'32 The Mummy premiered on December 22,
Universal studios released their first foray into mummy's on this day in 1932.
Boris Karloff stars in The Mummy. Supporting cast members are Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Slone, Arthur Byron, Branwell Fletcher, and Noble Johnson.
Fans of Universal horror films know that Manners and Van Slone were members of the cast of '31 Dracula. Noble Johnson would next be seen in '33 King Kong, as the Native Chief on Skull Island.
From Wikipedia
Production:
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 3,000-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 and renamed the film 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 had also been the cinematographer on Fritz Lang's Metropolis. The film was retitled The Mummy. Freund cast Zita Johann*, who believed in reincarnation, and named her character 'Anck-es-en-Amon' after the only wife of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The real Ankhesenamun's body had not been discovered in the tomb of King Tutankhamun and her resting place was unknown. Her name, however, would not have been unknown to the general public.
Filming began in September 1932 and was scheduled for three weeks. 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) are 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:
The Scroll of Thoth is a fictional artifact, though likely based on the Book of the Dead. Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge, is said to be the inventor of hieroglyphs and the author of the Book of the Dead. 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.
The Mummy has also been decried for "othering" Eastern culture, especially portraying it as being more primitive and superstitious than Western culture. In one scene, Helen Grosvenor longs for the "real" (Classical) Egypt, disparaging that she is in contemporary Islamic Egypt. This is viewed by critic Caroline T. Schroeder as a slight against Islamic culture at the time.
According to Mark A. Hall, of the Perth Museum and Art Gallery, film portrayals of Egypt, especially in Egyptian archaeology, often deal with themes of appropriating and controlling the dangers of non-European cultures, or deal with the past if it relates to legend and superstition. Mummies, Hall says, are a common example of this. While he commended the archaeological wisdom espoused by Sir Joseph Whemple in the film, he writes that "much more is learned from studying bits of broken pottery than from all the sensational finds" and that archaeologists' job is to "increase the sum of human knowledge of the past", and mentions that the archaeological element was only used as a foil for the supernatural elements. As a result, per Hall, what it and similar films offered was a "depiction of archaeology as a colonial imposition by which cultural inheritance is appropriated".
My 2 cents:
The Mummy is often criticized by some fans as being too slow to develop, and only having a "mummy" in the opening sequence. While I can't argue with their claims, I hold the film in high regard. IMO, it's a love story gone wrong. ImHoTep is condemned to a horrible death, not only in this life, but the next, due to his deep love for Anck-es-en-Amon. While one can't support his killing of Helen and resurrecting her, you can understand his motive. Love makes people do strange things, even murder. He's waited 3000 years to be reunited with her, so his desire is at least a bit understandable. Does the fact that he died such a horrible death by being buried alive make him a sympathetic character? I'll let you decide for yourself.
*Now for some bad production history.
Director Karl Freund made life hell for Zita Johann during filming. She had to ward off his constant sexual advances. He demanded that she film a nude scene, and Zita refused. It has been said that for revenge, he purposely cut her reincarnation scenes to the minimum we now see in the film. Soon after her ordeal, she went to the studio and demanded to be released from her contract. Her wish was granted. Fans of Zita Johann need to see her in The Sin of Nora Moran.
Branwell Fletcher, plays Ralph Norton, Sir Joseph's archaeology assistant, who unwittingly brings the mummy to life, was once married to Helen Chandler (Mina in '31 Dracula).
In '40 Universal studios returned to the tomb of Egypt with a new horror/adventure, The Mummy's Hand, starring Tom Tyler as Kharis. For budget measures, scenes from the '32 film were edited into the story, but Kharis is not ImHoTep. Gone was the Scroll of Thoth, replaced by tana leaves, his love interest is Princess Ananka. The Kharis saga continued with Lon Chaney taking over the role in the sequels: The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, and The Mummy's Curse.
Boris Karloff stars in The Mummy. Supporting cast members are Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Slone, Arthur Byron, Branwell Fletcher, and Noble Johnson.
Fans of Universal horror films know that Manners and Van Slone were members of the cast of '31 Dracula. Noble Johnson would next be seen in '33 King Kong, as the Native Chief on Skull Island.
From Wikipedia
Production:
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 3,000-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 and renamed the film 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 had also been the cinematographer on Fritz Lang's Metropolis. The film was retitled The Mummy. Freund cast Zita Johann*, who believed in reincarnation, and named her character 'Anck-es-en-Amon' after the only wife of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The real Ankhesenamun's body had not been discovered in the tomb of King Tutankhamun and her resting place was unknown. Her name, however, would not have been unknown to the general public.
Filming began in September 1932 and was scheduled for three weeks. 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) are 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:
The Scroll of Thoth is a fictional artifact, though likely based on the Book of the Dead. Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge, is said to be the inventor of hieroglyphs and the author of the Book of the Dead. 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.
The Mummy has also been decried for "othering" Eastern culture, especially portraying it as being more primitive and superstitious than Western culture. In one scene, Helen Grosvenor longs for the "real" (Classical) Egypt, disparaging that she is in contemporary Islamic Egypt. This is viewed by critic Caroline T. Schroeder as a slight against Islamic culture at the time.
According to Mark A. Hall, of the Perth Museum and Art Gallery, film portrayals of Egypt, especially in Egyptian archaeology, often deal with themes of appropriating and controlling the dangers of non-European cultures, or deal with the past if it relates to legend and superstition. Mummies, Hall says, are a common example of this. While he commended the archaeological wisdom espoused by Sir Joseph Whemple in the film, he writes that "much more is learned from studying bits of broken pottery than from all the sensational finds" and that archaeologists' job is to "increase the sum of human knowledge of the past", and mentions that the archaeological element was only used as a foil for the supernatural elements. As a result, per Hall, what it and similar films offered was a "depiction of archaeology as a colonial imposition by which cultural inheritance is appropriated".
My 2 cents:
The Mummy is often criticized by some fans as being too slow to develop, and only having a "mummy" in the opening sequence. While I can't argue with their claims, I hold the film in high regard. IMO, it's a love story gone wrong. ImHoTep is condemned to a horrible death, not only in this life, but the next, due to his deep love for Anck-es-en-Amon. While one can't support his killing of Helen and resurrecting her, you can understand his motive. Love makes people do strange things, even murder. He's waited 3000 years to be reunited with her, so his desire is at least a bit understandable. Does the fact that he died such a horrible death by being buried alive make him a sympathetic character? I'll let you decide for yourself.
*Now for some bad production history.
Director Karl Freund made life hell for Zita Johann during filming. She had to ward off his constant sexual advances. He demanded that she film a nude scene, and Zita refused. It has been said that for revenge, he purposely cut her reincarnation scenes to the minimum we now see in the film. Soon after her ordeal, she went to the studio and demanded to be released from her contract. Her wish was granted. Fans of Zita Johann need to see her in The Sin of Nora Moran.
Branwell Fletcher, plays Ralph Norton, Sir Joseph's archaeology assistant, who unwittingly brings the mummy to life, was once married to Helen Chandler (Mina in '31 Dracula).
In '40 Universal studios returned to the tomb of Egypt with a new horror/adventure, The Mummy's Hand, starring Tom Tyler as Kharis. For budget measures, scenes from the '32 film were edited into the story, but Kharis is not ImHoTep. Gone was the Scroll of Thoth, replaced by tana leaves, his love interest is Princess Ananka. The Kharis saga continued with Lon Chaney taking over the role in the sequels: The Mummy's Tomb, The Mummy's Ghost, and The Mummy's Curse.
