The Mummy is a 1932 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed by Karl Freund, and starring Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan, and Arthur Byron. The screenplay by John L. Balderston was adapted from a treatment written by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer. Released by Universal Studios as a part of the Universal Monsters franchise, the film features Karloff as Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian mummy who was killed for attempting to resurrect his dead lover, Anck-es-en-Amon. After being discovered and accidentally brought to life by a team of archaeologists, he disguises himself as a modern Egyptian named Ardeth Bey and searches for Anck-es-en-Amon, who he believes has been reincarnated in the modern world.
Universal released The Mummy theatrically in the United States on December 22, 1932. While less profitable than its predecessors Dracula and Frankenstein, The Mummy was still a commercial and critical success, becoming culturally influential and spawning several sequels, spin-offs, remakes, and reimaginings. The film and its sequels cemented the mummy archetype as a staple of the horror genre and Halloween festivities.
Plot In 1921, an archaeological expedition led by Sir Joseph Whemple finds the mummy of an ancient Egyptian high priest named Imhotep. An inspection of the mummy by Whemple's friend Dr. Muller reveals that the mummy's viscera were not removed, and from the signs of struggling, Muller deduces that although Imhotep had been wrapped like a traditional mummy, he had been buried alive. Also buried with Imhotep is a casket bearing a curse. Despite Muller's warning, Sir Joseph's assistant, Ralph Norton, opens it and finds an ancient, life-giving scroll, the "Scroll of Thoth". He translates the symbols and then reads the words aloud, causing Imhotep to rise from the dead. Norton is horrified and laughs hysterically as Imhotep shuffles off with the scroll.
Ten years later, Imhotep has assimilated into modern society, taking the identity of an eccentric Egyptian historian named Ardath Bey. He calls upon Sir Joseph's son Frank and Professor Pearson and shows them where to dig to find the tomb of the princess Ankh-es-en-Amon. After locating the tomb, the archaeologists present its treasures to the Cairo Museum, after which Ardath disappears. The professor recalls that Sir Joseph's assistant Norton went insane and died laughing shortly afterward.
Ardath soon meets Helen Grosvenor, a half-Egyptian woman who bears a striking resemblance to the princess, and she stays with Muller. Ardath falls in love with her, but so does Frank. After it is discovered that Ardath is the mummy Imhotep, Muller urges Joseph to burn the Scroll of Thoth, but when Joseph tries to do so, Ardath uses his magical powers to kill him and then hypnotizes Joseph's Nubian servant to be his slave and bring the Scroll to him, as the Nubian's Egyptian-related bloodline is susceptible to Imhotep's magic. After the servant does so, he hypnotizes Helen to come to his place and there, reveals to her that his horrific death was punishment for sacrilege, as he attempted to resurrect his lover, Princess Ankh-es-en-Amon.
Believing her to be the princess's reincarnation, he attempts to make her his immortal bride by killing, mummifying, and resurrecting her. Frank and Muller come to her rescue and distract Ardath long enough for Helen, now possessed by Ankh-es-en-Amon's spirit, to appeal to Isis to come to her aid. The statue of Isis raises its arm and emits a flash that sets the Scroll of Thoth on fire, breaking the spell that had given Imhotep his immortality as his body dies and turns to dust. In Frank's arms, Ankh-es-en-Amon's spirit leaves Helen's body, as Helen awakens as herself.
Cast
Boris Karloff as Ardath BeyCharacter's name spelled according to original typescript screenplay by John L. Balderston, published in / Imhotep / The Mummy, a high priest who is resurrected three thousand years after being condemned and buried alive for committing sacrilege. Zita Johann as Helen Grosvenor, a half-Egyptian woman whom Imhotep believes is the reincarnation of his forbidden lover, Princess Anck-es-en-Amon. David Manners as Frank Whemple, an archaeologist and Helen's lover Arthur Byron as Sir Joseph Whemple, a retired archaeologist and Frank's father Edward Van Sloan as Dr. Muller, Sir Joseph's and Frank's colleague Bramwell Fletcher as Ralph Norton, Sir Joseph's archaeology assistant Noble Johnson as The Nubian, Sir Joseph's and later Imhotep's temporary servant Kathryn Byron as Frau Muller, Dr. Muller's wife Leonard Mudie as Professor Pearson, Frank's expedition partner and an archaeologist James Crane as The Pharaoh, Anck-es-en-Amon's father and a ruler of Ancient Egypt. Henry Victor as The Saxon Warrior
Production Development
Inspired by the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 and the alleged "curse of the pharaohs", producer Carl Laemmle Jr. commissioned story editor Richard Schayer to find a novel to form a basis for an Egyptian-themed horror film, just as the novels Dracula and Frankenstein inspired their 1931 films Dracula and Frankenstein. Schayer found none, although the plot bears a strong resemblance to a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle entitled "The Ring of Thoth". Schayer and writer Nina Wilcox Putnam learned about Alessandro Cagliostro and wrote a nine-page treatment entitled Cagliostro. The story, set in San Francisco, was about a 4,000-year-old magician who survives by injecting nitrates.
