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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb.

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Speaker 3: And this is Joe McCormick. And today on Weird House Cinema,

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Speaker 3: we're going to be talking about the 1932 universal monster movie,

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Speaker 3: The Mummy, directed by Karl Freund, starring Boris Karloff, Zita Johan,

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Speaker 3: and David manners and Edward van Sloan, the original mummy,

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Speaker 3: the original universal mummy, um, a movie that I would

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Speaker 3: have sworn I had seen before, but after going back

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Speaker 3: and watching it for this week, it felt so fresh

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Speaker 3: to me. I wonder if I've ever actually seen the

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Speaker 3: whole thing. I think maybe I had not, maybe I'd

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Speaker 3: only seen like the first 10 minutes or something. because

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Speaker 3: it was like a whole new experience, and I was

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Speaker 3: very pleasantly surprised. Yeah, same.

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Speaker 2: I don't think this is a film I'd ever watched

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Speaker 2: all the way through. In general, the Mummy movies are

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Speaker 2: not universal horror films that I've seen a lot of.

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Speaker 2: I'm very familiar with some of the images from them,

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Speaker 2: but it's not like the Frankenstein films or... the creature

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Speaker 2: films where I've definitely spent some time in those franchises.

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Speaker 2: But I've always been a fan of mummy movies in general. Actually,

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Speaker 2: on my desk here, one second. I actually have this

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Speaker 2: little guy. It's a little mummy dude, and his face

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Speaker 2: spins around and makes a scary face. I have no

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Speaker 2: idea where this came from. Probably a Happy Meal or something,

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Speaker 2: and probably not a Happy Meal I ever ate. Somehow

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Speaker 2: it came into my possession, and I've just held on

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Speaker 2: to him as a little... little mascot for the table here.

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Speaker 2: So I love mummy movies. We've never done a mummy

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Speaker 2: movie up until this point on Weird House Cinema. And

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Speaker 2: so I kind of anguish back and forth, like which

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Speaker 2: one should we do? And just reading them, you know,

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Speaker 2: different receptions to different films. And not everyone is like 100%

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Speaker 2: on board with the first mummy movie for reasons we'll

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Speaker 2: probably get into, but I'm really glad we picked this one.

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Speaker 2: You know, I ultimately decided let's just go back to

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Speaker 2: the original. Let's just go back to 1932. and watch it,

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Speaker 2: the original Universal Mummy film.

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Speaker 3: This is usually considered the third of the big Universal

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Speaker 3: monster movies in chronological order. It's not the third, like,

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Speaker 3: Universal horror movie made. There were others in between. But

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Speaker 3: the order of the big ones is the Todd Browning Dracula.

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Speaker 3: It's 1931, I think. Yeah, 31. And then the James

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Speaker 3: Whale Frankenstein. So Dracula, Frankenstein, and then Mummy comes third.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Then comes Mummy. And, you know, if you're

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Speaker 2: going to compare the Mummy... to dracula and frankenstein which

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Speaker 2: we will do i mean you i can see you

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Speaker 2: can definitely make an argument for saying that it is

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Speaker 2: the weaker of the three um but we're also dealing

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Speaker 2: with some very strong films here you know real trendsetters

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Speaker 2: that stand out in the 1930s and still stand out

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Speaker 2: today like these are films with serious legacy behind them.

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Speaker 3: I will say it in some ways uh is behind

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Speaker 3: the other two, but I think it transcends the original

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Speaker 3: Dracula in some, uh, cinematography elements. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: It is a gorgeous film.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Uh, so, uh, things, wait, well, I should probably

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Speaker 3: say this at the top. Also, if I sound weird today,

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Speaker 3: I've been sick the past few days. So I, I

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Speaker 3: don't know how much that's affecting my voice, but I,

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Speaker 3: I did want to explain that I have not been

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Speaker 3: affected by a mummy's curse, just regular virus as far

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Speaker 3: as I know. Um, uh, but yeah, uh, putting that aside,

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Speaker 3: I wanted to, kick things off just talking about some

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Speaker 3: of the things that really struck me about the original

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Speaker 3: mummy on this viewing. One was I was surprised at

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Speaker 3: the characterization of the monster itself. So I wanted to

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Speaker 3: talk about the distinction between the mummy as zombie versus

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Speaker 3: the speaking mummy character. So sometimes in horror movies, a

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Speaker 3: reanimated mummy is is presented as like a shambling, decayed

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Speaker 3: type of undead creature. Though I think usually much more

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Speaker 3: powerful than your typical zombie. You might think of a

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Speaker 3: mummy as a super zombie. So it's a zombie wrapped

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Speaker 3: in bandages with incredible strength, often surrounded by an aura

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Speaker 3: of malicious magic that somehow works its evil will. Other times,

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Speaker 3: the mummy does not remain in this shriveled undead form,

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Speaker 3: but it takes on a new appearance and it regains

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Speaker 3: something of its voice and personality. It sort of becomes

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Speaker 3: or partially becomes again the person that the mummy was

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Speaker 3: in life. And this film is very much in the

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Speaker 3: latter category. The mummy only appears as a mummy, meaning

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Speaker 3: withered and wrapped in bandages, and in shots at the

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Speaker 3: very beginning and the very ending of the film. And

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Speaker 3: the mummy character, Imhotep, is better thought of as a

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Speaker 3: kind of sophisticated otherworldly sorcerer who is totally in command

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Speaker 3: during dialogue scenes with the protagonists. He's very calm. He's

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Speaker 3: very in control. He's very threatening. But he does not

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Speaker 3: threaten the characters by wandering up and strangling them like

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Speaker 3: some of these zombie mummies do. He threatens with manipulation,

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Speaker 3: with illusions and curses. And by having mastery of this

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Speaker 3: long dormant strain of powerful magic, a kind of magic

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Speaker 3: that is interesting in the way it's presented in the movie,

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Speaker 3: because it's like something that used to be a more

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Speaker 3: common part of this world, but it has gone away.

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Speaker 3: It has gone and been hidden. And now it is

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Speaker 3: being used once again, like a revival.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: And so I'm really glad the movie goes this route.

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Speaker 3: There are mummy movies more in the first category, the

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Speaker 3: mummy as zombie that I like and are entertaining. I

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Speaker 3: haven't seen it in a while, but I remember really

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Speaker 3: liking the 1959 hammer mummy, which is directed by Terrence Fisher.

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Speaker 3: That one's got Christopher Lee as the mummy chorus and

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Speaker 3: Peter Cushing is the hero. And in that movie, Christopher

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Speaker 3: Lee's mummy is more in the zombie mode. He's a silent,

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Speaker 3: shambling machine of terror and revenge. But I really like

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Speaker 3: that in this movie, the mummy is this urbane and

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Speaker 3: interesting articulate villain.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's so fascinating that so much in

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Speaker 2: the mummy franchise and the mummy subgenre to follow this

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Speaker 2: film is based on what is mostly implied and only

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Speaker 2: partially shown in the first 10 minutes of this film.

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Speaker 2: And there's probably something to be said about how much

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Speaker 2: better these 10 minutes are than many a whole mummy

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Speaker 2: movie out there in the world, you know? But yeah,

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Speaker 2: this is, for the most part, the mummy character, Imhotep,

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Speaker 2: that we get in this film. Yeah, to your point,

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Speaker 2: he is a sorcerer. And the thing he is wrapped

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Speaker 2: in is various arcane magical properties that, as he points out,

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Speaker 2: make him impervious sometimes. to our protagonists. At one point

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Speaker 2: he's like, you know that you cannot harm me. You know,

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Speaker 2: I am, you know, I walk protected ground because of

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Speaker 2: the ancient magic that I invoke.

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Speaker 3: I really love that scene you're talking about. I love the,

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Speaker 3: I love the restraint in it. Like there's, it's this

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Speaker 3: moment of impasse between our villain and our heroes where

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Speaker 3: the villain knows that he could kill them and he

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Speaker 3: knows that they cannot harm him. and he's not a

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Speaker 3: nice guy. He's not, you know, he's not like being merciful,

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Speaker 3: but he is showing a kind of restraint. He's like,

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Speaker 3: I'm about to walk away from this conversation, but you

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Speaker 3: know that I can kill you and you can't kill me. Um,

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Speaker 3: so you, you, you need to think about this and

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Speaker 3: then give me what I want. Uh, so yeah, interesting

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Speaker 3: to think about what that, what that restraint means in

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Speaker 3: the moment for that character. Yeah. Another thread that I

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Speaker 3: want to open up here is the idea of the

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Speaker 3: mummy as Dracula in Egypt. Uh, I don't want to

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Speaker 3: diminish it by saying this because I really liked the

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Speaker 3: mummy and I think there's a lot of originality in it,

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Speaker 3: but I think it's quite obvious that this movie was

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Speaker 3: based on the underlying machinery of Dracula, the Todd Browning, Dracula,

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Speaker 3: the situation, uh, the plot mechanics, the set of characters,

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Speaker 3: and even some, uh, cinematography choices overlap significantly. Uh, they

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Speaker 3: even have some actors play the same roles in the story.

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Speaker 3: Like for, uh, the main example I'm thinking of is

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Speaker 3: the Edward Van Sloan character. So in these two movies,

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Speaker 3: Edward Van Sloan plays Van Helsing. He plays Van Helsing

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Speaker 3: and Dracula. And then he basically plays Van Helsing again

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Speaker 3: in the mummy, but he's got a different name. He's Dr. Mu, uh,

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Speaker 3: Mueller here. In both cases, he is an elderly professor

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Speaker 3: who has intimate familiarity with the occult. Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 2: Very much the same sort of character. And then the

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Speaker 2: basic central plot, like some sort of an exotic and

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Speaker 2: charismatic foreigner has cast his spell over the female love

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Speaker 2: interest of the picture. Some basic elements are in play.

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Speaker 2: And as we'll discuss, part of this is that Universal's

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Speaker 2: coming off of the success of Dracula and Frankenstein. And

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Speaker 2: they're like, let's do another. Let's do one that taps into,

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Speaker 2: you know, Egyptomania and things that have been happening in

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Speaker 2: the world concerning ancient Egypt. And then, like, basically the

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Speaker 2: conversation is like, oh, okay, what book do you want

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Speaker 2: to base it on?

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Speaker 3: I don't know.

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Speaker 2: Find me one.

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Speaker 3: Begins.

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Speaker 2: And so eventually they, they just kind of have to

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Speaker 2: build out a fresh plot and it makes sense that

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Speaker 2: they would draw from what worked in Dracula.

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Speaker 3: Right. So the mummy I think has, has clear inputs

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Speaker 3: from Dracula also from Frankenstein and then from other sources

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Speaker 3: that we can talk about in a bit. Uh, but, uh,

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Speaker 3: another thing that I thought was interesting is, um, It's

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Speaker 3: not just the plot contents and the characters that are similar.

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Speaker 3: There are these similar shots and stylistic choices. One I

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Speaker 3: was really thinking about was that both Dracula and the

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Speaker 3: mummy use these iconic close-ups of the fiend's face in

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Speaker 3: shadow mostly, but with just the eyes illuminated, with the

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Speaker 3: eyes kind of glowing. So Rob, I've got pictures in

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Speaker 3: the outline for you to look at here of both

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Speaker 3: these shots. You remember in Dracula, there's that closeup of

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Speaker 3: Bela Lugosi where it looks like they're shining a bright

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Speaker 3: light into his eyes through like holes in a cutout

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Speaker 3: or something. It's just his eyes that are glowing. I

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Speaker 3: think the mummy version of this shot is a much

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Speaker 3: more refined version of the effect. It looks cool in Dracula,

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Speaker 3: but in the mummy, this shot is just gorgeous. It's

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Speaker 3: like this soft shadow all around the rest of the face.

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Speaker 3: And the eyes have this subtle glowing effect where even

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Speaker 3: though the film is in black and white, somehow the

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Speaker 3: eyes look yellow. Yeah, yeah, I agree.

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Speaker 2: The effect is perfected in The Mummy. And it makes sense.

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Speaker 2: Karl Freund, as we'll discuss, worked on both films, but

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Speaker 2: he directed The Mummy. And so this was his baby.

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Speaker 2: This was his first directorial credit for a feature film.

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Speaker 2: He really wanted it to go well. And so, of course,

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Speaker 2: he's going to pull out some of the same tricks again.

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Speaker 2: but he's going to take them to the next level

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Speaker 2: and beyond.

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Speaker 3: Another thing I was thinking, so you were pointing out

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Speaker 3: the similarity with Dracula of like, you know, uh, an

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Speaker 3: other figure, a figure considered exotic by the characters or

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Speaker 3: by the audience sort of comes into, comes into the story.

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Speaker 3: But another way that I think you could think of

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Speaker 3: it like Dracula, uh, is that Dracula has this dynamic

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Speaker 3: of the new world goes into the old world, and

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Speaker 3: then the old world comes into the new world. And

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Speaker 3: I think you could say the same thing is implied

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Speaker 3: by the story of the mummy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, very much so. And really becomes even more heightened

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Speaker 2: and focused because of our relationship with ancient Egypt and

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Speaker 2: this ongoing fascination that the modern world, whenever the modern

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Speaker 2: world is, has with ancient Egypt.

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Speaker 3: There's another really interesting thing I noticed about the mummy.

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Speaker 3: And this is that there are elements of feedback on

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Speaker 3: to the sort of meta lore of Dracula. So despite

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Speaker 3: the fact that the mummy is in some ways, clearly

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Speaker 3: a retread of Dracula, it brings in novel elements that

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Speaker 3: end up becoming part of how people understand Dracula, like

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Speaker 3: later versions of Dracula. I think most notably the reincarnated

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Speaker 3: lover plot. So this shows up in later tellings of

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Speaker 3: the Dracula story, very notably in Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula

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Speaker 3: adaptation in 1992 with Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder. So

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Speaker 3: in this version of Dracula, you get this misty theatrical

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Speaker 3: prologue establishing Dracula's backstory as a 15th century Romanian prince

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Speaker 3: who is fighting a war against the Ottoman Empire. And

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Speaker 3: in this opening, uh, Dracula's beloved Elizabeth dies by suicide

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Speaker 3: when she receives false news that Dracula has died in battle.

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Speaker 3: And then when he gets back from, from the war, uh,

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Speaker 3: he learns of her death and Dracula is so overwhelmed

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Speaker 3: with grief and rage that he curses God and is

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Speaker 3: transformed into a vampire. And then in the main part

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Speaker 3: of the story, uh, When Dracula travels to England, he

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Speaker 3: encounters Mina Murray, the fiance of Jonathan Harker, and he

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Speaker 3: discovers that she is somehow the reincarnation of Elisabetta, his

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Speaker 3: great love. Winona Ryder plays both characters. So in the

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Speaker 3: midst of all the vampire hunting and biting and stuff

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Speaker 3: in the middle of the movie, there is also this

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Speaker 3: tragic love story. Dracula wants Mina to come away with

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Speaker 3: him and love him once again. feels conflicted. She feels

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Speaker 3: a powerful attraction to the count and sort of half

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Speaker 3: knows him, but also because he's in demonic form, their

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Speaker 3: love is cursed. And their love, if consummated, would mean

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Speaker 3: Mina's destruction. To be with him, she has to become

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Speaker 3: a vampire too, giving up her life and her immortal soul.

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Speaker 3: It's very interesting and in some ways now core part

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Speaker 3: of the Dracula story, despite the fact that this plot

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Speaker 3: is nowhere to be found in the original Dracula novel.

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Speaker 3: It's not there in Bram Stoker, and it is not

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Speaker 3: present in the 1931 Universal Dracula with Bela Lugosi. In

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Speaker 3: both of these, Dracula's interest in Mina is 100% predatory.

