Geraldine
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
zardoz-13
"The Mummy's Tomb" is the sequel to "The Mummy's Hand." "Machine Gun Momma" director Harold Young alternates between the present day in Mapleton, Massachusetts, where Stephen Banning (Dick Foran of "The Petrified Forest") ruminates about his archaeological expedition in Egypt thirty years ago. "Most of these incidents are so incredible that one would almost have to be there in order to believe them. You know, many people believe that we archaeologists are just a collection of old fogies digging around in ruins after old dried up skulls and bones." Everybody but Banning's skeptical sister Jane (Mary Gordon of "The Bride of Frankenstein") finds Banning's reminiscences captivating. "Personally, I think you're boring Isobel and her mother," Jane contends. The women disagree with Jane and listen to Stephen's memories with fascination gleaming in their respective eyes. Stephen continues his tale as the film lurches into flashback mode, and Stephen explains that his partners and he excavated a plagued tomb. They found a three-thousand-year-old mummy, Kharis (Lon Chaney, Jr. of "The Wolfman") who appeared to be buried alive, in the tomb. For the record, Chaney reprised his role later in both "The Mummy's Ghost" (1944) and "The Mummy's Curse" (1944). No sooner had they located the tomb than Stephen's native laborers saw the curse and abandoned him. Meantime, the Priest Andoheb (George Zucco of "Dead Men Walk") gives his successor, Mehemet Bey (Turhan Bey of "The Mad Ghoul"), instructions about how to administer tana leaf juice to awaken Kharis. He explains that Bey must give Kharis three to nine leaves each night to maintain life and motivation to the Mummy. Earlier, after the expedition had exhumed the Mummy, Andoheb persuaded Dr. Petrie (Charles Trowbridge of "Sergeant York") to hold the mummy's hand. Naturally, Petrie is terrified when Andoheb revives the Mummy with the Tanis leaves. The Mummy strangles the helpless Petrie. Afterward, The Mummy then snatches Marta Solvani (Peggy Moran of "Horror Island"), the lone female member of the expedition, but Stephen and his friend, Babe Hanson (Wallace Ford of "Freaks") rescue her once they learn about the tomb's secret chamber and set the mummy alight with their blazing torches. Stephen believes that Kharis expired in the fire and tells his family about the corpse's demise. Unfortunately, the clueless Stephen doesn't know that the Mummy suffered only inconsequential wounds. Andoheb has since died and entrusted the Mummy to Mehemet. The mummy's new master has set sail for America with Kharis stored in the cargo hold. Mehemet plans to exact revenge upon the families of Stephen Banning as well as Babe Hanson for despoiling his tomb. As the new high priest of the mummy's tomb, Mehemet manages to get himself hired as the caretaker of the local Mapleton cemetery. When the first full moon arises, Bey gives Kharis enough tana juice to send The Mummy shambling off on his first mission. Kharis heads to Stephen's home, clambers up a trellis to a second-floor window, enters the darkened room, and strangles Stephen without a qualm. Stephen's son Dr. John Banning (John Hubbard of "Youth on Parade") lets his obsession run rampant in his efforts to track down his father's murderer. Simultaneously, Banning puts his romance with beautiful Isobel Evans (Elyse Knox of "Sheriff of Tombstone"), on the back burner, while he struggles to make sense out of his father's mysterious murder. News of Stephen's death attracts Babe, who arrives by passenger train in Mapleton, during the next full moon. Unbeknownst to either of them as John picks Babe up at the train station, Kharis strangles Stephen's sister Jane. The killings spawn sensational headlines in newspapers along the Eastern seaboard, and reporters flock to Mapleton for a scoop. Babe assures John that Kharis killed both Stephen and Jane. Furthermore, he explains that the gray dust on the murder victims' throats is really mold from the Mummy's linen bandages. Of course, the doctors refused to believe such an outlandish yarn. Babe shares his sentiments with the reporters, and Mehemet Bay overhears him. Babe contact the local sheriff (Cliff Clark) who has received reports from locals that something weird happened to them the same night that Jane was slain. The sheriff finds it difficult to believe that a Mummy could be at large. When Kharis rises again, the Mummy kills Babe. The next day, John and Isobel stumble onto remnants of the mummy's