Mummy Movie Monday 7: The Mummy's Hand


 I'm kind of slow sometimes.  It took me forever to catch on that Stephen Sommers' The Mummy was a remake of 1940's The Mummy's Hand and not Karloff's 1932 The Mummy.

Universal's second film in the franchise would be referred to today as a reboot, spawning three and a half sequels (I don't really count Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy... mostly).

Handsome adventurer/ Egyptologist Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and his comic relief sidekick Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford) with love interest Marta (Peggy Moran) seek the tomb of Ananka.  This tomb is protected by the priests of Karnak, led by oh-so-Egyptian George Zucco's Andoheb, keeper of the sacred Tana leaves, which revive Kharis,  the cursed priest of Isis, mummified alive and set to guard the tomb.

Kharis was played by Tom Tyler, mostly famous these days for playing Captain Marvel (Shazam), but aside from some silent exposition scenes... he has no lines.

After two weeks of less than stellar movies, The Mummy's Hand was a Saturday afternoon matinee kind of treat, and even though the sequels have problems, I'm looking forward to revisiting them again soon.


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