are such perverts? They typically bring the film to its violent conclusion by attempting to take the female protagonist for themselves. For whatever reason, the priests also wind up being the most interesting characters and these roles are filled by the most compelling actors in each film. John Carradine almost manages to make this an entertaining film with his abundant scenery-chewing, but unfortunately he is not the only one on screen and the two youthful protagonists are teeth-grindingly dull. George Zucco also appears, albeit too briefly, and — I could not make this up if I tried — he returns for the third time as the High Priest, despite the fact that he was shot to death in The Mummy’s Hand and died of old age in The Mummy’s Tomb. The less said about Lon Chaney, Jr. as Kharis, the better. 

Watch if you dare, though hardcore Universal fans might find something here to enjoy. The Mummy’s Ghost is available in The Mummy: The Legacy Collection set or on DVD with The Mummy’s Curse. 

THE MUMMY'S TOMB

Harold Young, 1942

Starring: Lon Chaney, Jr, Dick Foran, John Hubbard, Elyse Knox

So far in my Universal horror series, this is the most slapdash film I have yet to review. The third entry in The Mummy series, this actually has nothing to do with Karloff’s character Imhotep, but follows a mummy named Kharis, who first appeared in the previous film, The Mummy’s Hand. While that film ends with the death of the mummy, Kharis, and the High Priest Andoheb who was assisting and controlling him, The Mummy’s Tomb somehow ignores all that and picks up... 30 years later and in Massachusetts. Because that seemed like a compelling idea. 

Steven Banning (Dick Foran), protagonist of The Mummy’s Hand, returns and relates his previous adventures in Egypt to his family and friends one evening. It is also revealed that the High Priest Andoheb has survived, as did Kharis the mummy. Before Andoheb dies, he passes Kharis's history onto his disciple Mehemet Bey, as well as instructions about how to revive Kharis with the mystical tana leaves. He orders Mehemet to take Kharis and travel to the U.S. to rescue Ananka’s tomb from Banning. Ananka was an ancient princess and the eternal love of Kharis, who is tasked to protect her tomb at any cost.  

Bey moves into a Massachusetts ceremony and revives the enraged Kharis, who immediately kills Banning and his sister. The local Sheriff and coroner are stumped, but Banning’s old friend Babe shows up and is convinced that a mummy is loose. He is killed by Kharis before he can convince the locals, but Banning’s son, John Banning, contacts a local professor who confirms that the strange dust found on all the victims is mold from a mummy. Meanwhile, Bey has become infatuated with Banning’s girlfriend Isobel and is determined to kidnap her. He forces Kharis to help him and informs Isobel that, like it or not, she will be his bride. The ending is pretty similar to The Mummy’s Hand. Bey is killed, Banning rescues Isobel, this time with the help of the Sheriff and coroner, and the enraged townspeople set fire to the house where Kharis has hidden himself. Yet again, he dies engulfed in flames. There is an annoying ending segment showing the wedding of Banning and Isobel.

The whole affair is pretty ridiculous, namely the fact that the film is set in New England instead of Egypt. While I understand that this was for budgetary reasons, it is a completely absurd setting for a film about a killer mummy. The use of clips from other Universal horror films, such as a few shots of angry villagers from the Frankenstein series, only makes this worse. Jack Pierce returned to do the mummy make up, which looks cheaper than ever and for some reason the wonderful post-production effect of blacking out of the mummy’s eyes is gone. Lon Chaney, Jr. appears here for the first time in the role, taking over for Tom Tyler. Chaney allegedly hated the role and is pretty terrible as Kharis. Where Pierce hand-wrapped Karloff’s costume and painstakingly applied putty to Karloff’s face, Chaney is left with a slip-on mask and one piece mummy suit. 

Director Harold Young is also responsible for The Frozen Ghost, an Inner Sanctum Mystery starring Lon Chaney, Jr, and for The Jungle Captive, a film in Universal’s Captive Wild Woman series about a woman who transforms into an ape. His work in all of these films represents the bottom of the barrel as far as Universal horror is concerned. The nicest thing I can say about the screenwriting is that it’s incredibly lazy. A few characters return from The Mummy’s Hand, though they have minimal roles and are quickly dispatched. The new characters are barely written. Minus the 15-minute intro that runs through the first film, we are left with about 45 minutes of plot and, let me tell you, it is stretched as thin as possible. Some themes are rehashed from The Mummy’s Hand, but a lot of the plot elements and most of the characters’ actions make no sense whatsoever. For example, the main human villain decides, yet again, to kidnap the female protagonist (another useless character) and force her to become immortal with him. One of the returning characters, Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford, the annoying comic relief from The Mummy’s Hand) is inexplicably named Babe Hanson. Really? That is the epitome of laziness. 

Universal also used as many clips from other films that they could get away with and probably 15 to 20 minutes of screen time is taken from The Mummy’s Hand, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, and there are some shots that seem to be from Son of Frankenstein. There are some entertaining mummy rampages - probably more shots of the mummy than in either of the previous films combined - and it’s nice to see George Zucco again, but that’s about the only positive thing I have to say. 

I can’t recommend The Mummy’s Tomb, though I guess if you are obsessed with mummy-themed films, you might be entertained. It is available as part of The Mummy: The Legacy Collection, which included all five Mummy films, a documentary, and some other special features, or on a double-sided DVD with The Mummy’s Hand. It is followed by The Mummy’s Ghost and The Mummy’s Curse. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to watch them. 

