Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
BroadcastChic
Excellent, a Must See
Konterr
Brilliant and touching
LouAbbott
Chaney, like Karloff, hated the Mummy makeup (Chaney was no fan of the Wolfman transformation, either). Karloff said his Mummy make up took longer than Frankenstein. My question is why not put Chaney's name over the title for marquee value (which was done) but let a Chaney double or Tom Tyler, the original Mummy in "The Mummy's Hand" play the monster. With all that makeup and rags, it's difficult to recognize Chaney anyway. Besides, half the time the Mummy stumbles around in virtual darkness. How long is Chaney actually in the three films he did as the Mummy? Maybe 20 minutes each, if that? Pay Chaney, let's say, $2,000 for his name on the marquee in each picture, but let Tyler do the heavy lifting. To satisfy Tyler (who'll probably get the scale salary), list him in the beginning and end credits, but give him a character name NOT in the movie.
jacobjohntaylor1
A classic horror film. That is really very scary. It not a sequel to The Mummy. Not really. But it very scary. The Mummy's Tomb is scarier. The Mummy's ghost is also scarier. The Mummy's Cures is also scarier. This movie has a great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. 6.1 is a good ratting. But this is such a great movie that 6.1 it underrating. This is a 9. See this movie. It this movie does not scary no movie will. Christy Cabanne was a great director. This is one of his best movies. See it. This is is scarier then The Shining and this not easy to do.
GL84
Entering an archaeology expedition, a pair of amateur diggers discover the long-lost tomb of an ancient Egyptian mummy instead of their intended target princess and must try to stop the now-revived mummy who's awakened to punish the intruders.While it's impossible to come anywhere close to the original, this one is actually surprisingly watchable. One of the better features here is the fact that it manages to get quite a lot out of it's rather frenetic pace which really moves it along very well. The opening burial scene, told in flashback style, is quite effectively done and manages to create a real air of suspense not only with the action of him desecrating the tomb and being mummified while the overlaid narration of the fates depicted to everyone and atmosphere that the other sequels rarely achieved. As well, the excavation is nicely played out, giving some really enjoyable moments playing into the curse amongst the locals while setting up the actual setup of the discovery later on. Even the small attempts at humor early are a nice change of tone from the first one, and are a welcome change in the beginning as they wander around the bizarre which brings them into the main storyline, which nicely gets dropped later on once at the actual dig site. Still, the film's best overall feature is that when considering the clichés of the mummy movie that became a staple of the sub-genre, this is the starting point for all the misconceptions about the genre, and it therefore deserves some props for that. This film s where it all starts, from the concept of the slowly shuffling, bandage-wrapped title figure, Tana leaves, reincarnated princesses, mummification as punishment for forbidden love and secretive Ancient Egyptian cults all come from here rather than the original. Along with the post-production magic where the mummies eyes were scribbled out, giving Kharis here has an eerie intensity missing from the remaining sequels these here all manage to make for a rather enjoyable time. One of the few minor problems here is the fact that the differing tone from the first one is likely to not sit well with some, as it's now a knock-off of the Abbott and Costello films that would later actually become reality. Some of the jokes aren't even that funny and that might wear some out quite readily here as there's plenty of goofy scenes with the bumbling pair of friends and then the clumsy magician involved in the proceedings. As well, there's also the fact despite the short running time, there are several instances where stock footage has been inserted into the movie, and while it's not a great crime, the scenes that were selected are since they're not all that important to the film as a whole which results in some rather jarring scenes throughout here. Otherwise, this one here isn't all that bad.Today's Rating/PG: Some implied violence.
TheLittleSongbird
The other three Universal Kharis films succeeding were pretty uninspired and uneven, though not without their good parts, however The Mummy's Hand while less than perfect and not exactly great is actually rather decent. Universal are nowhere near at their best here and The Mummy with Boris Karloff also from Universal from eight years earlier is the better film, but of the four Universal Kharis films The Mummy's Hand is easily the best of the four and the only one to come close to a good film.It does start off rather sluggishly and takes too long to get going, it's all relevant but one does wish that the film got to the point quicker than it did. Two performances didn't come over so good, Wallace Ford's bumbling gets irritating after a while and Eduardo Ciannelli is for my tastes rather stiff. And I do have to agree about some of the comedy, some of it is witty and amusing but too much of it was intrusive and unnecessary so it felt more annoying than funny.Visually however The Mummy's Hand is a solidly made film, the best-looking of the four Universal Kharis films most certainly, everything's professionally shot, moodily(appropriately) lit and crisply edited, the sets are suitably atmospheric and it's clear what the time and place is meant to be. The score fits well and is haunting, again the best score of the four films, being very stock in the other three. The story while not much new is interesting and doesn't try to do anything too simple or complicated, while it has more than one type of film genre it didn't feel muddled or have the feeling of not-knowing-what-it-was-trying-to-be and once it gets going it is quick moving and is pretty exciting and atmospherically spooky. The direction is decent and while none of the performances are award-worthy the performances are solid enough, George Zucco's excellent(brimming with sinister authority) performance standing out. Cecil Kellaway is very likable and Tom Tyler is surprisingly good as Kharis, he's actually genuinely unnerving(particularly the eyes). Dick Foran is amiable and Peggy Moran brings charm and spunk to her role.Overall, a decent if not great film and easily the best of the Universal Kharis films. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox