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Speaker 3: There's no love. There may be a kind of threatening

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Speaker 3: sexual interest, but there's no mutual love between them at all,

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Speaker 3: and there's no backstory between them. That's right.

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Speaker 2: This idea, this reincarnation theme, I think doesn't get introduced

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Speaker 2: to Dracula storytelling until 1974. If I'm to understand correctly,

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Speaker 2: the Jack Palance Dracula film, in which Jack Palance plays Dracula, this,

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Speaker 2: I think, is the first film to reintroduce explore this

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Speaker 2: concept and incidentally this this adaptation of dracula was written

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Speaker 2: by richard.

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Speaker 3: Matheson yeah i i was reading around and i came

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Speaker 3: across the same claim it seems like people are saying

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Speaker 3: that's the first direct dracula adaptation that has this storyline

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Speaker 3: though it does show up in earlier uh vampire storytelling

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Speaker 3: like apparently it's a plot in uh dark shadows and

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Speaker 3: And even if you'll recall, uh, in, uh, in Blackula, the,

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Speaker 3: the reincarnated lover, uh, which comes earlier, that's 1972 though. Again,

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Speaker 3: Blackula is not a direct adaptation of Dracula, kind of

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Speaker 3: a riff on it. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: But you're right. It just becomes kind of the established

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Speaker 2: lore of Dracula and Dracula like stories, like even in

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Speaker 2: Dungeons and Dragons, uh, Strahd, the, the first vampire, uh,

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Speaker 2: in the Ravenloft settings, um, That's a part of his

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Speaker 2: story as well. This idea of a lost love and

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Speaker 2: reincarnation and always looking for her, that sort of thing.

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Speaker 3: So it'd be, it's, it is so, uh, attractive as

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Speaker 3: part of the story. It becomes a core Drac lore,

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Speaker 3: even though it is not in the novel and not

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Speaker 3: in the first big movie adaptation. However, it is a

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Speaker 3: plot element in the mummy. This reincarnated lover thing is

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Speaker 3: that the main motivation of the villain is So here

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Speaker 3: we've got Dracula in Egypt. The Dracula character is Imhotep.

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Speaker 3: And instead of simply drinking blood, what he wants is love.

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Speaker 3: His primary motivation is the resurrection or the sort of

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Speaker 3: magical instantiation of his lover from thousands of years before,

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Speaker 3: the princess Anxanaman, a character who has seemingly been reincarnated

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Speaker 3: in the modern day as the movie's female lead. Helen Grosvenor,

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Speaker 3: played by Zita Johan. So, this reincarnated lover subplot shows

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Speaker 3: up here in The Mummy, which is borrowing a lot

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Speaker 3: from Dracula, and then later becomes a common and even

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Speaker 3: expected feature of retellings of Dracula itself. Such an interesting

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Speaker 3: circle of storytelling. There's one more thing I want to

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Speaker 3: talk about quickly before we move on here, and that

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Speaker 3: is sort of the emotional characterization or salience of the

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Speaker 3: different universal monsters. Uh, basically I want to talk about

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Speaker 3: the fact that Dracula is hot and Imhotep is cold,

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Speaker 3: which is ironic given that they're, uh, given that their

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Speaker 3: motivations are kind of the opposite of what you would

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Speaker 3: expect based on those, uh, those affective alignments. Like Bela

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Speaker 3: Lugosi's Dracula is, is suave, and there is clearly an

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Speaker 3: element of sexuality about him. He seems to have flaming passions,

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Speaker 3: like we see him become angry, and he is quickly

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Speaker 3: able to suppress it, but there are these flashes of

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Speaker 3: anger in him. Imhotep, on the other hand, is cold intellectualism.

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Speaker 3: He is a strategic, cerebral villain with a tightly controlled,

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Speaker 3: unemotional affect. And yet, Imhotep's primary motivation is romantic love,

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Speaker 3: even though it is like filtered through like twisted and

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Speaker 3: ruthless means. But the main thing he wants is, is

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Speaker 3: romantic love. He wants his lover back. Whereas Dracula is merely,

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Speaker 3: you know, a cold and opportunistic predator. And so I

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Speaker 3: think it's just kind of interesting that you're getting the

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Speaker 3: opposite of what you might expect here. Like it reminds

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Speaker 3: me of, uh, similarly contradictory characters like the Batman villain Mr. Freeze,

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Speaker 3: whose personality is icy intellectualism, but his primary motivation is love.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, especially the version of Mr. Freeze that we got

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Speaker 2: in the old Batman animated series. That one absolutely defined

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Speaker 2: these qualities.

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Speaker 3: I'm not thinking about the Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess I don't remember that one well enough.

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Speaker 2: I think they at least entertained some of that, right?

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Speaker 2: They still had the, like, frozen wife subplot, but maybe

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Speaker 2: not as icily realized.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's more the characterization that's different. He's just using

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Speaker 3: a lot of puns. He's a silly man.

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Speaker 2: Now, coming back to the comparison to Frankenstein, I'll also

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Speaker 2: point out that The Mummy also kind of forecasts what

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Speaker 2: we're going to get in 1935's Bride of Frankenstein, with

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Speaker 2: a not-altogether-human or not-altogether-living villain plotting to obtain not a

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Speaker 2: mere human love interest, but someone who is of his

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Speaker 2: own kind, an Eve to his Adam. Uh, this is

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Speaker 2: of course something that wasn't really, it's not utilized in

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Speaker 2: the original Frankenstein film. It is in the Frankenstein novel,

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Speaker 2: but it doesn't get wrapped into cinematic portrayals until bride

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Speaker 2: and 35.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Though, though I would make a pretty big distinction

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Speaker 3: there also, because while the creature in Frankenstein and in

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Speaker 3: bride of Frankenstein is, um, frightening and disgusting. He's also pitiable.

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Speaker 3: Like he's sympathetic. Whereas Imhotep is on the whole, not

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Speaker 3: a sympathetic character. Like his, he, he is ruthless and

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Speaker 3: cold and, and just a merciless killer.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.

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Speaker 3: All right.

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Speaker 2: Uh, just a few quick notes about the importance of

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Speaker 2: this film in overall mummy fiction. Uh, this is coming from, uh,

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Speaker 2: one of my favorite texts on Egyptomania. It's the book

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Speaker 2: Egyptomania history of fascination, obsession, and fantasy, uh, by Ronald H. Fritz,

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Speaker 2: or Fritz, I'm not sure how to pronounce that offhand, F-R-I-T-Z-E.

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Speaker 2: You can look up this book and get it in

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Speaker 2: all formats.

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Speaker 3: It's a great read.

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Speaker 2: But the author here points out that mummy fiction as

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Speaker 2: a whole has a larger cinematic footprint than a literary one. Still,

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Speaker 2: the genre does begin well before the 1930s in the

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Speaker 2: writings of authors like Jane Webb Loudon, Edgar Allan Poe,

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Speaker 2: Graham Stoker, Arthur Conan Doyle, Outside of Stoker's treatment, however,

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Speaker 2: mummies tend to be less evil in these treatments and

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Speaker 2: more ambivalent in their general demeanor. And if you want

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Speaker 2: to look up any of these stories, like the Conan

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Speaker 2: Doyle story is The Ring of Thoth from 1890. There's

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Speaker 2: Lot No. 249 from 1892. This is the one that

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Speaker 2: was realized in Tales from the Dark Side, the movie,

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Speaker 2: to some extent, which does have a pretty frightening mummy

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Speaker 2: in it at one point. And then Stoker's version is

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Speaker 2: The Jewel of the Seven Stars from 1903.

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Speaker 3: Never read any of those, though I have seen The

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Speaker 3: Tales from the Dark Side. I'd imagine that is pretty

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Speaker 3: significantly altered in the adaptation. I believe so, yes.

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Speaker 2: And the author here does single out The Mummy, or

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Speaker 2: A Tale of the 22nd Century, by Jane C. Loudon

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Speaker 2: from 1827. is perhaps the earliest known long work concerning

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Speaker 2: a reanimated mummy. And other examples include Theophile Gartner's The

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Speaker 2: Mummy's Foot and Edgar Allan Poe's 1845 story Some Words

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Speaker 2: with a Mummy.

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Speaker 3: What are the words? I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I haven't read that one, but one wonders. 1932's The Mummy, however,

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Speaker 2: he stresses, pushes things in a more sinister direction, and

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Speaker 2: that ultimately tends to stick But we also, even though

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Speaker 2: you cannot overstate the importance of 32's The Mummy in

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Speaker 2: the history of mummy movies, like it is in many

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Speaker 2: ways right to say it is the first, but it

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Speaker 2: is not technically the first mummy movie. That would seemingly

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Speaker 2: be 1911's The Mummy, in which a scientist revives an

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Speaker 2: ancient Egyptian mummy with electricity and then falls in love

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Speaker 2: with her. I believe this is a lost film, though.

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Speaker 3: Oh, OK. Oh, man, they were throwing love in there

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Speaker 3: that early. Yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 2: I mean, you know, ancient Egyptian royalty. There's a lot

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Speaker 2: of complex things going on in our fascination with ancient

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Speaker 2: Egypt and in our Egyptomania. You know, there's fear, there's longing,

390
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Speaker 2: there's exoticism, there's all sorts of stuff going on. So

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Speaker 2: quick stats on this film, though. This is our sixth

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Speaker 2: film of the 1930s featured on Weird House Cinema. Again,

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Speaker 2: it is our first mummy movie. And as far as

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Speaker 2: universal horror films go, we have previously covered Dracula in

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Speaker 2: the form of the original Dracula. We've covered Frankenstein and

396
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Speaker 2: we've covered the Wolfman, though technically we got the Wolfman

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Speaker 2: in on a Frankenstein film. So we didn't cover the

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Speaker 2: original Wolfman. Oh, is that Frankenstein meets the Wolfman? Yes.

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Speaker 3: Yes.

400
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Speaker 2: The meeting.

401
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Speaker 3: Yes.

402
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Speaker 2: And yeah, let's see. I didn't put together an elevator

403
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Speaker 2: pitch for this one. I don't know. It's kind of

404
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Speaker 2: impossible with a film like this because this this film

405
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Speaker 2: is kind of the trendsetter. I guess you could you

406
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Speaker 2: could try and say something like Dracula, but make it

407
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Speaker 2: ancient Egypt. But again, as we've been saying, that doesn't

408
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Speaker 2: truly do full justice to the film here.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Forever love.

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Speaker 2: All right. If you would like to watch or rewatch

411
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Speaker 2: 1932's The Mummy, it is widely available on numerous Universal

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Speaker 2: discs and box sets. There have been so many different, like,

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Speaker 2: Universal Monsters box sets and collectible editions. And I don't

414
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Speaker 2: even know which version I rented. I rented a Blu-ray

415
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Speaker 2: of this film from Videodrome here in Atlanta, the city's primary,

416
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Speaker 2: if not only, video rental store. And then after I

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Speaker 2: was done, I had to return it before I ended

418
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Speaker 2: up getting a late fee. And then I realized it

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Speaker 2: was on Peacock, which I currently have a sub to.

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Speaker 2: So I ended up watching it again on Peacock. As always,

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Speaker 2: see it in as great of quality as possible. See

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Speaker 2: it on the big screen if you have a chance to.

423
00:25:26,450 --> 00:25:30,010
Speaker 2: I have not had that opportunity. But the film looks amazing. So,

424
00:25:30,090 --> 00:25:31,250
Speaker 2: you know, you want to do it justice.

425
00:25:32,100 --> 00:25:35,680
Speaker 3: I watched it on disc on my Universal Classic Monsters

426
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,859
Speaker 3: Essential Collection. That's an older box set at this point,

427
00:25:38,940 --> 00:25:40,770
Speaker 3: but it's still pretty great. That one's got a lot

428
00:25:40,810 --> 00:25:44,870
Speaker 3: of good commentary tracks and extras. Did not have time

429
00:25:44,910 --> 00:25:47,390
Speaker 3: to get into the extras for this week's movie, but

430
00:25:47,730 --> 00:25:49,050
Speaker 3: I'm sure they're good. They always are.

431
00:25:49,470 --> 00:25:51,210
Speaker 2: I got into the extras a little bit on mine,

432
00:25:51,290 --> 00:25:54,120
Speaker 2: but some of them, there was some unexpected Scorpion King

433
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,080
Speaker 2: in there. Because the thing about these films is these

434
00:25:57,140 --> 00:26:00,790
Speaker 2: are such well-known and historic films that I mean, for

435
00:26:00,830 --> 00:26:05,290
Speaker 2: the most part, the well has been drained in terms

436
00:26:05,330 --> 00:26:08,310
Speaker 2: of content. A lot of great things have been revealed

437
00:26:08,369 --> 00:26:11,570
Speaker 2: and discussed about them. And so most of the great

438
00:26:14,450 --> 00:26:16,879
Speaker 2: bits of extras have already been recorded, already put out

439
00:26:16,910 --> 00:26:18,780
Speaker 2: on disc. But some of them came out when they

440
00:26:18,820 --> 00:26:23,179
Speaker 2: were promoting the blockbuster Mummy film and its sequels. And

441
00:26:23,220 --> 00:26:25,679
Speaker 2: so some of them are a little focused on that

442
00:26:25,700 --> 00:26:29,230
Speaker 2: and talking about how how this film feature or how

443
00:26:29,530 --> 00:26:32,990
Speaker 2: rather how the Brendan Fraser Mummy films fit into the

444
00:26:33,050 --> 00:26:35,260
Speaker 2: legacy of the original Mummy films.

445
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,859
Speaker 3: Isn't it funny that in an indirect way, the Scorpion

446
00:26:38,900 --> 00:26:41,500
Speaker 3: King is a spinoff of the movie we're talking about today?

447
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:44,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, in a very weird way. And, you know, I

448
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,610
Speaker 2: want to be careful here. I have not watched the

449
00:26:46,810 --> 00:26:50,520
Speaker 2: first Brendan Fraser Mummy film in quite a while. But

450
00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,650
Speaker 2: I remember it as being a lot of fun. I'm

451
00:26:53,710 --> 00:26:58,270
Speaker 2: very cautious about how some of the numerous computer effects

452
00:26:58,330 --> 00:27:01,889
Speaker 2: will hold up. But I remember enjoying it, and I

453
00:27:01,930 --> 00:27:05,879
Speaker 2: remember that it did invoke some of the vibes that

454
00:27:05,900 --> 00:27:09,100
Speaker 2: we have in this film. Though, of course, with globetrotting

455
00:27:09,619 --> 00:27:11,240
Speaker 2: blockbuster fanfare.

456
00:27:11,619 --> 00:27:16,109
Speaker 3: I think it's a lot more... rousing action-adventure than it

457
00:27:16,250 --> 00:27:20,689
Speaker 3: is emphasizing the horror. But there are some horror elements

458
00:27:20,730 --> 00:27:26,220
Speaker 3: still there. It's been a while, but it's a genre hopper. Yeah,

459
00:27:26,380 --> 00:27:26,780
Speaker 3: for sure.