bandages the next day. The couple take their evidence to university professor Matthew Norman (Frank Reicher of "King Kong"), and he verifies Babe's hypothesis to the authorities. At this point, the Army Medical Corp drafts John. He has three days until he must report for duty. He suggests Isobel and he stage a quick wedding at the Banning home. It seems that the evil Bey has grown infatuated with Isobel. The priest dispatches Kharis to kidnap Isobel. After the mummy abducts John's the bride-to-be, the good doctor assembles a posse. One of the townspeople reveals that an Egyptian serves as caretaker at the local cemetery. The people storm off to the graveyard with their fiery torches. Bey announces his plans not only to wed Isobel but also immortalize her. The mob show up at the cemetery before Bey can drug Isobel with the tana leaf juice. Bey orders Kharis to carry Isobel away so he can defuse the mob. Since the citizens have exposed him, Bey endeavors to shoot John, but the sheriff drills Mehemet with a bullet. Afterward, the townspeople pursue Kharis, who returns to the Banning estate with Isobel in his arms. John as well as the crowd set the estate afire through carelessness in their efforts to save Isobel. John takes advantage of conflagration to free Isobel from the Mummy. After Kharis is incinerated in the fire, John and Isobel live happily ever after as an old married couple.Interestingly enough, director Terence Fisher based his 1959 remake of "The Mummy" from "The Mummy's Tomb" rather than the classic 1932 Boris Karloff "Mummy.
Panamint
Filmed in a non-dynamic, straightforward manner, this is a basic standard style b-movie. Each scene follows the one before it, very predictably. This is OK but the producers are obviously not reaching for anything dynamic or ground-breaking. Its predecessor/originator "The Mummy's Hand" is an exciting, fun Mummy film but as a sequel "The Mummy's Tomb" is strictly a follow-on that begins with flashbacks to scenes from that predecessor.It should be noted that most of the acting in this sequel is quite good with a little gem of a performance by George Zucco, and featuring stalwarts like Turhan Bey and Mary Gordon doing excellent work in supporting roles.Hubbard and Knox are on hand to be just what they are: contract b-movie players who do competent work and don't get in the way. But that is really all they are asked to do and they are engaging if some what bland leads- you will find their roles and performances to be attractive and inoffensive but definitely not memorable.Mummy fans will appreciate this film and need it in their collections. It is watchable and is a good enough continuation of the Mummy series, but has the feel of a movie that was made for the purpose of marking time cheaply as the series plays itself out.
preppy-3
This takes places 30 years after "Hand" which means it should happen in 1970--but there's clear references to World War II! This has Kharis (Lon Chaney now) coming to Mapleton Massachusetts to kill the desecrates of an ancient tomb. How Kharis survived after being burnt to death in the previous movie and why he waits 30 years is never explained. With him is Mehemet Bay (Turhan Bay) to feed him tana leaves and order him about.It's pretty silly since the plot makes little sense and there are loopholes galore...but it sometimes works. The makeup on Chaney is effective, it moves fairly quickly, the acting isn't bad and it all leads up to a fiery climax. All in all an OK Universal horror film.
Lilcount
Nothing will ruin a movie as much as the combination of a poor script and poor direction. This is the case with "The Mummy's Tomb."The script is leftover ideas from older, better Universal horror flicks like "Dracula" and "Frankenstein." The direction is trite and stale. The acting is mediocre. Even Chaney's Kharis is feeble compared to Tom Tyler's in "The Mummy's Hand," and the producers are foolish enough to add footage from Christy Cabanne's vastly better prequel and point up the weakness of their own film!Universal realized how bad this movie was, and essentially remade it from scratch two years later as "The Mummy's Ghost" with a much better script and better director. The result was likely the best film in their four film "Mummy" cycle, although not anywhere near as good as Karl Freund's 1932 original.Cabanne's footage raises this film to a 3. The "new" stuff is a 2 at best. Dick Foran and Wallace Ford were probably glad to see their characters bumped off so they wouldn't have to appear in dreck like this anymore!
