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The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964) | Hammer’s ancient avenger stalks Victorian London in HD
I’m finally dipping into Indicator/Powerhouse’s fantastic box-set Hammer Volume One: Fear Warning, in which a quartet of classic chillers get their first-ever HD restorations (region free) with a host of exclusive extra features. Here’s my look back at 1964’s The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb.
In 1900 Egypt, a team of archaeologists, including John Bray (Ronald Howard) and his Egyptology expert fiancée, Annette (Jeanne Roland), unearth the tomb of the Ra-Antef.
When Annette’s father is murdered, the expedition’s main backer, Alexander King (Fred Clark), hatches a plan to have the treasure and sarcophagus shipped back to England for a luridly sensational tour. But when the seals are cut during the exhibition’s opening night – the coffin is found to be empty.
Soon the beat of cloth-wrapped feet begin to sound in foggy Victorian London as the ancient avenger (Dickie Owen) pursues all those who defiled its tomb…
What happens next is entirely predictable: the mummy goes on the rampage as Annette gets herself involved in a love triangle with her wimpy fiancé John and charismatic arts patron Adam (Terence Morgan), before ending up in the sewer system with the lumbering bandaged evil.
This 1964 horror sequel is a far cry from Hammer’s original 1959 classic; with pretty lame sets (especially the desert scenes) and suffers from some middle of the road casting (and sadly lacking Hammer favourites Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee), but US import Fred Clark certainly makes up for it as Alexander King, a PT Barnum meets William Castle showman with a heart of gold. A great comic actor, Clark would go onto co-star alongside Frankie Avalon in the Vincent Price spy spoof Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine the following year.
Burmese-born actress Jeanne Roland tries her best to present her educated Annette as an independent, modern (Victorian) woman, but ends up being little more than an alluring decoration.
This was Roland’s only starring vehicle for Hammer (she also suffered the same fate as many a Hammer scream queen – being dubbed), and later popped up in You Only Live Twice as Bond’s masseuse.
Hammer stalwarts George Pastell and Michael Ripper also appear – albeit too briefly, and future Virgin Witch director Ray Austin gets into a punch-up with Morgan’s Adam.
With its scenes of head crushing and severed hands, it’s surprisingly violent, and there’s a neat twist in the final act. Originally released in the UK and the US on a double-bill with The Gorgon, it actually proved a big success for Hammer despite its flaws.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• Blood and Bandages: Inside The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (very informative and illuminating anecdotes)
• An appreciation of Jeanne Roland by Diabolique editor-in-chief Kat Ellinger
• Interview with Michael McStay (2017): the British film and TV actor looks back at his time working for Hammer (his deaf person’s story is a hoot)
• Interview with composer Carlo Martelli on the use of sourced music for the film
• Super 8 Version: original cut-down home cinema presentation
• Trailer and Image Gallery
The Mummy (1959) | The Hammer horror classic casts its aura of menace in HD
VENGEANCE IS MINE
In 19th-century Egypt, a team of British archaeologists locate the tomb of Princess Ananka, but disregard local custom and plunder it. The men soon regret their arrogance when, back in England, they are tracked down by Kharis (Christopher Lee), a mummy who has been brought back to life by religious zealot Mehemet Bey (George Patell) to avenge the desecration of the tomb. After his father and uncle succumb to Kharis, John Banning (Peter Cushing) prepares to do battle with the mummy. However, he hasn’t counted on his wife Isobel (Yvonne Furneaux)’s resemblance to the Princess, which threatens to confuse the vengeful Kharis…
AURA OF MENACE
Having injected new blood into Universal’s Frankenstein and Dracula in the late-1950s, Hammer were given the remake rights to their library of classic horrors. First up was The Mummy, in which screenwriter Jimmy Sangster fused the 1932 Boris Karloff version with elements from Universal’s The Mummy’s Hand (1940), The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) and The Mummy’s Ghost (1944).
Swathed in bandages, Christopher Lee makes a powerful, fast-moving mummy, using just eye movements to project real menace and pathos. For a third time, he is paired with Peter Cushing, who puts in a cultured, physical performance as the heroic archaeologist sporting a gammy leg. Together, Lee and Cushing formed horror’s finest teaming that would continue for another 16 films for Hammer.
The 15-minute flashback sequence in which Lee’s Kharis is buried alive when his forbidden love for Ananka is discovered was a real shocker back in 1959 as it involved a scene in which Kharis’ tongue is ripped out. Shots of the offending appendage were filmed but it never did make the final ‘cut’.
Thanks to director Terence Fisher’s canny colour palette and camerawork, The Mummy achieves a macabre aura of menace that the 1940s films never quite captured. And big kudos goes to Jimmy Sangster’s script, whose biting remarks on colonialism and commercialism are just as relevant today.
THE ICON/HAMMER RELEASE
The warmly saturated colours of this 1950’s Technicolor adventure really come to the fore in the new digital re-mastering, making this a worthy companion to last year’s Hammer horror releases, The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula. The Mummy is presented here in its original UK theatrical 1.66.1 aspect ratio and looks terrific, especially on the big screen. I got to see this in the forecourt of the British Museum as part of the BFI’s Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film season in August, and it was truly a marvellous experience. The film really comes alive.
With Hammer experts Marcus Hearn and Jonathan Rigby on board (they also supply the audio commentary), the exclusive content will be of enormous interest to die-hard Hammer fans. Hearn’s Unwrapping the Mummy contains some wonderful anecdotes from some of the people behind the scenes, including sculptor Margaret Robinson, the widow of production designer Bernard Robinson; The Hammer Rep Company finds Jonathan Rigby lending his fruity tones to a featurette about the character actors who were the backbone of Hammer horror; and The House of Horror: Memories of Bray, is a 45-minute documentary tracing the history of Hammer at the Berkshire studio between 1951 and 1966, and features reminiscences from veterans Barbara Shelley, Francis Matthews and Jacqueline Pearce.
Also included in the 3-disc double play release is an alternate full frame 1.37.1 aspect ratio version of the film; Terence Fisher’s little-seen 1952 crime drama Stolen Face starring Lizabeth Scott, a World of Hammer episode featuring Peter Cushing, HD archive/stills gallery, an original industry promo reel restored to HD and collector’s booklet.
DID YOU KNOW?
The sarcophagus of Ananka, which toured the US and the UK on the film’s release, now resides in the basement stores of the Perth museum in Scotland.
THE VERDICT
This classic Hammer horror is a must see.
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