460
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:36,790
Speaker 2: All right, let's talk about the people who made this film,

461
00:27:37,420 --> 00:27:40,370
Speaker 2: The Mummy, 1932, starting at the top with its director,

462
00:27:40,830 --> 00:27:48,160
Speaker 2: Karl Freund. who lived 1890 through 1969. Legendary Austrian-Hungarian-born cinematographer

463
00:27:48,180 --> 00:27:52,950
Speaker 2: and director, two-time Oscar winner and four-time nominee. Much, again,

464
00:27:52,990 --> 00:27:56,470
Speaker 2: of the visual splendor of 31's Dracula is often attributed

465
00:27:56,810 --> 00:28:00,290
Speaker 2: to Freund, and he may have directed some scenes in

466
00:28:00,330 --> 00:28:03,410
Speaker 2: it as well. He was reportedly a very strong presence

467
00:28:03,470 --> 00:28:07,139
Speaker 2: on that set and was reportedly quite the domineering force

468
00:28:07,300 --> 00:28:11,200
Speaker 2: on The Mummy as well, demanding long hours, and approaching

469
00:28:11,260 --> 00:28:15,140
Speaker 2: everything with a mechanical precision that didn't set well with

470
00:28:15,180 --> 00:28:17,939
Speaker 2: its actors for the most part. Uh, it reminds me

471
00:28:17,980 --> 00:28:20,720
Speaker 2: a little bit of some of our discussions about Lucio Fulci,

472
00:28:20,740 --> 00:28:24,280
Speaker 2: you know, um, you know, without the maggot fans, uh,

473
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,980
Speaker 2: but with live lions instead. And, uh, you know, and

474
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,389
Speaker 2: I guess in general, perhaps fewer worker protections in place.

475
00:28:30,410 --> 00:28:31,790
Speaker 3: Yeah.

476
00:28:32,730 --> 00:28:34,950
Speaker 2: Not an actor's director, I guess is the way of

477
00:28:35,010 --> 00:28:35,369
Speaker 2: saying it.

478
00:28:35,830 --> 00:28:39,330
Speaker 3: Yeah. Or the stories you read about Kubrick, you know,

479
00:28:39,790 --> 00:28:41,469
Speaker 3: can be tough on the actors.

480
00:28:41,910 --> 00:28:46,930
Speaker 2: Yeah. So this guy, Froond, was undoubtedly a cinematography pioneer,

481
00:28:47,190 --> 00:28:50,060
Speaker 2: a master of lighting in the black and white medium

482
00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:54,280
Speaker 2: of film. He also founded the Photo Research Corporation. And

483
00:28:54,660 --> 00:28:57,500
Speaker 2: he's best remembered today for his work on Dracula. His

484
00:28:57,580 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 2: later work as a cinematographer on the TV series I

485
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:02,700
Speaker 2: Love Lucy. It's easy to lose track of the fact,

486
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 2: like I haven't really watched I Love Lucy in forever,

487
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,180
Speaker 2: but you know, black and white series that apparently if

488
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,820
Speaker 2: you go back and really look at the cinematography and

489
00:29:11,860 --> 00:29:14,020
Speaker 2: its use of black and white, like it looks really good,

490
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:15,540
Speaker 2: you know, especially for a TV sitcom.

491
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,740
Speaker 3: I wouldn't have guessed that, but okay. Yeah, yeah, me either.

492
00:29:19,780 --> 00:29:24,420
Speaker 2: But this was his first full-length feature film as a director.

493
00:29:25,580 --> 00:29:28,790
Speaker 2: And that was 32. And his final full length film

494
00:29:28,810 --> 00:29:31,990
Speaker 2: would be 1935's Mad Love, which we've talked about on

495
00:29:32,010 --> 00:29:34,850
Speaker 2: the show before. After this, he ends up pivoting back

496
00:29:34,890 --> 00:29:39,910
Speaker 2: to focus on cinematography. And, you know, so all told, he.

497
00:29:40,100 --> 00:29:44,060
Speaker 2: only ever did eight full-length films. And in addition to

498
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:47,040
Speaker 2: Mad Love and The Mummy, we might mention The Countess

499
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 2: of Monte Cristo as another. That one stars Fay Wray.

500
00:29:51,540 --> 00:29:54,300
Speaker 2: So as with Dracula and Mad Love, you know, I

501
00:29:54,340 --> 00:29:57,410
Speaker 2: think there's just no denying the absolute mastery of the

502
00:29:57,430 --> 00:30:00,690
Speaker 2: black and white medium here, the perfectionism of the effects

503
00:30:00,750 --> 00:30:04,410
Speaker 2: and the shots. There's just some amazing sequences here. I

504
00:30:04,430 --> 00:30:06,230
Speaker 2: think one of the things that really struck me about

505
00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:10,520
Speaker 2: The Mummy is, on the whole, this is not a

506
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:13,520
Speaker 2: film that ever attempts to do anything that it cannot

507
00:30:13,660 --> 00:30:18,000
Speaker 2: pull off technically to a high degree of perfection. And

508
00:30:18,020 --> 00:30:19,900
Speaker 2: that's one of the reasons it holds up so well.

509
00:30:20,220 --> 00:30:23,390
Speaker 2: If you're looking to watch an old film where goofy

510
00:30:23,410 --> 00:30:26,750
Speaker 2: things happen because you're holding the effects up to a

511
00:30:26,830 --> 00:30:31,050
Speaker 2: modern blockbuster sort of standard. This is not the film

512
00:30:31,110 --> 00:30:36,910
Speaker 2: for you because it shows restraint and it clearly makes

513
00:30:36,970 --> 00:30:39,270
Speaker 2: the choice. If we can't show this in a way

514
00:30:39,290 --> 00:30:42,210
Speaker 2: that we're 100% happy with, we're not going to show it.

515
00:30:42,210 --> 00:30:44,260
Speaker 2: We're going to let the audience imagine it instead.

516
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,400
Speaker 3: That's right. Yeah, I think all of the effects look good.

517
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,400
Speaker 3: I can't recall a shot that is weak.

518
00:30:50,870 --> 00:30:52,730
Speaker 2: Yeah, the only thing at all that made me giggle

519
00:30:52,770 --> 00:30:55,310
Speaker 2: in this, aside from a few bits of outdated dialogue,

520
00:30:57,190 --> 00:31:00,090
Speaker 2: would be a sarcophagus lid. And it may say more

521
00:31:00,110 --> 00:31:03,390
Speaker 2: about me than about the film. Ultimately, I'm not criticizing

522
00:31:03,450 --> 00:31:03,750
Speaker 2: the film.

523
00:31:03,970 --> 00:31:04,870
Speaker 3: I know what you're talking about.

524
00:31:05,530 --> 00:31:09,570
Speaker 2: We'll get back to it. All right, the screenplay here.

525
00:31:10,390 --> 00:31:13,090
Speaker 2: So again, like we mentioned earlier, this was the case

526
00:31:13,170 --> 00:31:16,090
Speaker 2: where they wanted to make a mummy film that was

527
00:31:16,190 --> 00:31:20,210
Speaker 2: a universal horror follow-up to Dracula and Frankenstein. But there

528
00:31:20,250 --> 00:31:24,550
Speaker 2: was no ideal work of literature that they were basing

529
00:31:24,610 --> 00:31:27,230
Speaker 2: it on. They were like, let's do an Egypt movie.

530
00:31:27,270 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 2: Let's do a mummy movie. Go find something for us

531
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:33,700
Speaker 2: to base the film on. And so that's why it's

532
00:31:33,940 --> 00:31:36,220
Speaker 2: a little more convoluted regarding who wrote this.

533
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:37,500
Speaker 3: Okay.

534
00:31:38,300 --> 00:31:44,209
Speaker 2: The main credit goes to John L. Balderston, 1889 through 1954,

535
00:31:44,210 --> 00:31:48,709
Speaker 2: American playwright and screenwriter. He previously worked on screenplays for

536
00:31:48,850 --> 00:31:52,460
Speaker 2: 31's Dracula. and Frankenstein, and he'd go on to work

537
00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:56,800
Speaker 2: on Bride in 35, Mad Love in 35, Dracula's Daughter

538
00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:01,380
Speaker 2: in 36, and would ultimately work on 1944's Gaslight, and

539
00:32:01,420 --> 00:32:04,480
Speaker 2: then much later in his life and career, he worked

540
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:09,310
Speaker 2: on Red Planet Mars in 52, and that starred Peter Graves.

541
00:32:09,810 --> 00:32:12,970
Speaker 3: Yeah, so like you were saying, the script went through

542
00:32:13,350 --> 00:32:16,510
Speaker 3: many incarnations, like I think it was adapted from an

543
00:32:16,670 --> 00:32:19,170
Speaker 3: earlier script about a magician of some kind.

544
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:22,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was, I believe, a... I don't even think

545
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:24,080
Speaker 2: it was a full script, but it was like a

546
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,970
Speaker 2: nine-page story treatment for a film they were imagining called Cagliostro,

547
00:32:29,030 --> 00:32:31,610
Speaker 2: about an ancient magician still living in the modern world,

548
00:32:31,650 --> 00:32:35,590
Speaker 2: to be played by Boris Karloff, and I think involve reincarnation.

549
00:32:36,050 --> 00:32:38,430
Speaker 2: And then, like, this is, I think, as close as

550
00:32:38,490 --> 00:32:41,490
Speaker 2: they came to literature they wanted to adapt into their

551
00:32:41,510 --> 00:32:42,030
Speaker 2: mummy film.

552
00:32:42,870 --> 00:32:45,650
Speaker 3: So, I'm not sure if what I'm about to say

553
00:32:45,710 --> 00:32:50,030
Speaker 3: is regarding... Balderson's final shooting script, or if it's an

554
00:32:50,090 --> 00:32:53,450
Speaker 3: earlier version, but in my box set, uh, there's a

555
00:32:53,500 --> 00:32:56,580
Speaker 3: booklet that comes with it and it includes a photo,

556
00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,940
Speaker 3: like an archival photo of a letter from a guy

557
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,040
Speaker 3: named Jason S. Joy, who was at the time head

558
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:07,080
Speaker 3: of the studio relations committee. Uh, it'll become clear what

559
00:33:07,120 --> 00:33:09,780
Speaker 3: that is in just a minute, uh, to the producer,

560
00:33:09,900 --> 00:33:14,380
Speaker 3: Carl Limley jr. From July, 1932, uh, And this letter

561
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,540
Speaker 3: includes a short list of things that need to be

562
00:33:18,300 --> 00:33:21,180
Speaker 3: removed from the script in order to make it acceptable

563
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 3: to the censors. It is mostly directives to remove potentially

564
00:33:25,980 --> 00:33:31,020
Speaker 3: blasphemous phrases like for God's sake and good God. How

565
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:36,020
Speaker 3: could you? But Joy also says, quote, I'm sure you

566
00:33:36,060 --> 00:33:39,300
Speaker 3: will want to guard against the element of gruesomeness. in

567
00:33:39,340 --> 00:33:41,940
Speaker 3: the scenes in the embalming room at the museum where

568
00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:46,200
Speaker 3: they are preparing to kill Helen. Ooh, yeah.

569
00:33:46,270 --> 00:33:48,969
Speaker 2: I mean, it's still a gruesome scene. It's interesting to

570
00:33:48,990 --> 00:33:51,209
Speaker 2: think about all this because, as is often pointed out,

571
00:33:51,270 --> 00:33:54,450
Speaker 2: this is technically a pre-code film. But that doesn't mean

572
00:33:54,490 --> 00:33:56,310
Speaker 2: there were no censors. There were censors.

573
00:33:57,690 --> 00:34:01,250
Speaker 3: When the code was actually in effect, there were, like, stages.

574
00:34:01,370 --> 00:34:07,400
Speaker 3: So people often say pre-code to mean films from before, like, 1934.

575
00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:10,890
Speaker 3: And my understanding is 1934 is when the code got

576
00:34:11,010 --> 00:34:16,469
Speaker 3: real teeth. But there were codes before that that were

577
00:34:16,570 --> 00:34:19,840
Speaker 3: maybe less rigorously enforced or were more kind of a

578
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:25,920
Speaker 3: patchwork of state regulations. And so, yeah. So this would

579
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:29,359
Speaker 3: be called pre-code because it's before 1934, but there were

580
00:34:29,420 --> 00:34:34,299
Speaker 3: still censorship issues and attempts by the studios to get

581
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:36,580
Speaker 3: around them or sort of pre-censor themselves. Yeah.

582
00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:41,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. But you can certainly get a little bit

583
00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:44,560
Speaker 2: of the pre-code vibe from things in this film. Like,

584
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:48,520
Speaker 2: for instance, there's plenty of creepiness that remains. There's some

585
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,940
Speaker 2: bits of language that feel a bit racy for the time. Like,

586
00:34:51,980 --> 00:34:55,359
Speaker 2: there's a line about making love to a stranger, which,

587
00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,440
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm no expert, but it sounds like the

588
00:34:58,460 --> 00:35:00,979
Speaker 2: kind of thing that wouldn't have flown, like, certainly 10

589
00:35:00,980 --> 00:35:03,430
Speaker 2: years later. there's a bit of gore in here.

590
00:35:03,489 --> 00:35:06,250
Speaker 3: Oh that's true i think the line about making love

591
00:35:06,330 --> 00:35:08,790
Speaker 3: means maybe that meant something a little bit different at

592
00:35:08,830 --> 00:35:11,410
Speaker 3: the time i think maybe that just means like making

593
00:35:11,469 --> 00:35:12,520
Speaker 3: moves on me as.

594
00:35:12,510 --> 00:35:15,360
Speaker 2: Opposed to yeah that's another way these things often work

595
00:35:15,430 --> 00:35:18,279
Speaker 2: is that the way it's stated doesn't really apply to

596
00:35:18,300 --> 00:35:19,300
Speaker 2: the way it's stated now.

597
00:35:19,420 --> 00:35:22,620
Speaker 3: But it does sound pretty i don't know like that

598
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:24,180
Speaker 3: scene is pretty forward though.

599
00:35:24,260 --> 00:35:25,719
Speaker 2: Yeah because i mean at the end of the day

600
00:35:25,739 --> 00:35:29,700
Speaker 2: like people in 1930s were very much like people today.

601
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:32,739
Speaker 2: So it's like they were still as sexual. They were

602
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,460
Speaker 2: still as violent. It's just, you know, how many different,

603
00:35:37,020 --> 00:35:39,940
Speaker 2: you know, how many different screens are we using to

604
00:35:39,980 --> 00:35:40,919
Speaker 2: filter things, really?

605
00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:44,080
Speaker 3: Yeah. But you're correct that there is some gore and

606
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,220
Speaker 3: some gruesomeness. I mean, the embalming scene, I was thinking

607
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:52,089
Speaker 3: actually of the embalming scene of Boris Karloff is pretty gnarly. Like,

608
00:35:52,739 --> 00:35:55,550
Speaker 3: it's scary. Though I guess you don't see, like, blood

609
00:35:55,590 --> 00:35:59,800
Speaker 3: and guts in it. It's just very, suggestive of something

610
00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:03,940
Speaker 3: deeply horrifying as an idea of being bandaged and buried alive.

611
00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:07,620
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I don't think he has organs removed. But yeah,

612
00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:10,660
Speaker 2: we see the wide eyes of Imhotep as they wrap

613
00:36:10,700 --> 00:36:13,620
Speaker 2: him in those bandages to seal him forever in this

614
00:36:13,739 --> 00:36:19,920
Speaker 2: tomb while they chisel away the protective hieroglyphics that would

615
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:22,300
Speaker 2: have protected his soul into the afterlife.

616
00:36:22,580 --> 00:36:24,510
Speaker 3: Yeah, great stuff.

617
00:36:26,489 --> 00:36:29,200
Speaker 2: So in terms of coming back to sort of piecing

618
00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:32,120
Speaker 2: together who did what on this, and, you know, I ultimately,

619
00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:34,260
Speaker 2: you know, we're not going to get too into that discussion.

620
00:36:34,300 --> 00:36:39,480
Speaker 2: But Balderston, I think, is generally attributed with like a

621
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:41,840
Speaker 2: fair amount of the form and function here. And certainly

622
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:47,960
Speaker 2: the Egyptology details, at least that are at least thematically correct.