Pleased with the Cagliostro concept, Laemmle hired John L. Balderston to write the script. Balderston had contributed to Dracula and Frankenstein, and had covered the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb for the New York World when he was a journalist so he was more than familiar with the well publicised tomb unearthing. Balderston moved the story to Egypt, renaming the film to The Mummy and its title character Imhotep, after the historical architect.
He also changed the story from one of revenge upon all the women who resembled the main character's ex-lover to one where the main character is determined to revive his old love by killing and mummifying her reincarnated self before resurrecting her with the spell of the Scroll of Thoth. Balderston invented the Scroll of Thoth, which gave an aura of authenticity to the story. Thoth was the wisest of the Egyptian gods who, when Osiris died, helped Isis bring her love back from the dead. Thoth is believed to have authored The Book of the Dead, which may have been the inspiration for Balderston's Scroll of Thoth. Another likely source of inspiration is the fictional Book of Thoth that appeared in several ancient Egyptian stories.
Filming Karl Freund, the cinematographer on Dracula, was hired to direct, making this his first film in the United States as a director. Freund cast Zita Johann as 'Anck-es-en-Amon', named after the only wife of Pharaoh Tutankhamun Ankhesenamun, whose body was missing from the pharaoh's tomb.
Filming began in September 1932 and was scheduled for three weeks, with a budget of $196,000. Karloff's first day was spent shooting the Mummy's awakening from his sarcophagus. Make-up artist Jack Pierce had studied photos of Seti I's mummy to design Imhotep. Pierce began transforming Karloff at 11 a.m., applying cotton, collodion and spirit gum to his face; clay to his hair; and wrapping him in linen bandages treated with acid and burnt in an oven, finishing the job at 7 p.m. Karloff finished his scenes at 2 a.m., and another two hours were spent removing the make-up. Karloff found the removal of gum from his face painful, and overall found the day "the most trying ordeal I [had] ever endured." Although the images of Karloff wrapped in bandages are the most iconic taken from the film, Karloff appears on screen in this make-up only for the opening vignette; the rest of the film sees him wearing less elaborate make-up.
A lengthy and detailed flashback sequence was longer than now exists. This sequence showed the various forms Anck-es-en-Amon was reincarnated in over the centuries: Henry Victor is credited in the film as "Saxon Warrior", despite his performance having been deleted. Stills exist of those sequences, but the footage (save for Karloff's appearance and the sacrilegious events leading up to his mummification in ancient Egypt) is lost.
Music The piece of classical music heard during the opening credits, taken from the Tchaikovsky ballet Swan Lake, was previously also used (in the same arrangement) for the opening credits of Universal's Dracula (1931) and Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932); it would be re-used as the title music of the same studio's Secret of the Blue Room (1933).
Historical accuracy While the Scroll of Thoth is a fictional artifact, it was likely based on the Book of the Dead, a real-world ancient Egyptian funerary text that was said to contain magic spells that would aid a soul in going to the afterlife. The eponymous Thoth was the Egyptian god of knowledge, and was said to be the inventor of hieroglyphs, which were thought to contain a sort of magic power. The film also makes reference to the Egyptian myth of the goddess Isis resurrecting Osiris after his murder by his brother Set.
Conspirators were caught in a plot to assassinate Pharaoh Ramesses III around 1151 B.C. Papyrus trial transcripts reveal that the conspirators were prescribed 'great punishments of death', and archaeological evidence led to the suggestion that at least one of them may have been buried alive. Although such punishment was not common practice, this discovery probably influenced the film's screenplay.
There is no evidence to suggest that the ancient Egyptians believed in or considered the possibility of reanimated mummies. Mummification was a sacred process meant to prepare a dead body to carry the soul through the afterlife, not for being reincarnated and living again on Earth. While it is possible that some individuals were mummified by being buried alive, it is unlikely that ancient Egyptians would think resurrection was possible because they were very aware of the fact that all the necessary organs had been removed and the body would be of little use on Earth anymore. Egyptologist Stuart Tyson Smith notes that 'the idea of mobile mummies was not entirely alien to ancient Egypt', citing one of the Hellenistic-era stories of Setna Khaemwas, which features both the animated mummy of Naneferkaptah and a fictional Book of Thoth and may have inspired screenwriter John Balderston.
Release Universal Pictures released The Mummy theatrically in the United States on December 22, 1932. The film opened nationwide in Australia on March 16, 1933.
Home media In the 1990s, MCA/Universal Home Video released The Mummy on VHS as part of the "Universal Monsters Classic Collection", a series of releases of Universal Classic Monsters films. The film was also released on LaserDisc.
In 1999, Universal released The Mummy on VHS and DVD as part of the "Classic Monster Collection". In 2004, Universal released The Mummy: The Legacy Collection on DVD as part of the "Universal Legacy Collection". On October 19, 2004, Universal released The Mummy: The Legacy Collection on DVD as part of the "Universal Legacy Collection"; this two-disc set also includes The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, and The Mummy's Curse. In 2008, Universal released The Mummy on DVD as a two-disc "75th Anniversary Edition", as part of the "Universal Legacy Series".