THE MUMMY'S HAND

Christy Cabanne, 1940

Starring: Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, George Zucco, Wallace Ford, Tom Tyler

Directed by prolific silent film director Christy Cabanne (who at Universal did he piss off to land this job?), The Mummy’s Hand is a follow up, though not a sequel, to the Karloff film The Mummy. With a mostly different plot and new characters, this is the first of four films to focus on the mummy Kharis, determined to protect and resurrect his ancient love, the Princess Ananka, at any cost. This was followed by the increasingly worse and randomly named The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy’s Ghost, and The Mummy’s Curse. 

A lengthy prequel introduces us to Andoheb, an Egyptian priest who is intended to replace the dying High Priest of Karnak. The High Priest tells him the story of Kharis, a priest who loved the Princess Ananka and attempted to restore her to life after her untimely death, using the sacred and forbidden tana leaves. For this Kharis is punished and damned to eternal life, buried alive with his tongue cut out. The High Priest explains that it is now Andoheb’s job to guard Kharis and the tomb of Princess Ananka, and he leaves instructions on how to revive the monster if her tomb is opened. Two American archaeologists, Steve Banning and his wisecracking friend Babe Jenson, discover an ancient vase in Cairo that leads them to Ananka’s tomb. 

Andoheb, now secretly High Priest, is also a director of the Cairo Museum and hopes to stop them. Banning and Jenson meet a wealthy American magician named Solvani who agrees to fund their expedition, though his lovely young daughter thinks they are up to no good. They set out towards Ananka’s tomb accompanied by Solvani and Marta, his daughter. First they find Kharis, who is accidentally awakened and slowly begins a killing spree across the camp. Andoheb further complicates things by attempting to inject himself and Marta, who he has a crush on, with the tana leaf serum so that they can become immortal, but she is rescued just in time and Andoheb is killed. Banning attempts to deal with Kharis and prevent him from drinking any more of the tana liquid. A la Frankenstein, fire destroys the monster and the archaeologists are able to take Ananka’s tomb triumphantly back to the U.S. 

There aren’t a whole lot of positive things I can say about The Mummy’s Hand. It is essentially a low budget adventure-horror film intended to keep the Universal horror train churning along and is only recommended for die-hard Universal or Mummy fans. If you’re going to watch any of the four Kharis films, this is probably the only one that doesn’t descend into utter ridiculousness. There are certainly some imaginative differences between The Mummy’s Hand and The Mummy, namely the fact that the high priest Andoheb has his own secret society dedicated to watching over Kharis and his Princess. They manage to infiltrate Steve’s group of workers, leaving behind an effective feeling of paranoia absent from the first film. Aside from some basic horror elements, this is mostly an action film with a monster and focuses on treasure hunters who raid the wrong tomb and are hunted by an undead monster who dispatches them one by one. 

The most unfortunate parts of The Mummy’s Hand are the comedic elements provided by Babe (Wallace Ford). Not only is his delivery grating, but his frequent comic interruptions ruin any chance the film has at attaining moments of real suspense or horror. It is certainly a far cry from the moody terror of The Mummy. The character of the mummy and high priest, which were combined in Imhotep (Karloff) in The Mummy are here split into Andoheb (George Zucco) and Kharis (Tom Tyler). Fortunately Universal regular George Zucco (the 1939 remakes of The Cat and the Canary and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and many others) brings charm to Andoheb, the high priest who also doubles as the museum curator and has a network of spies at his disposal. Though Kharis doesn’t appear till the second half of the film, Universal make up legend Jack Pierce does an excellent job with the shuffling, bandaged creature, particularly with his black, empty eyes, a clever post-production effect. It is unfortunate that Tyler (a regular Western actor) was replaced by Lon Chaney, Jr. for the remaining sequels, as he is more effective that Chaney’s lumbering (and probably drunken) gait. 

The romantic lead, Marta, who Kharis inexplicably wishes to sacrifice (again, deviating from the plot of the first film to The Mummy’s Hand’s detriment) is played somewhat blandly by Peggy Moran and I can’t help but feel that she is totally wasted here and basically shoehorned into the plot. Instead of the Mummy believing her to have a connection with his lost love, she is just a random woman. It feels like she was written in solely for the scene at the end of the film when Kharis carries her off to kill her. As visually appealing as this is, it’s just not enough to justify an entire character or her barely existent romance with Steve (Dick Foran), which is limited to a kiss and one or two lines of dialogue. 

Though the film is quick paced and will probably delight anyone who was upset at the lack of mummy in the first film, it does not take itself seriously, as The Mummy did, and can only be enjoyed for its sheer ridiculousness. Universal was clearly beginning to give up here, as some plot elements are recycled from The Mummy, and footage from other films is reused such as the opening flashback scenes, which are taken from The Mummy, and the impressive temple shots, which are stolen from James Whale’s (Frankenstein) adventure film Green Hell. 

Only seek out The Mummy’s Hand if you are a Mummy completist. It is available as part of The Mummy: The Legacy Collection, which included all five Mummy films, a documentary, and some other special features, or on a double-sided DVD with The Mummy’s Tomb.