623
00:36:49,020 --> 00:36:52,150
Speaker 2: As the standard statement on a mummy movie is, You're

624
00:36:52,170 --> 00:36:54,509
Speaker 2: not going to find a lot of accurate Egyptology here.

625
00:36:54,550 --> 00:36:58,390
Speaker 2: This is a work of Egyptomania. It is about fascination

626
00:36:58,870 --> 00:37:02,730
Speaker 2: with ancient Egypt and then riding that fascination, turning it

627
00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:05,660
Speaker 2: into a spectacle, turning it into horror, turning it into

628
00:37:06,340 --> 00:37:09,560
Speaker 2: Western-centric drama. And that's very much what it is here.

629
00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:12,320
Speaker 2: But apparently he would really go into research mode on

630
00:37:12,340 --> 00:37:15,420
Speaker 2: these sorts of things. And so these details are attributed

631
00:37:15,460 --> 00:37:18,219
Speaker 2: to him. He was also pretty well informed about the

632
00:37:18,260 --> 00:37:22,089
Speaker 2: events that inspired him. this film, uh, he, uh, like

633
00:37:22,390 --> 00:37:26,029
Speaker 2: namely the 1922 opening of Tutankhamen's tomb, which he had

634
00:37:26,110 --> 00:37:29,250
Speaker 2: covered as a journalist. So, uh, you know, he, he

635
00:37:29,310 --> 00:37:30,940
Speaker 2: knew what he was talking about. He knew what he

636
00:37:30,980 --> 00:37:33,980
Speaker 2: was invoking and it wasn't just like, uh, what are

637
00:37:34,020 --> 00:37:37,420
Speaker 2: some Egyptian-y words that I can throw into my script?

638
00:37:37,940 --> 00:37:39,779
Speaker 3: Yeah. I guess there were like two different ways you

639
00:37:39,820 --> 00:37:42,430
Speaker 3: could look at the script in terms of its accuracy

640
00:37:42,510 --> 00:37:48,230
Speaker 3: to Egyptian religion, mythology, and history. You could say, well, it's,

641
00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:50,940
Speaker 3: not nearly as good as it could have been, or

642
00:37:51,020 --> 00:37:52,739
Speaker 3: you could say it's not nearly as bad as it

643
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:56,450
Speaker 3: could have been. I guess it's both. Yeah, yeah.

644
00:37:56,530 --> 00:37:59,350
Speaker 2: Ultimately, you know, taste is going to vary. But, you know,

645
00:37:59,390 --> 00:38:02,390
Speaker 2: for my money, I like going into it with low

646
00:38:02,469 --> 00:38:06,390
Speaker 2: expectations and finding, like, you know, the invocation of some

647
00:38:06,430 --> 00:38:09,680
Speaker 2: of these various deity names, they feel more or less

648
00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:12,580
Speaker 2: on point. You know, they seem to have been done

649
00:38:12,620 --> 00:38:15,620
Speaker 2: with a certain amount of respect for the subject matter

650
00:38:15,660 --> 00:38:16,379
Speaker 2: they were dealing with.

651
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:16,780
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.

652
00:38:18,180 --> 00:38:22,840
Speaker 2: So we mentioned the Cagliostro connection here. Cagliostro's nine-page story

653
00:38:22,860 --> 00:38:26,440
Speaker 2: treatment was from an American novelist, screenwriter, and playwright by

654
00:38:26,460 --> 00:38:31,740
Speaker 2: the name of Nino Wilcox Putnam, who lived 1888 through 1962.

655
00:38:31,739 --> 00:38:36,919
Speaker 2: No other horror films associated with her. And in fact,

656
00:38:36,980 --> 00:38:39,060
Speaker 2: as far as other horror work, I think the main

657
00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:42,620
Speaker 2: piece of horror she is attributed as having worked on

658
00:38:42,989 --> 00:38:46,250
Speaker 2: is the 1040 income tax form for the IRS. So-

659
00:38:46,730 --> 00:38:49,110
Speaker 2: If you are engaging with the 1040 income tax form

660
00:38:49,260 --> 00:38:53,540
Speaker 2: for the IRS, you're kind of engaging with the Mummy

661
00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:55,600
Speaker 2: franchise in a very limited fashion.

662
00:38:56,060 --> 00:38:57,220
Speaker 3: Think on that. Yeah.

663
00:38:57,980 --> 00:39:01,500
Speaker 2: And then there's also a story credit to Richard Shearer,

664
00:39:01,540 --> 00:39:05,790
Speaker 2: who lived 1880 through 1956, story editor and screenwriter, who

665
00:39:05,830 --> 00:39:09,109
Speaker 2: helped search for something to base a Mummy movie on

666
00:39:09,130 --> 00:39:12,049
Speaker 2: for the producers here. He also has no other horror

667
00:39:12,070 --> 00:39:12,630
Speaker 2: film credits.

668
00:39:12,830 --> 00:39:12,950
Speaker 1: Hmm.

669
00:39:13,620 --> 00:39:15,970
Speaker 2: All right, let's move into the cast, starting, of course,

670
00:39:16,010 --> 00:39:21,030
Speaker 2: with the title character, starting with Boris Karloff, who plays Imhotep,

671
00:39:21,450 --> 00:39:25,009
Speaker 2: as well as the modern sort of cover for Imhotep,

672
00:39:25,530 --> 00:39:30,160
Speaker 2: Ardeth Bay. Karloff, we've talked about Karloff before. He lived

673
00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:36,100
Speaker 2: 1887 through 1969, legendary British actor, born William Henry Pratt,

674
00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,660
Speaker 2: better known by his stage name, Boris Karloff, and sometimes

675
00:39:39,700 --> 00:39:43,860
Speaker 2: just Karloff. You know, they really, you know, made a

676
00:39:43,900 --> 00:39:45,779
Speaker 2: meal out of this name, especially in some of those

677
00:39:45,860 --> 00:39:46,649
Speaker 2: early productions.

678
00:39:46,969 --> 00:39:49,800
Speaker 3: Yeah. I always hear it in the voice of Martin

679
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:55,200
Speaker 3: Landau as Bela Lugosi in the movie Ed Wood, shouting, Karloff!

680
00:39:57,160 --> 00:40:00,620
Speaker 2: This is actually our fifth Karloff film, with the others

681
00:40:00,660 --> 00:40:03,339
Speaker 2: that we've covered on Weird House Cinema being 35's Bride

682
00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:08,529
Speaker 2: of Frankenstein, 39's Son of Frankenstein, 63's Black Sabbath, and

683
00:40:08,550 --> 00:40:09,330
Speaker 2: 67's The Sorcerers.

684
00:40:09,350 --> 00:40:09,420
Speaker 1: Hmm.

685
00:40:13,860 --> 00:40:16,549
Speaker 2: We've got the younger Karloff and we've got the older Karloff.

686
00:40:16,590 --> 00:40:19,670
Speaker 2: But even at this point, he was already a vet.

687
00:40:19,690 --> 00:40:22,930
Speaker 2: He had tons of credits and generally worked a lot.

688
00:40:24,270 --> 00:40:28,450
Speaker 2: His film credits go back to 1919 and he'd already

689
00:40:28,510 --> 00:40:30,799
Speaker 2: been in more than 80 films by the time of

690
00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:36,540
Speaker 2: Frankenstein even in 31. Very interesting character. I don't think

691
00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:38,900
Speaker 2: we've really talked about this aspect of him before, but

692
00:40:39,330 --> 00:40:43,589
Speaker 2: Karloff was of Anglo-Indian heritage on both his mother and

693
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:47,540
Speaker 2: father's side. His father worked in the Indian civil service,

694
00:40:47,660 --> 00:40:50,600
Speaker 2: but Boris was born in England and his parents both

695
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:52,640
Speaker 2: died when he was young and then was raised by

696
00:40:52,660 --> 00:40:57,020
Speaker 2: other family members. He kept his South Asian heritage under

697
00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:00,200
Speaker 2: wraps due to prejudices of the day, but of course

698
00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:03,860
Speaker 2: also leaned into certain aspects of his unique appearance, taking

699
00:41:04,020 --> 00:41:07,060
Speaker 2: on this stage name that of course had exotic appeal.

700
00:41:08,270 --> 00:41:10,810
Speaker 2: And he played a diverse array of characters throughout his career.

701
00:41:10,910 --> 00:41:14,049
Speaker 2: This is often the case, taking whatever kind of work

702
00:41:14,070 --> 00:41:15,989
Speaker 2: he could get, especially when he was coming up in

703
00:41:16,010 --> 00:41:18,660
Speaker 2: the acting world. But he played his share of the

704
00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:22,600
Speaker 2: sort of staple sinister foreigner roles of the day, be

705
00:41:22,620 --> 00:41:27,980
Speaker 2: they South Asian, East Asian, Slavic, Arabic, or Mediterranean. And

706
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:30,780
Speaker 2: of course, in this film, 1932's The Mummy, he plays

707
00:41:30,820 --> 00:41:35,080
Speaker 2: an ancient Egyptian. Karloff was working a lot at this

708
00:41:35,140 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 2: point in his career. The Mummy is one of his

709
00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:42,380
Speaker 2: 10 film credits from 1932. And these roles include the

710
00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:45,920
Speaker 2: menacing servant Morgan in James Whale's The Old Dark House,

711
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:49,319
Speaker 2: as well as a mob boss in Howard Hawks' Scarface.

712
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:52,410
Speaker 2: And then he also played Dr. Fu Manchu in The

713
00:41:52,450 --> 00:41:56,049
Speaker 2: Mask of Fu Manchu from the same year. The Mask

714
00:41:56,090 --> 00:41:59,050
Speaker 2: of Fu Manchu is, of course, a yellow peril film.

715
00:41:59,530 --> 00:42:02,670
Speaker 2: and a pretty monstrous example of the various racist and

716
00:42:02,730 --> 00:42:06,170
Speaker 2: colonial traits found in many films from this period of time,

717
00:42:06,489 --> 00:42:08,770
Speaker 2: which to be clear, you know, includes The Mummy. It's

718
00:42:08,850 --> 00:42:14,060
Speaker 2: not as in-your-face as a Fu Manchu film, and everything

719
00:42:14,100 --> 00:42:19,240
Speaker 2: is played with considerably more nuance and artistry, but the colonialism,

720
00:42:19,340 --> 00:42:24,049
Speaker 2: the Orientalism, the Egyptomania is certainly still there and permeates

721
00:42:24,110 --> 00:42:28,440
Speaker 2: the world of 1930s Hollywood cinema. With, you know, At

722
00:42:28,460 --> 00:42:32,470
Speaker 2: the same time, you do have certain films, certain performers,

723
00:42:32,690 --> 00:42:36,650
Speaker 2: certain talents, such as, say, Anime Wong, Paul Robson, who

724
00:42:36,670 --> 00:42:39,930
Speaker 2: are able to subvert the tropes to some extent and

725
00:42:40,310 --> 00:42:42,790
Speaker 2: ultimately get to, due to a number of factors, play

726
00:42:42,810 --> 00:42:47,600
Speaker 2: more complex, non-white characters when possible in major studio releases.

727
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:53,799
Speaker 2: But this is basically the world of 1930s Hollywood cinema. Now,

728
00:42:53,860 --> 00:42:57,049
Speaker 2: Karloff would, of course, return to play Frankenstein's monster. But

729
00:42:57,070 --> 00:43:01,009
Speaker 2: he never returns to the Mummy franchise, which didn't pick

730
00:43:01,110 --> 00:43:04,890
Speaker 2: up again until 1940 in The Mummy's Hand, in which

731
00:43:04,930 --> 00:43:08,690
Speaker 2: the mummy was played by Tom Tyler. And then also

732
00:43:08,710 --> 00:43:12,930
Speaker 2: 42's The Mummy's Tomb and 44's The Mummy's Ghost and

733
00:43:12,950 --> 00:43:16,630
Speaker 2: The Mummy's Curse. These three starring Lon Chaney Jr.

734
00:43:16,690 --> 00:43:17,210
Speaker 3: In the role.

735
00:43:18,650 --> 00:43:21,870
Speaker 2: Eder Parker would play the role in 1955's Abbott and

736
00:43:21,910 --> 00:43:26,000
Speaker 2: Costello Meet the Mummy. which is generally considered the end

737
00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:28,500
Speaker 2: of the old universal mummy movies.

738
00:43:28,860 --> 00:43:31,399
Speaker 3: Now, I haven't seen these later mummy movies, and I think,

739
00:43:31,780 --> 00:43:32,859
Speaker 3: have you seen any of them?

740
00:43:33,469 --> 00:43:35,730
Speaker 2: This is another case where I've seen bits and pieces.

741
00:43:36,190 --> 00:43:40,489
Speaker 2: I've basically seen the mummy shamble sequences and maybe some trailers,

742
00:43:40,590 --> 00:43:43,670
Speaker 2: but for the most part, unexplored territory for me.

743
00:43:44,210 --> 00:43:48,279
Speaker 3: I think, I could be wrong about this, that it's

744
00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:51,100
Speaker 3: in the mummy's hand in 1940 that you start to

745
00:43:51,140 --> 00:43:57,040
Speaker 3: get this... movie mummy that is more like the shambling zombie,

746
00:43:57,060 --> 00:44:00,520
Speaker 3: the bandage-wrapped zombie that does not speak and instead is

747
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:03,819
Speaker 3: more kind of a magical physical threat instead of a

748
00:44:05,989 --> 00:44:10,170
Speaker 3: dangerous intellectual villain who you get into a verbal parlay with.

749
00:44:10,570 --> 00:44:13,290
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Again, it's like the first 10 minutes of

750
00:44:13,350 --> 00:44:16,989
Speaker 2: this movie become the thing that suggests the form of

751
00:44:17,130 --> 00:44:19,710
Speaker 2: most of the mummy movies to follow, in good ways

752
00:44:19,770 --> 00:44:22,680
Speaker 2: and bad ways. Fun note, I just want to throw

753
00:44:22,700 --> 00:44:27,200
Speaker 2: this in. 1942's The Mummy's Tomb. I doubt we'll ever

754
00:44:27,260 --> 00:44:28,440
Speaker 2: cover this one on the show, so I want to

755
00:44:28,460 --> 00:44:30,600
Speaker 2: go and throw this out. This one apparently takes place

756
00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:34,060
Speaker 2: 30 years after the events of the previous Mummy film,

757
00:44:34,540 --> 00:44:38,600
Speaker 2: which was set in contemporary 1940. So that means, to

758
00:44:38,620 --> 00:44:41,120
Speaker 2: do the math, The Mummy's Tomb takes place in 1970.

759
00:44:41,100 --> 00:44:43,219
Speaker 2: A 42 film that takes place about 30 years in

760
00:44:43,260 --> 00:44:45,689
Speaker 2: the future in 1970. A rare example of a film...

761
00:44:51,520 --> 00:44:54,860
Speaker 2: Setting itself like three decades in the future with no attempts,

762
00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:58,620
Speaker 2: apparently no attempts to futurize the setting in the slightest,

763
00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:04,060
Speaker 2: not culturally, not technologically, not politically. To put that in perspective,

764
00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:08,120
Speaker 2: 82's Blade Runner takes place 37 years in the future.

765
00:45:08,140 --> 00:45:11,680
Speaker 2: 87's The Running Man is set exactly 30 years in

766
00:45:11,700 --> 00:45:12,140
Speaker 2: the future.

767
00:45:12,460 --> 00:45:16,720
Speaker 3: Hmm. We've reached the top. Things are going to be

768
00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:17,890
Speaker 3: like this from now on.

769
00:45:17,930 --> 00:45:22,980
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like 1940, this is it. We've plateaued as

770
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:27,280
Speaker 2: a culture and as a technological civilization. I mean, probably

771
00:45:27,580 --> 00:45:30,600
Speaker 2: as much incompetence as anything, but I still find it amusing.

772
00:45:31,180 --> 00:45:33,180
Speaker 2: But to bring it back to Karloff, again, Karloff only

773
00:45:33,219 --> 00:45:37,069
Speaker 2: played the mummy once. He only played Frankenstein's monster three times,

774
00:45:37,739 --> 00:45:41,550
Speaker 2: each time benefiting from the brilliant but apparently grueling makeup

775
00:45:41,590 --> 00:45:46,830
Speaker 2: effects of monster master, Jack P Pierce, a makeup designer

776
00:45:46,870 --> 00:45:48,310
Speaker 2: in this film who lived 1889 through 1960.

777
00:45:48,310 --> 00:45:51,850
Speaker 3: Yeah. Uh, we've talked about Jack Pierce before, of course,

778
00:45:51,870 --> 00:45:56,029
Speaker 3: a huge input on the, uh, the impact of the

779
00:45:56,110 --> 00:46:01,000
Speaker 3: universal monster films, having done many of these makeup designs. Um, uh,

780
00:46:01,130 --> 00:46:03,730
Speaker 3: so I was reading in that book that came along

781
00:46:03,790 --> 00:46:08,630
Speaker 3: with my, my disc set, um, that despite having designed

782
00:46:08,770 --> 00:46:12,049
Speaker 3: so many iconic monsters for the big screen, uh, you know, he,

783
00:46:12,590 --> 00:46:16,399
Speaker 3: So he designed the Frankenstein's monster in the original James

784
00:46:16,420 --> 00:46:19,779
Speaker 3: Whale Frankenstein and all the movies that followed. And in

785
00:46:19,900 --> 00:46:24,680
Speaker 3: doing so, I would argue he redefined what Frankenstein's creature

786
00:46:24,860 --> 00:46:28,100
Speaker 3: looked like in the popular consciousness, because you know, that

787
00:46:28,300 --> 00:46:31,279
Speaker 3: like people didn't have really a picture other than like

788
00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:33,630
Speaker 3: what is described in the novel, which is pretty different

789
00:46:33,670 --> 00:46:38,149
Speaker 3: than what's on the screen. Um, and so he, uh, so,

790
00:46:38,190 --> 00:46:40,770
Speaker 3: you know, he defines the look of the Frankenstein monster.

791
00:46:41,410 --> 00:46:43,469
Speaker 3: He does, I think, the Wolfman and many of these

792
00:46:43,510 --> 00:46:48,819
Speaker 3: other just really indelible designs. But Pierce himself believed that

793
00:46:48,940 --> 00:46:53,100
Speaker 3: his greatest achievement in makeup effects was the mummy. It

794
00:46:53,180 --> 00:46:58,600
Speaker 3: was the withered, bandage-wrapped form of Imhotep that we see

795
00:46:58,719 --> 00:47:02,050
Speaker 3: in the opening scene of the mummy. Pierce thought that

796
00:47:02,110 --> 00:47:05,630
Speaker 3: was his best work. And I agree, it looks amazing.

797
00:47:05,750 --> 00:47:12,110
Speaker 3: The grainy texture of it looks so... real. I mean,

798
00:47:12,350 --> 00:47:15,010
Speaker 3: I don't know if I would say it looks exactly

799
00:47:15,070 --> 00:47:17,940
Speaker 3: like a real mummy if you're comparing it to actual

800
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:22,840
Speaker 3: pictures of mummies, but, uh, it for screen for the cinema,

801
00:47:22,900 --> 00:47:24,020
Speaker 3: it looks like a real mummy.

802
00:47:24,660 --> 00:47:26,980
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Just an amazing bit of makeup.

803
00:47:27,600 --> 00:47:30,089
Speaker 3: And, uh, so what did Boris Karloff think about these

804
00:47:30,150 --> 00:47:34,450
Speaker 3: makeup effects? Uh, apparently getting the mummy makeup applied, but

805
00:47:34,550 --> 00:47:35,989
Speaker 3: I think you mentioned this a minute ago, it was

806
00:47:36,010 --> 00:47:41,069
Speaker 3: a grueling experience. Uh, so, uh, you know, Pierce would

807
00:47:41,210 --> 00:47:44,290
Speaker 3: agonize over this. Like he studied pictures of real mummies,

808
00:47:44,350 --> 00:47:46,740
Speaker 3: trying to get everything to look just right. Uh, so

809
00:47:46,780 --> 00:47:50,439
Speaker 3: in the end, the mummy makeup for these shots early

810
00:47:50,480 --> 00:47:52,420
Speaker 3: in the film, and I think the shot used at

811
00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:55,500
Speaker 3: the very end of the film took eight hours to

812
00:47:55,580 --> 00:48:00,320
Speaker 3: apply to Karloff, uh, plus another two hours afterwards to remove.

813
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:04,850
Speaker 3: Karloff reportedly told Pierce quote, well, you've done a wonderful job,

814
00:48:04,910 --> 00:48:09,660
Speaker 3: but you forgot to give me a fly. Yeah. And

815
00:48:09,719 --> 00:48:13,100
Speaker 3: Karloff later said that the makeup process for the mummy

816
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:16,500
Speaker 3: was the most trying ordeal he had ever endured.

817
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:19,330
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is actually one of the cited reasons that

818
00:48:19,350 --> 00:48:21,630
Speaker 2: he was such a strong supporter of the Screen Actors

819
00:48:21,670 --> 00:48:24,950
Speaker 2: Guild and ended up being, I believe, the ninth member

820
00:48:25,390 --> 00:48:28,089
Speaker 2: of SAG. So, you know, he was like, look, this

821
00:48:28,170 --> 00:48:30,320
Speaker 2: is too much, you know, and then, you know, because

822
00:48:30,340 --> 00:48:32,600
Speaker 2: you have these long makeup applications and as we'll get

823
00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:35,620
Speaker 2: into a little bit more, too. long late night shoots

824
00:48:35,700 --> 00:48:37,580
Speaker 2: because once they have this applied, it's just like, they

825
00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:40,029
Speaker 2: just keep going till, you know, until it's like the

826
00:48:40,090 --> 00:48:43,610
Speaker 2: wee hours of the morning. Uh, again, it's like in all, it's,

827
00:48:43,730 --> 00:48:46,970
Speaker 2: it's not a, especially this production, not an, an actor

828
00:48:47,050 --> 00:48:49,570
Speaker 2: friendly production, not an actor's first production.

829
00:48:49,910 --> 00:48:50,109
Speaker 3: Yeah.

830
00:48:51,030 --> 00:48:53,489
Speaker 2: Uh, but Karloff would of course continue to work after

831
00:48:53,510 --> 00:48:55,969
Speaker 2: this would become a horror legend would, uh, would work

832
00:48:56,010 --> 00:48:59,170
Speaker 2: steadily for the remainder of his life. Uh, and I

833
00:48:59,210 --> 00:49:03,150
Speaker 2: should point out devoted fan of Mexican cuisine, especially guacamole.

834
00:49:04,100 --> 00:49:07,800
Speaker 2: I sent you a newspaper clipping that I found online

835
00:49:07,860 --> 00:49:10,799
Speaker 2: from some paper where they were profiling his love of

836
00:49:10,840 --> 00:49:15,440
Speaker 2: guacamole and also included presumably his favorite recipe for it,

837
00:49:15,790 --> 00:49:18,690
Speaker 2: which I found interesting, includes sherry. I'd never seen a

838
00:49:18,730 --> 00:49:19,969
Speaker 2: guac recipe with sherry.

839
00:49:20,080 --> 00:49:22,460
Speaker 3: In it. Guac with sherry in it. Yeah. And lemon

840
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:23,739
Speaker 3: juice instead of lime juice.

841
00:49:24,330 --> 00:49:26,310
Speaker 2: Well, you know, sometimes you can't get lime juice, but

842
00:49:26,370 --> 00:49:27,489
Speaker 2: I don't know if you, but if you have to

843
00:49:27,830 --> 00:49:30,370
Speaker 2: choose between the two, I mean, I don't know. I

844
00:49:30,390 --> 00:49:31,969
Speaker 2: kind of want to find, I want to try it out.

845
00:49:32,010 --> 00:49:35,910
Speaker 2: If anyone out there has tried out Boris Karloff's guac recipe.

846
00:49:36,190 --> 00:49:37,450
Speaker 2: Please write in with your notes.

847
00:49:38,110 --> 00:49:41,210
Speaker 3: I've made guacamole with lemon juice. Works fine. I like it.

848
00:49:41,710 --> 00:49:43,950
Speaker 3: I've never made it with sherry. Maybe I'll give it

849
00:49:43,969 --> 00:49:44,290
Speaker 3: a go.

850
00:49:53,880 --> 00:49:58,160
Speaker 2: But Karloff's performance in this, man, just absolutely excellent. He

851
00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:02,110
Speaker 2: gets to very briefly play that fully linen-wrapped mummy Otherwise,

852
00:50:02,170 --> 00:50:05,550
Speaker 2: plays this kind of lich character, an ancient Egyptian sorcerer,

853
00:50:05,650 --> 00:50:09,029
Speaker 2: reanimated and passing himself off as a modern Egyptian man,

854
00:50:09,430 --> 00:50:12,239
Speaker 2: cursed and pining for an ancient lost love. Just a

855
00:50:12,300 --> 00:50:16,440
Speaker 2: mesmerizing performance. And who is his love interest? Well, his

856
00:50:16,520 --> 00:50:22,219
Speaker 2: love interest is the contemporary character Helen Grosvenor, but we'll

857
00:50:22,260 --> 00:50:24,739
Speaker 2: come to find out that she is a reincarnation of

858
00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:28,859
Speaker 2: an ancient woman, an ancient Egyptian priestess by the name

859
00:50:28,910 --> 00:50:35,049
Speaker 2: of Ankhesen Amin. And this actress is Zita Yohan, who

860
00:50:35,070 --> 00:50:41,330
Speaker 2: lived 1904 through 1993, playing a half-Egyptian character here. And again,

861
00:50:41,450 --> 00:50:46,469
Speaker 2: the reincarnation of an ancient priestess. The name Ankh-Essenamen was

862
00:50:46,570 --> 00:50:49,660
Speaker 2: actually the name of an 18th dynasty Egyptian queen, but

863
00:50:49,780 --> 00:50:53,399
Speaker 2: I think that's maybe the limit of the historical accuracy here.

864
00:50:54,480 --> 00:50:57,480
Speaker 3: Well, much in the same way that Imhotep is actually

865
00:50:57,540 --> 00:51:00,120
Speaker 3: a name from ancient Egypt, but doesn't have anything to

866
00:51:00,160 --> 00:51:02,700
Speaker 3: do with Yeah, this character in the movie.

867
00:51:03,920 --> 00:51:08,339
Speaker 2: Zita was an Austrian-American actress born in what is now Romania,

868
00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:10,860
Speaker 2: but she moved with her family to America at the

869
00:51:10,900 --> 00:51:13,580
Speaker 2: age of seven. She became involved in theater, debuted on

870
00:51:13,620 --> 00:51:17,400
Speaker 2: Broadway in 1924, and would continue to perform on Broadway

871
00:51:17,719 --> 00:51:22,220
Speaker 2: into the early 1940s. Her Hollywood career was short-lived, beginning

872
00:51:22,280 --> 00:51:26,500
Speaker 2: with 31's The Struggle and ending with 34's Grand Canary.

873
00:51:27,150 --> 00:51:31,089
Speaker 2: Eight films in total, including Howard Hawks' Tiger Shark in

874
00:51:31,090 --> 00:51:37,190
Speaker 2: 1932 and The Sin of Nora Moran in 1933. In 1986,

875
00:51:37,190 --> 00:51:40,650
Speaker 2: she did a cameo as a librarian in a very

876
00:51:40,730 --> 00:51:44,130
Speaker 2: low-budget horror film called Raiders of the Living Dead that

877
00:51:44,170 --> 00:51:46,510
Speaker 2: stars the guy who played Flick in A Christmas Story.

878
00:51:48,590 --> 00:51:51,430
Speaker 2: The Mummy is, of course, easily her best-remembered film to date.

879
00:51:53,469 --> 00:51:56,520
Speaker 2: Zeta was quite fitting for the themes of this film,

880
00:51:56,580 --> 00:52:00,480
Speaker 2: a devoted spiritualist and mystic who would, apparently when she

881
00:52:00,520 --> 00:52:03,040
Speaker 2: was doing any kind of performance, she would call upon

882
00:52:03,080 --> 00:52:07,780
Speaker 2: the spirits to inspire that performance. And as you might imagine,

883
00:52:08,739 --> 00:52:12,090
Speaker 2: certainly clashed with the very technical director of this film,

884
00:52:13,210 --> 00:52:16,570
Speaker 2: clashed with Freund quite a bit. At the very least,

885
00:52:16,930 --> 00:52:20,549
Speaker 2: her spiritually inspired approach to acting seemed to rub up

886
00:52:20,590 --> 00:52:25,959
Speaker 2: against his mechanical perfectionism. And there's a lot said here

887
00:52:26,060 --> 00:52:28,900
Speaker 2: about the two just not getting along at all. There

888
00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:31,620
Speaker 2: was a deleted scene, one of a few different reincarnation

889
00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:40,450
Speaker 2: scenes that he allegedly had her shoot unprotected among live lions. Yeah,

890
00:52:40,469 --> 00:52:42,250
Speaker 2: like there are live lions because she's supposed to be

891
00:52:43,250 --> 00:52:46,700
Speaker 2: a reincarnation also of a Christian martyr in these deleted sequences.

892
00:52:47,120 --> 00:52:49,500
Speaker 3: Yeah, I read about that. So there was supposed to

893
00:52:49,540 --> 00:52:51,219
Speaker 3: be a part of the movie that shows all the

894
00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:54,219
Speaker 3: other lives she lived throughout the ages. One where she

895
00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:57,529
Speaker 3: meets a Saxon warrior, one where she's a martyr, another

896
00:52:57,550 --> 00:53:00,270
Speaker 3: where she's a French courtesan or something.

897
00:53:00,290 --> 00:53:04,089
Speaker 2: Yeah, and these scenes are lost now, apparently. We only

898
00:53:04,130 --> 00:53:07,290
Speaker 2: have stills from them. There are some allegations that these

899
00:53:07,310 --> 00:53:11,340
Speaker 2: scenes were cut to spite her. I can't see an

900
00:53:11,380 --> 00:53:14,060
Speaker 2: alternate cut of the film because it cannot exist since

901
00:53:14,100 --> 00:53:16,680
Speaker 2: these scenes are lost, but I feel like I'm happy

902
00:53:16,739 --> 00:53:19,299
Speaker 2: with just the Egyptian flashback here. I don't think I

903
00:53:19,320 --> 00:53:22,219
Speaker 2: really needed these additional scenes, but, you know, could be wrong.

904
00:53:23,800 --> 00:53:27,370
Speaker 2: But another case was that Freund apparently said, I want

905
00:53:27,730 --> 00:53:31,590
Speaker 2: to shoot this particular scene semi-nude. And she called his

906
00:53:31,650 --> 00:53:33,750
Speaker 2: bluff on this, apparently telling him, hey, I have no

907
00:53:33,810 --> 00:53:37,029
Speaker 2: problem with that if you can get it past the censors. And,

908
00:53:37,070 --> 00:53:40,529
Speaker 2: of course, he was apparently bluffing. The charge here, this

909
00:53:40,570 --> 00:53:43,310
Speaker 2: mostly comes from Zita, and I have no reason to

910
00:53:43,350 --> 00:53:47,060
Speaker 2: doubt her on this, is that is that the director

911
00:53:47,160 --> 00:53:51,109
Speaker 2: was very protective of the film, this being his first feature.

912
00:53:51,719 --> 00:53:53,890
Speaker 2: And he wanted to set her up as a scapegoat

913
00:53:53,930 --> 00:53:56,730
Speaker 2: that he could complain about if this film was going

914
00:53:56,750 --> 00:53:58,489
Speaker 2: to flop. He could say, oh, well, Zeta was hard

915
00:53:58,510 --> 00:53:59,009
Speaker 2: to work with.

916
00:53:59,050 --> 00:53:59,770
Speaker 3: What do you expect?

917
00:54:01,010 --> 00:54:04,370
Speaker 2: And again, by all accounts, Freund was not an actress director.

918
00:54:04,750 --> 00:54:08,910
Speaker 2: You know, you have Karloff setting through these long make-up sessions,

919
00:54:08,950 --> 00:54:10,850
Speaker 2: and then he would do things like tell Zita that

920
00:54:10,870 --> 00:54:12,710
Speaker 2: she couldn't sit down because we don't want to get

921
00:54:12,750 --> 00:54:15,190
Speaker 2: any wrinkles in your Egyptian costume, so just stand against

922
00:54:15,230 --> 00:54:18,930
Speaker 2: the wall, please, that sort of thing. But I would

923
00:54:18,989 --> 00:54:24,700
Speaker 2: say that perhaps Zita's a great actress, and maybe what

924
00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:26,180
Speaker 2: she is able to do here at the end of

925
00:54:26,219 --> 00:54:30,359
Speaker 2: the day is channel that on-set exhaustion into this performance

926
00:54:30,860 --> 00:54:33,330
Speaker 2: of a woman who is torn between two worlds and

927
00:54:33,370 --> 00:54:38,020
Speaker 2: two existences, between this this person in the contemporary modern

928
00:54:38,060 --> 00:54:40,380
Speaker 2: day and someone who is, uh, you know, an ancient

929
00:54:40,460 --> 00:54:43,200
Speaker 2: soul from a different world. Yeah.

930
00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:45,959
Speaker 3: I think Zita Johan is fantastic in this. There is

931
00:54:45,980 --> 00:54:50,320
Speaker 3: a weird captivating element to her performance. She, she brings

932
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:55,739
Speaker 3: an unhinged quality. Uh, like you, you almost wonder at

933
00:54:55,820 --> 00:54:57,950
Speaker 3: any moment if she's going to like stop saying her

934
00:54:58,030 --> 00:55:00,859
Speaker 3: lines and start doing something else that there's something kind

935
00:55:00,890 --> 00:55:03,130
Speaker 3: of like bubbling up out of her personality.

936
00:55:03,150 --> 00:55:03,230
Speaker 1: Yeah.

937
00:55:03,730 --> 00:55:04,990
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I agree.

938
00:55:05,010 --> 00:55:08,649
Speaker 2: I think she's great in this. Obviously, she's beautiful. And

939
00:55:09,150 --> 00:55:11,890
Speaker 2: late in the film, she's dressed in this supposed to

940
00:55:11,930 --> 00:55:15,170
Speaker 2: be like the priestess of ISIS garb. And this is

941
00:55:15,210 --> 00:55:17,489
Speaker 2: another case where you see these scenes and you might think, well,

942
00:55:17,510 --> 00:55:20,370
Speaker 2: that looks kind of like a revealing outfit for the 1930s.

943
00:55:20,850 --> 00:55:24,070
Speaker 2: And one does wonder, like, if this movie had been made,

944
00:55:24,140 --> 00:55:27,739
Speaker 2: just say, you know, seven years later, if it would

945
00:55:27,760 --> 00:55:30,980
Speaker 2: have been a much more conservative garment that she was wearing.

946
00:55:31,380 --> 00:55:32,680
Speaker 3: Probably so, yeah. Yeah.

947
00:55:33,400 --> 00:55:35,319
Speaker 2: So anyway, she's great in this. These are our two

948
00:55:35,360 --> 00:55:38,109
Speaker 2: principal characters, but then we have some supporting characters of note.

949
00:55:38,590 --> 00:55:41,549
Speaker 2: One of which is the character Frank Wimple. This is

950
00:55:41,590 --> 00:55:45,510
Speaker 2: the love interest for Zeta, the contemporary love interest.

951
00:55:45,530 --> 00:55:48,010
Speaker 3: The Jonathan Harker of the movie.

952
00:55:48,469 --> 00:55:52,170
Speaker 2: Quite literally, because he played this actor, David Manners, 1900

953
00:55:52,170 --> 00:55:56,790
Speaker 2: through 1998, played Jonathan Harker in 31's Dracula. A very

954
00:55:56,870 --> 00:55:58,190
Speaker 2: forgettable Jonathan Harker.

955
00:55:58,250 --> 00:56:00,850
Speaker 3: As we discussed. And no offense to David Manners, but

956
00:56:00,890 --> 00:56:02,330
Speaker 3: this character is also boring.

957
00:56:02,900 --> 00:56:07,450
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a boring character. And it's a shame

958
00:56:07,469 --> 00:56:10,950
Speaker 2: because David Manners is obviously a talented actor and a

959
00:56:10,989 --> 00:56:16,330
Speaker 2: much more interesting real human being historically than anything we

960
00:56:16,350 --> 00:56:19,630
Speaker 2: see in this film. He also co-starred with Karloff and

961
00:56:19,670 --> 00:56:22,790
Speaker 2: Lugosi in 34's The Black Cat. He was active on

962
00:56:22,850 --> 00:56:26,230
Speaker 2: screen from 29 through 36. And then he left Hollywood.

963
00:56:26,310 --> 00:56:29,090
Speaker 2: He returned to the stage, including Broadway. And he also

964
00:56:29,150 --> 00:56:32,430
Speaker 2: wrote fiction and philosophical works in the desert. And he

965
00:56:32,450 --> 00:56:36,780
Speaker 2: was the longtime partner of playwright Frederick William Mercer. But again,

966
00:56:37,280 --> 00:56:39,400
Speaker 2: all of that is far more interesting than anything you

967
00:56:39,420 --> 00:56:40,160
Speaker 2: see in this movie.

968
00:56:40,560 --> 00:56:44,319
Speaker 3: He's a standard leading man. He's there to be the

969
00:56:44,420 --> 00:56:50,029
Speaker 3: good guy that Zeta, that Helen Grosvenor can go back

970
00:56:50,090 --> 00:56:53,390
Speaker 3: to once she has freed herself from the magical clutch

971
00:56:53,450 --> 00:56:55,589
Speaker 3: of this ancient sorcerer. Yeah, yeah.

972
00:56:57,180 --> 00:56:59,950
Speaker 2: All right, so that's Wimple the Younger, but we also

973
00:57:00,010 --> 00:57:04,069
Speaker 2: have Sir Joseph Wimple, his father, also an archaeologist, played

974
00:57:04,110 --> 00:57:08,529
Speaker 2: by Arthur Byron, who lived 1872 through 1943. So yeah,

975
00:57:10,030 --> 00:57:14,049
Speaker 2: he's supposed to be one of the original archaeologists on

976
00:57:14,070 --> 00:57:20,880
Speaker 2: the 1921 expedition that exhumes the tomb of Imhotep. So

977
00:57:20,980 --> 00:57:23,840
Speaker 2: this particular actor, active on film from 29 through 36 years,

978
00:57:25,560 --> 00:57:28,640
Speaker 2: often played British characters as well as American, but this

979
00:57:28,660 --> 00:57:29,840
Speaker 2: was his only horror film.

980
00:57:31,220 --> 00:57:34,550
Speaker 3: This guy is there to be the voice of responsible

981
00:57:34,650 --> 00:57:38,590
Speaker 3: archaeology as it was understood at the time. So you

982
00:57:38,670 --> 00:57:41,810
Speaker 3: still might, the modern person will still look at some

983
00:57:41,850 --> 00:57:45,210
Speaker 3: of his actions and be like, eh, but he is

984
00:57:45,270 --> 00:57:48,410
Speaker 3: supposed to, I think, stand as a contrast to how

985
00:57:48,650 --> 00:57:53,690
Speaker 3: people might understand like a looting or treasure hunting mentality. Yeah.

986
00:57:53,750 --> 00:57:56,890
Speaker 2: Yeah. He's he's still absolutely a grave robber for a museum.

987
00:57:57,280 --> 00:58:00,740
Speaker 2: But but is in a key scene. He's like, you know, pottery,

988
00:58:00,860 --> 00:58:03,940
Speaker 2: pottery fragments far more useful to us than some sort

989
00:58:03,980 --> 00:58:04,800
Speaker 2: of flashy tomb.

990
00:58:04,820 --> 00:58:05,820
Speaker 3: Yeah.

991
00:58:05,900 --> 00:58:08,020
Speaker 2: So we'll get more into that as we go here.

992
00:58:08,080 --> 00:58:10,340
Speaker 2: But yeah, this actor is pretty good in this role.

993
00:58:10,780 --> 00:58:14,160
Speaker 3: At one point, he defends the idea of the the

994
00:58:14,220 --> 00:58:17,080
Speaker 3: contents of onks and almonds tomb remaining at the Cairo

995
00:58:17,140 --> 00:58:19,360
Speaker 3: Museum when his son is like, we've got to get

996
00:58:19,390 --> 00:58:22,790
Speaker 3: this stuff back to Britain, you know. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,

997
00:58:22,990 --> 00:58:23,390
Speaker 3: it's true.

998
00:58:24,170 --> 00:58:26,550
Speaker 2: So it'll be interesting to get into this in the

999
00:58:26,570 --> 00:58:28,970
Speaker 2: plot because, yeah, there are some moments where the film

1000
00:58:29,150 --> 00:58:33,220
Speaker 2: momentarily feels a little bit more modern in its critique

1001
00:58:33,880 --> 00:58:39,120
Speaker 2: of what's going on through archaeology in Egypt. Okay, but

1002
00:58:39,160 --> 00:58:41,760
Speaker 2: then we have Edward Van Sloan, as we mentioned, playing Dr.

1003
00:58:41,780 --> 00:58:42,060
Speaker 3: Mueller.

1004
00:58:42,120 --> 00:58:44,120
Speaker 2: Van Sloan lived 1882 through 1964. Again, the man who

1005
00:58:44,140 --> 00:58:52,260
Speaker 2: played Van Helsing in Dracula. essentially playing a very similar role,

1006
00:58:52,600 --> 00:58:55,910
Speaker 2: an expert on ancient Egyptian religion, as well as something

1007
00:58:55,950 --> 00:58:59,070
Speaker 2: of an occultist and true believer himself, which, again, is

1008
00:58:59,110 --> 00:59:01,570
Speaker 2: also very much in keeping with the idea of a

1009
00:59:01,610 --> 00:59:04,270
Speaker 2: Van Helsing, I think, this individual who kind of has

1010
00:59:04,330 --> 00:59:07,850
Speaker 2: a leg in both worlds. He's a reasonable man, but

1011
00:59:08,430 --> 00:59:11,020
Speaker 2: he knows the dark side. He knows the other side.

1012
00:59:11,060 --> 00:59:13,260
Speaker 2: He knows about the magical world that came before.

1013
00:59:13,720 --> 00:59:17,340
Speaker 3: Right. So in Dracula, you might have a character like Dr. Seward,

1014
00:59:17,360 --> 00:59:18,740
Speaker 3: who I think is a little bit more of a

1015
00:59:18,920 --> 00:59:24,020
Speaker 3: skeptical scientific mindset. And then his mentor, Van Helsing, comes

1016
00:59:24,100 --> 00:59:26,680
Speaker 3: in to be like, no, the dark arts are real. Yeah.

1017
00:59:27,680 --> 00:59:30,810
Speaker 2: So Van Sloan, American character actor who also appeared in

1018
00:59:31,170 --> 00:59:35,850
Speaker 2: 31's Frankenstein, 36's Dracula's Daughter, and other products include 32's

1019
00:59:35,910 --> 00:59:39,490
Speaker 2: Behind the Mask and 39's The Phantom Creeps, active till

1020
00:59:39,530 --> 00:59:44,130
Speaker 2: about 1950. All right, we also have a doomed assistant

1021
00:59:44,230 --> 00:59:47,610
Speaker 2: on the archaeological dig, played by Ralph Norton. This is

1022
00:59:47,690 --> 00:59:52,230
Speaker 2: Bramwell Fletcher. He lived 1904 through 1988. He is not

1023
00:59:52,250 --> 00:59:55,030
Speaker 2: in the film long, but his performance is very memorable.

1024
00:59:55,750 --> 00:59:59,240
Speaker 2: This actor was active through 1967, and his other films

1025
00:59:59,300 --> 01:00:03,440
Speaker 2: include 31, Svengali, and Daughter of the Dragon.

1026
01:00:04,120 --> 01:00:06,840
Speaker 3: No offense at all to Bramwell Fletcher, who does fine here,

1027
01:00:06,940 --> 01:00:09,640
Speaker 3: but this feels like it was written for Dwight Frye.

1028
01:00:09,800 --> 01:00:13,170
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I'm glad you pointed this out, because, yeah,

1029
01:00:13,190 --> 01:00:14,430
Speaker 2: this feels like, can we get him?

1030
01:00:14,950 --> 01:00:15,210
Speaker 3: No?

1031
01:00:15,450 --> 01:00:18,110
Speaker 2: Okay, find someone else. And he does a fine job,

1032
01:00:18,150 --> 01:00:20,470
Speaker 2: but it's very much the Fritz role.

1033
01:00:20,770 --> 01:00:24,150
Speaker 3: Like, you can feel the words on the page thinking

1034
01:00:24,270 --> 01:00:27,390
Speaker 3: back to the scene in Dracula where they open up

1035
01:00:28,030 --> 01:00:33,620
Speaker 3: the hole and Renfield is down there grinning and laughing. Yeah, absolutely.

1036
01:00:34,640 --> 01:00:37,160
Speaker 2: And then we also have a character that is credited

1037
01:00:37,220 --> 01:00:40,900
Speaker 2: as the Nubian. This is a servant. Like, this is what,

1038
01:00:40,920 --> 01:00:43,720
Speaker 2: a Wimple servant? I think Sir Joseph's servant.

1039
01:00:43,940 --> 01:00:45,910
Speaker 3: He works in the Wimple household, yeah. Mm-hmm.

1040
01:00:46,570 --> 01:00:50,990
Speaker 2: And then eventually comes under the spell of Imhotep and

1041
01:00:51,030 --> 01:00:55,150
Speaker 2: becomes his accomplice in these various crimes. But he is

1042
01:00:55,210 --> 01:01:00,140
Speaker 2: played by Noble Johnson, who lived 1881 through 1978, African-American

1043
01:01:00,240 --> 01:01:03,540
Speaker 2: actor and producer who played a lot of non-white characters

1044
01:01:03,580 --> 01:01:05,820
Speaker 2: in the silent era and then into the age of

1045
01:01:05,900 --> 01:01:09,460
Speaker 2: talkies as well. As such, he appeared in quite a

1046
01:01:09,480 --> 01:01:14,540
Speaker 2: few horror films and exotic action movies. and also Westerns

1047
01:01:14,740 --> 01:01:16,820
Speaker 2: later on. Again, he was active until I think like

1048
01:01:16,840 --> 01:01:20,110
Speaker 2: the 50s as well. His most famous credit is that

1049
01:01:20,200 --> 01:01:24,230
Speaker 2: of the Skull Island native chief in 1933's King Kong,

1050
01:01:24,650 --> 01:01:27,310
Speaker 2: but he also appears in 32's The Most Dangerous Game

1051
01:01:27,530 --> 01:01:31,670
Speaker 2: and Murders in the Rue Morgue. His earlier epics included,

1052
01:01:31,690 --> 01:01:36,400
Speaker 2: let's see, 1924's The Thief of Baghdad, an effects adventure

1053
01:01:36,440 --> 01:01:39,360
Speaker 2: blockbuster of its day. He was a longtime friend of

1054
01:01:39,420 --> 01:01:43,530
Speaker 2: Lon Chaney and founder in 1916 of of the Lincoln

1055
01:01:43,570 --> 01:01:48,030
Speaker 2: Motion Picture Company, which made films with black casts for

1056
01:01:48,110 --> 01:01:51,050
Speaker 2: black audiences that, you know, especially in the American South,

1057
01:01:51,070 --> 01:01:55,730
Speaker 2: like would have played exclusively in black theaters. So, you know,

1058
01:01:55,850 --> 01:01:59,640
Speaker 2: a very important historic figure himself. And then finally, just

1059
01:01:59,660 --> 01:02:03,860
Speaker 2: touching on the music here, this is Heinz Romheld, once

1060
01:02:03,920 --> 01:02:07,940
Speaker 2: more 1901 through 1985. He also worked on Dracula. And

1061
01:02:08,140 --> 01:02:12,010
Speaker 2: as with Dracula, What we have here is just basically

1062
01:02:12,050 --> 01:02:14,540
Speaker 2: a sparse classical needle drop score.

1063
01:02:15,620 --> 01:02:16,960
Speaker 3: Let's get some Swan Lake in there.

1064
01:02:17,100 --> 01:02:19,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, just drop some Swan Lake. It's what the people want.

1065
01:02:20,560 --> 01:02:22,400
Speaker 2: Far more notable, though, in this film, I think, are

1066
01:02:22,420 --> 01:02:26,000
Speaker 2: the moments where we have no music. Not to say

1067
01:02:26,020 --> 01:02:28,680
Speaker 2: that the classical needle drop is bad here or anything,

1068
01:02:28,760 --> 01:02:31,920
Speaker 2: but we end up with these wonderful scenes of silence

1069
01:02:31,980 --> 01:02:35,340
Speaker 2: that just enhance the creepiness and the tension, much like

1070
01:02:35,360 --> 01:02:37,280
Speaker 2: in some of the pivotal moments in Dracula.

1071
01:02:37,660 --> 01:02:49,280
Speaker 3: Totally. Okay, are you ready to talk about the plot?

1072
01:02:49,940 --> 01:02:50,830
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's jump into it.

1073
01:02:51,400 --> 01:02:54,440
Speaker 3: I like that the opening title and credits play as

1074
01:02:54,520 --> 01:02:59,070
Speaker 3: the camera whirls through this miniature model of the Giza necropolis.

1075
01:02:59,110 --> 01:03:02,310
Speaker 3: So it's got the pyramids and the Sphinx. That's cool. Yeah,

1076
01:03:02,370 --> 01:03:03,790
Speaker 3: it's a little flashy. It's a little Vegas.

1077
01:03:04,190 --> 01:03:04,410
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1078
01:03:05,910 --> 01:03:08,790
Speaker 3: And then after the credits, we get some exposition via

1079
01:03:08,870 --> 01:03:12,960
Speaker 3: a papyrus scroll that is unfurled upon a table. And

1080
01:03:13,020 --> 01:03:17,900
Speaker 3: it's filled with columns of hieroglyphics and illustrations of Egyptian gods.

1081
01:03:19,140 --> 01:03:22,240
Speaker 3: And so we see like a big jackal-headed god leading

1082
01:03:22,280 --> 01:03:25,440
Speaker 3: a human figure by the hand. And a text legend

1083
01:03:25,480 --> 01:03:29,560
Speaker 3: tells us this is the scroll of Thoth. Herein are

1084
01:03:29,660 --> 01:03:33,800
Speaker 3: set down the magic words by which Isis raised Osiris

1085
01:03:33,980 --> 01:03:38,600
Speaker 3: from the dead. O Amun-Ra, O God of gods, death

1086
01:03:38,740 --> 01:03:42,140
Speaker 3: is but the doorway to new life. We live today...

1087
01:03:42,240 --> 01:03:45,460
Speaker 3: We shall live again. In many forms shall we return,

1088
01:03:45,480 --> 01:03:50,160
Speaker 3: O mighty one. So after this, the action opens with

1089
01:03:50,220 --> 01:03:53,660
Speaker 3: an establishing shot of these Egyptian temple ruins. They're at

1090
01:03:53,680 --> 01:03:56,500
Speaker 3: the base of this mighty cliff. I'm not positive, but

1091
01:03:56,540 --> 01:03:58,480
Speaker 3: this could be a shot of one of the temples

1092
01:03:58,520 --> 01:04:01,900
Speaker 3: in the Valley of Kings. I think later, or later,

1093
01:04:01,940 --> 01:04:04,460
Speaker 3: I think they say that this is in or around Thebes.

1094
01:04:05,260 --> 01:04:08,820
Speaker 2: Now, to be clear, any of the actual desert sequences

1095
01:04:08,880 --> 01:04:11,580
Speaker 2: in this film, these are all shot in California deserts.

1096
01:04:12,900 --> 01:04:15,240
Speaker 2: Watching the film, though, I'm eating it all up. I'm

1097
01:04:15,280 --> 01:04:18,390
Speaker 2: just like, yeah, this is Egypt, baby. But in reality,

1098
01:04:18,450 --> 01:04:19,010
Speaker 2: it's California.

1099
01:04:19,290 --> 01:04:22,150
Speaker 3: Well, this part looked like a real shot of Egypt

1100
01:04:22,330 --> 01:04:22,450
Speaker 3: to me.

1101
01:04:22,490 --> 01:04:24,910
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. There are definitely, I think, some establishing shots

1102
01:04:24,930 --> 01:04:28,720
Speaker 2: sprinkled in that are like actual Egypt, actual Cairo skyline,

1103
01:04:28,760 --> 01:04:31,280
Speaker 2: that sort of thing. But when you actually have characters

1104
01:04:31,360 --> 01:04:33,000
Speaker 2: out there in the desert, it's California.

1105
01:04:33,240 --> 01:04:33,360
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1106
01:04:34,180 --> 01:04:36,380
Speaker 3: So a sign tells us that we're arriving at a

1107
01:04:36,540 --> 01:04:40,520
Speaker 3: field expedition of the British Museum, season 1921. So we're

1108
01:04:40,540 --> 01:04:44,080
Speaker 3: about to meet some British archaeologists. And the characters that

1109
01:04:44,100 --> 01:04:47,020
Speaker 3: we're meeting are Sir Joseph Wimple, again, this is Arthur Byron,

1110
01:04:47,420 --> 01:04:51,740
Speaker 3: and his assistant Ralph Norton, played by Bramwell Fletcher. Again,

1111
01:04:51,760 --> 01:04:54,300
Speaker 3: this is the Renfield character, though he's going to have

1112
01:04:54,340 --> 01:04:56,890
Speaker 3: a much more limited role in the story than Renfield,

1113
01:04:56,950 --> 01:05:01,260
Speaker 3: but should have been Dwight Frye, no offense, Bramwell. So

1114
01:05:01,300 --> 01:05:05,460
Speaker 3: they're reviewing their recent finds, which include a mummy inside

1115
01:05:05,480 --> 01:05:09,760
Speaker 3: a sarcophagus and a mysteriously sealed box that was buried

1116
01:05:09,820 --> 01:05:16,030
Speaker 3: alongside it. And Wimple is presented as a very admirable character.

1117
01:05:16,070 --> 01:05:20,670
Speaker 3: He's pure scientific temperament. So he is patiently cataloging broken

1118
01:05:20,750 --> 01:05:25,430
Speaker 3: pottery fragments for later translation. Meanwhile, Norton is like, I

1119
01:05:25,470 --> 01:05:27,120
Speaker 3: want to open the box. Give me the mystery box.

1120
01:05:27,140 --> 01:05:27,380
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1121
01:05:28,460 --> 01:05:30,490
Speaker 3: He wants to get like a medal from the British

1122
01:05:30,530 --> 01:05:35,750
Speaker 3: Museum for, you know, discovering something really exciting. And Wimple explains,

1123
01:05:35,790 --> 01:05:38,790
Speaker 3: you know, the goal of archaeology is to carefully gather

1124
01:05:38,930 --> 01:05:41,700
Speaker 3: and organize information from the past so that all of

1125
01:05:41,760 --> 01:05:44,160
Speaker 3: humanity can learn and benefit from it. It is not

1126
01:05:44,200 --> 01:05:47,380
Speaker 3: to satisfy their personal curiosity. Yeah.

1127
01:05:47,400 --> 01:05:48,500
Speaker 2: On the whole, pretty reasonable.

1128
01:05:48,520 --> 01:05:52,300
Speaker 3: Yeah. Meanwhile, in the background, there is another man at

1129
01:05:52,380 --> 01:05:56,860
Speaker 3: work here. This is Dr. Mueller, played by Edward Van Sloan. Again,

1130
01:05:56,900 --> 01:05:59,360
Speaker 3: this is the Van Helsing for the picture. He is

1131
01:05:59,440 --> 01:06:03,610
Speaker 3: busy examining the mummy they unearthed, which is lying in

1132
01:06:03,640 --> 01:06:06,870
Speaker 3: an open coffin that's just leaned against the wall. It's

1133
01:06:06,950 --> 01:06:09,370
Speaker 3: a little bit of a funny choice. Maybe lie that

1134
01:06:09,390 --> 01:06:10,710
Speaker 3: thing flat? I don't know.

1135
01:06:11,190 --> 01:06:13,370
Speaker 2: I don't know, Chris. I think I've seen this still

1136
01:06:13,410 --> 01:06:16,410
Speaker 2: from the mummy so much throughout my life. Like I

1137
01:06:16,450 --> 01:06:18,590
Speaker 2: never questioned it. Like I saw, I saw at least

1138
01:06:18,650 --> 01:06:20,630
Speaker 2: clips of this as a kid or at least stills

1139
01:06:20,730 --> 01:06:23,490
Speaker 2: on all like old universal trading cards. And I'm like, yeah,

1140
01:06:23,530 --> 01:06:26,330
Speaker 2: of course, if you open them sarcophagus, that's how you

1141
01:06:26,590 --> 01:06:28,710
Speaker 2: position the money against the wall, lean it.

1142
01:06:28,710 --> 01:06:30,090
Speaker 3: Up against the wall. So it can be in the

1143
01:06:30,210 --> 01:06:33,810
Speaker 3: background of the shot over your shoulder while you're doing

1144
01:06:33,850 --> 01:06:36,950
Speaker 3: something at the desk and that'll play in later. Uh,

1145
01:06:37,050 --> 01:06:40,050
Speaker 3: but so it's true. I didn't notice anything weird about

1146
01:06:40,070 --> 01:06:42,990
Speaker 3: this the first time I watched only on rewatch.

1147
01:06:42,590 --> 01:06:44,230
Speaker 2: For now because you're absolutely correct.

1148
01:06:44,410 --> 01:06:49,140
Speaker 3: Yeah. But Mueller observes some weird things about the body here.

1149
01:06:49,220 --> 01:06:51,960
Speaker 3: He says, unlike with most mummies, in this case, the

1150
01:06:52,120 --> 01:06:55,700
Speaker 3: guts and the internal organs have not been removed. The

1151
01:06:55,780 --> 01:06:58,670
Speaker 3: usual scar left by the embalmer's knife is not present.

1152
01:06:59,190 --> 01:07:02,870
Speaker 3: Mueller also judges that, quote, the contorted muscles show that

1153
01:07:02,910 --> 01:07:07,070
Speaker 3: he struggled in the bandages. Uh, and so it seems

1154
01:07:07,130 --> 01:07:11,470
Speaker 3: this mummy was wrapped and buried while still alive. So

1155
01:07:11,880 --> 01:07:13,940
Speaker 3: I was thinking, I wonder, is that gruesome enough of

1156
01:07:14,000 --> 01:07:18,480
Speaker 3: an image for Jason S. Joy of the studio relations committee? Uh,

1157
01:07:18,540 --> 01:07:21,860
Speaker 3: so they learned the mummy's name from inscriptions on the coffin.

1158
01:07:21,940 --> 01:07:24,900
Speaker 3: He was Imhotep, high priest of the temple of the

1159
01:07:25,000 --> 01:07:29,090
Speaker 3: sun at Karnak. And Norton says, poor old fellow, what

1160
01:07:29,150 --> 01:07:31,410
Speaker 3: could you have done to make them treat you like that?

1161
01:07:32,470 --> 01:07:36,110
Speaker 3: Wimple suggests maybe executed for treason. And then Mueller says

1162
01:07:36,420 --> 01:07:40,060
Speaker 3: sacrilege more likely. And as evidence, he points to a

1163
01:07:40,100 --> 01:07:43,260
Speaker 3: place where the writing inside the coffin has been chiseled away.

1164
01:07:43,360 --> 01:07:46,180
Speaker 3: This was the place for sacred spells that protect the

1165
01:07:46,240 --> 01:07:50,680
Speaker 3: soul in its journey to the underworld. So Mueller says, quote,

1166
01:07:50,720 --> 01:07:53,950
Speaker 3: so Imhotep was sentenced to death not only in this world,

1167
01:07:54,090 --> 01:07:58,070
Speaker 3: but in the next. And then Norton grinning says, maybe

1168
01:07:58,130 --> 01:08:00,830
Speaker 3: he got too gay with the Vestal Virgins in the temple.

1169
01:08:02,570 --> 01:08:06,020
Speaker 2: Different common usage of that word back in the 30s.

1170
01:08:07,650 --> 01:08:10,550
Speaker 3: I kind of expect the scholars here to laugh this off,

1171
01:08:10,650 --> 01:08:14,210
Speaker 3: but instead Mueller says possibly, maybe that's what happened. He

1172
01:08:14,290 --> 01:08:19,370
Speaker 3: explains that the priestesses of the temple were the daughters

1173
01:08:19,470 --> 01:08:25,450
Speaker 3: of the reigning pharaohs, the sacred virgins of Isis. Okay, well,

1174
01:08:25,550 --> 01:08:28,210
Speaker 3: enough messing around. It's time to open the mystery box.

1175
01:08:28,270 --> 01:08:31,750
Speaker 3: Let's open the box. So they go, it's kind of a,

1176
01:08:32,380 --> 01:08:34,920
Speaker 3: you know, nesting doll. They go through several layers of

1177
01:08:35,020 --> 01:08:38,439
Speaker 3: opening the box and getting inside. When they finally get

1178
01:08:38,479 --> 01:08:42,060
Speaker 3: to the innermost box, there is a warning written on

1179
01:08:42,100 --> 01:08:45,729
Speaker 3: the outside of it. It says, death, eternal punishment for

1180
01:08:45,830 --> 01:08:49,650
Speaker 3: anyone who opens this casket in the name of Amun-Ra,

1181
01:08:49,790 --> 01:08:53,530
Speaker 3: king of the gods. Now Wimple and Norton move to

1182
01:08:53,630 --> 01:08:56,650
Speaker 3: open this container, but Mueller objects. He says, how can

1183
01:08:56,670 --> 01:08:59,269
Speaker 3: you think to do this? You've read the curse. And

1184
01:08:59,350 --> 01:09:02,720
Speaker 3: Wimple resists. He says, Mueller, I respect your knowledge of

1185
01:09:02,760 --> 01:09:05,939
Speaker 3: the occult sciences, quote, but I will not permit your

1186
01:09:05,960 --> 01:09:10,140
Speaker 3: beliefs to interfere with my work. So interesting here, you

1187
01:09:10,160 --> 01:09:14,340
Speaker 3: get a division of three different types of people interacting

1188
01:09:14,460 --> 01:09:19,280
Speaker 3: with an ancient artifact and an ancient burial. Norton has

1189
01:09:19,360 --> 01:09:22,430
Speaker 3: more of a treasure hunters mentality. He just wants money

1190
01:09:22,550 --> 01:09:27,890
Speaker 3: and fame and his curiosity sated. Wimple is a responsible scientist.

1191
01:09:27,950 --> 01:09:31,830
Speaker 3: He is patient, methodical, and kind of emotionally uninvolved. He

1192
01:09:31,890 --> 01:09:35,469
Speaker 3: just wants to add to the library of accessible human knowledge.

1193
01:09:36,210 --> 01:09:39,729
Speaker 3: And Mueller is a true believer, kind of a scholar

1194
01:09:39,990 --> 01:09:43,610
Speaker 3: cleric who studies Egyptian magic, not only because it is

1195
01:09:43,790 --> 01:09:47,110
Speaker 3: of interest, but because it is real and has power today.

1196
01:09:47,130 --> 01:09:47,210
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1197
01:09:49,240 --> 01:09:52,040
Speaker 3: I like how in this scene Norton argues that the

1198
01:09:52,200 --> 01:09:55,360
Speaker 3: amount of time the box has been buried would have

1199
01:09:55,460 --> 01:09:58,840
Speaker 3: removed the power of any curse. Is that how it works?

1200
01:09:59,320 --> 01:10:01,660
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like surely it's worn off. There are expiration

1201
01:10:01,680 --> 01:10:05,939
Speaker 2: dates on these, which is kind of weird to think

1202
01:10:06,000 --> 01:10:09,059
Speaker 2: about because I forget which drug it was, but when

1203
01:10:09,080 --> 01:10:11,460
Speaker 2: we were doing some sort of pharmacology work for one

1204
01:10:11,479 --> 01:10:13,860
Speaker 2: of our previous Stuff to Blow Your Mind episodes, one

1205
01:10:13,900 --> 01:10:16,160
Speaker 2: of the examples brought up was that if you found

1206
01:10:16,260 --> 01:10:21,400
Speaker 2: a particular drug um, psychoactive drug in an Egyptian tomb,

1207
01:10:21,520 --> 01:10:25,059
Speaker 2: it would still be active today. So if that's the case,

1208
01:10:25,120 --> 01:10:25,900
Speaker 2: why not curses?

1209
01:10:27,520 --> 01:10:30,650
Speaker 3: Uh, so Mueller here becomes very somber. He warns his

1210
01:10:30,710 --> 01:10:33,490
Speaker 3: colleagues once again, and then he throws on his coat

1211
01:10:33,550 --> 01:10:38,380
Speaker 3: and leaves, leaves the building. Uh, and Wimple follows him outside. He's, uh,

1212
01:10:38,790 --> 01:10:41,090
Speaker 3: trying to convince him. So he leaves Norton alone and

1213
01:10:41,150 --> 01:10:44,540
Speaker 3: with the artifacts and the mummy and then outside under

1214
01:10:44,560 --> 01:10:47,550
Speaker 3: the stars, uh, Wimple tries to convince his old friend

1215
01:10:47,590 --> 01:10:49,809
Speaker 3: to change his mind. He says, you know, this box

1216
01:10:49,990 --> 01:10:53,910
Speaker 3: might contain the scroll of Thoth from the Holy of

1217
01:10:53,970 --> 01:10:56,530
Speaker 3: Holies in the heart of the temple. If so, it

1218
01:10:56,590 --> 01:10:58,809
Speaker 3: would be one of the most extraordinary finds in the

1219
01:10:58,830 --> 01:11:03,770
Speaker 3: history of archaeology. But Mueller resists. He says, quote, the

1220
01:11:03,810 --> 01:11:06,980
Speaker 3: gods of Egypt still live in these hills. The ancient

1221
01:11:07,000 --> 01:11:09,879
Speaker 3: spells are weakened, but some of them are still potent.

1222
01:11:10,820 --> 01:11:10,939
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.

1223
01:11:12,200 --> 01:11:14,689
Speaker 3: They talk about how, if this is the scroll of thought,

1224
01:11:14,830 --> 01:11:18,710
Speaker 3: it contains the great spell by which ISIS raised Osiris

1225
01:11:18,810 --> 01:11:23,060
Speaker 3: from the dead. And Mueller treats this with deadly seriousness.

1226
01:11:23,100 --> 01:11:25,400
Speaker 3: He begs his friend, he says, bury it where you

1227
01:11:25,439 --> 01:11:28,800
Speaker 3: found it. Let the old secrets rest. Uh, and then

1228
01:11:28,900 --> 01:11:31,800
Speaker 3: Wimple says in the interest of science, even if I

1229
01:11:31,860 --> 01:11:34,690
Speaker 3: believed in the curse, I would go on with my work.

1230
01:11:34,990 --> 01:11:37,050
Speaker 3: And I was like, Whoa, now that is dedication.

1231
01:11:37,070 --> 01:11:37,150
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1232
01:11:37,470 --> 01:11:37,830
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1233
01:11:37,850 --> 01:11:41,170
Speaker 2: I mean, it, reminds one of, uh, you know, various, uh,

1234
01:11:41,390 --> 01:11:44,809
Speaker 2: important scientists who worked with dangerous materials, uh, uh, and

1235
01:11:44,870 --> 01:11:47,870
Speaker 2: in dangerous environments. He's like, yeah, he's like, I, I

1236
01:11:48,150 --> 01:11:50,930
Speaker 2: would do it. I would, I would sacrifice myself to

1237
01:11:51,030 --> 01:11:52,840
Speaker 2: enhance our understanding of the path.

1238
01:11:53,640 --> 01:11:58,540
Speaker 3: Meanwhile, back inside Norton is, uh, diligently tagging pottery shards,

1239
01:11:58,620 --> 01:12:01,000
Speaker 3: but after a few minutes you could see he's the

1240
01:12:01,020 --> 01:12:03,479
Speaker 3: kid doing the marshmallow test. This is just not what

1241
01:12:03,500 --> 01:12:06,979
Speaker 3: he's into. He can't stand the suspense. And he turns

1242
01:12:07,040 --> 01:12:10,420
Speaker 3: his attention to the box. And this is the part

1243
01:12:10,439 --> 01:12:12,840
Speaker 3: you were talking about where there's a lot of silence,

1244
01:12:13,020 --> 01:12:16,560
Speaker 3: no music and no talking, just a man sitting alone

1245
01:12:16,620 --> 01:12:20,439
Speaker 3: in a quiet room with a tempting forbidden artifact nearby.

1246
01:12:20,460 --> 01:12:24,479
Speaker 3: And the only sounds we hear are these little incidental

1247
01:12:24,560 --> 01:12:27,519
Speaker 3: sound effects, like setting down a pin and then eventually

1248
01:12:27,970 --> 01:12:32,310
Speaker 3: opening the box, which he does. Inside is a scroll.

1249
01:12:32,810 --> 01:12:36,680
Speaker 3: Norton removes it. He's very, he's beaming. He carefully peels

1250
01:12:36,780 --> 01:12:39,630
Speaker 3: off the ribbon that holds it closed and he unfurls

1251
01:12:39,689 --> 01:12:42,530
Speaker 3: the papyrus on the table. And he starts to read

1252
01:12:42,570 --> 01:12:47,469
Speaker 3: the hieroglyphics, consulting his notes for translation. As he transcribes

1253
01:12:47,530 --> 01:12:51,330
Speaker 3: the spell from the scroll of Thoth, he whispers the

1254
01:12:51,390 --> 01:12:54,800
Speaker 3: words out loud. Uh-oh, that's what you're not supposed to do.

1255
01:12:55,979 --> 01:12:59,140
Speaker 3: And behind his back, there is the mummy. We see

1256
01:12:59,200 --> 01:13:03,280
Speaker 3: it lying desiccated in its casket. As Norton speaks the

1257
01:13:03,340 --> 01:13:08,080
Speaker 3: words of the resurrection by Isis, the mummy's ancient eyelids

1258
01:13:08,340 --> 01:13:13,540
Speaker 3: draw open, revealing white underneath, and the mummy starts to move,

1259
01:13:13,620 --> 01:13:17,979
Speaker 3: to stir. So Norton is entranced by the scroll, and

1260
01:13:18,020 --> 01:13:20,730
Speaker 3: he does not notice what's happening behind him. He keeps

1261
01:13:20,830 --> 01:13:25,189
Speaker 3: reading until finally a gnarled hand reaches into frame, a

1262
01:13:25,330 --> 01:13:29,630
Speaker 3: hand with long, ghastly fingernails and a silver signet ring.

1263
01:13:30,020 --> 01:13:33,160
Speaker 3: and it grasps the scroll from the table beside him.

1264
01:13:33,840 --> 01:13:35,890
Speaker 2: And I think that last detail is key. I feel

1265
01:13:35,910 --> 01:13:39,189
Speaker 2: like the mummy movies to come after this, you would

1266
01:13:39,250 --> 01:13:41,490
Speaker 2: expect those mummies to go right for the throat, right?

1267
01:13:41,530 --> 01:13:46,290
Speaker 2: They're killers, they're monsters. Our mummy here, Imhotep, he's going

1268
01:13:46,330 --> 01:13:49,620
Speaker 2: for the magical artifact. That is what is on his mind.

1269
01:13:50,600 --> 01:13:54,080
Speaker 3: I think Imhotep, he has no problem with killing if

1270
01:13:54,140 --> 01:13:56,970
Speaker 3: you get in his way, but he's not... gonna waste

1271
01:13:57,010 --> 01:14:00,970
Speaker 3: his time just like strangling randos who are hanging out

1272
01:14:01,070 --> 01:14:03,639
Speaker 3: like that yeah why would he bother killing this guy

1273
01:14:03,680 --> 01:14:05,720
Speaker 3: he just wants the scroll and to leave.

1274
01:14:05,439 --> 01:14:09,000
Speaker 2: Yeah and then some level he realizes norton is not

1275
01:14:09,040 --> 01:14:10,299
Speaker 2: a threat yeah.

1276
01:14:10,780 --> 01:14:13,479
Speaker 3: Uh so here norton turns and he sees the mummy

1277
01:14:13,520 --> 01:14:15,520
Speaker 3: though we do not see the mummy in its full

1278
01:14:15,600 --> 01:14:18,099
Speaker 3: form we we are deprived of that vision we just

1279
01:14:18,140 --> 01:14:22,969
Speaker 3: see norton reacting And he backs away screaming, he's petrified,

1280
01:14:23,150 --> 01:14:26,729
Speaker 3: and then he starts to laugh. This long tissue of

1281
01:14:26,870 --> 01:14:31,910
Speaker 3: mad laughter just getting louder and louder. And as Norton laughs,

1282
01:14:32,270 --> 01:14:34,410
Speaker 3: the camera pans over to the door and all we

1283
01:14:34,450 --> 01:14:37,930
Speaker 3: see is a trail of bandages slowly dragging out over

1284
01:14:37,970 --> 01:14:43,130
Speaker 3: the threshold. Wonderful. So Wimple rushes back inside. He finds

1285
01:14:43,170 --> 01:14:47,260
Speaker 3: his assistant having been driven insane and still laughing. And

1286
01:14:47,479 --> 01:14:50,680
Speaker 3: Wimple asks him what happened, and Norton says, he went

1287
01:14:50,740 --> 01:14:53,660
Speaker 3: for a little walk. You should have seen his face.

1288
01:14:54,189 --> 01:15:00,790
Speaker 2: Just maniacally laughing. He's completely lost it. Very convincing, but again,

1289
01:15:00,850 --> 01:15:02,770
Speaker 2: very much a Dwight Frye performance here.

1290
01:15:03,890 --> 01:15:06,570
Speaker 3: And on the tabletop, it shows us where the scroll

1291
01:15:06,630 --> 01:15:10,189
Speaker 3: had been. There is nothing but this filthy, moldy print

1292
01:15:10,290 --> 01:15:12,790
Speaker 3: in the shape of a hand. The scroll is gone.

1293
01:15:12,930 --> 01:15:14,590
Speaker 3: So whoops. Yeah.

1294
01:15:15,050 --> 01:15:18,809
Speaker 2: Again, just such an amazing, uh, first 10 or so

1295
01:15:18,850 --> 01:15:21,689
Speaker 2: minutes of this picture, the resurrection of him. Hotep is

1296
01:15:21,750 --> 01:15:26,000
Speaker 2: played with such slow reserve, excelling in what, in what

1297
01:15:26,040 --> 01:15:28,180
Speaker 2: it shows us to be sure, but then leaving our

1298
01:15:28,220 --> 01:15:32,260
Speaker 2: imaginations to fill in the rest. Like even the, the, the, uh,

1299
01:15:32,340 --> 01:15:36,179
Speaker 2: the mummy creeping up, um, here, uh, on the research table,

1300
01:15:36,220 --> 01:15:40,380
Speaker 2: like there are, uh, promotion stills, uh, that, that show

1301
01:15:40,420 --> 01:15:45,189
Speaker 2: him kind of like looming over Norton shoulder. Um, And

1302
01:15:45,290 --> 01:15:48,570
Speaker 2: but they decided not to feature it again. One wonders

1303
01:15:48,630 --> 01:15:52,830
Speaker 2: about the exact decision making here. You know, was it

1304
01:15:52,870 --> 01:15:55,610
Speaker 2: just was there something about the effect that they didn't

1305
01:15:55,640 --> 01:15:58,260
Speaker 2: think held up or or they were just sort of

1306
01:15:58,340 --> 01:16:00,799
Speaker 2: leaning back on that old idea that what you're imagining

1307
01:16:00,840 --> 01:16:02,920
Speaker 2: is going to be more horrific than what is shown.

1308
01:16:03,000 --> 01:16:07,460
Speaker 2: But however it comes together, it's just absolute perfection. And again,

1309
01:16:07,640 --> 01:16:11,860
Speaker 2: it implies what we then come to expect in mummy

1310
01:16:11,939 --> 01:16:12,980
Speaker 2: films moving forward.

1311
01:16:13,479 --> 01:16:15,980
Speaker 3: Totally. I think it works better the way it is.

1312
01:16:16,000 --> 01:16:21,640
Speaker 3: I would guess that that wonderful makeup effect of Karloff

1313
01:16:21,780 --> 01:16:26,020
Speaker 3: in the mummy wrappings looks better still in close-up than

1314
01:16:26,060 --> 01:16:27,979
Speaker 3: it does with him moving around.

1315
01:16:28,760 --> 01:16:29,040
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1316
01:16:30,040 --> 01:16:34,559
Speaker 3: Anyway, so the prologue is over. We skip ahead 10

1317
01:16:34,560 --> 01:16:38,519
Speaker 3: or 11 years later to another British Museum field expedition.

1318
01:16:38,580 --> 01:16:42,560
Speaker 3: This time it is conducted by Joseph Wimple's adult son, Frank.

1319
01:16:43,110 --> 01:16:45,820
Speaker 3: A dashing young man in these linen slacks and a

1320
01:16:45,860 --> 01:16:49,099
Speaker 3: pith helmet. Like his father, he's gone into the field

1321
01:16:49,140 --> 01:16:53,940
Speaker 3: of archaeology. It's weird. He's like an archaeologist here doing

1322
01:16:54,020 --> 01:16:58,510
Speaker 3: a field expedition, but he doesn't seem to know much

1323
01:16:58,570 --> 01:17:01,870
Speaker 3: about archaeology or ancient Egypt. He has to have everything

1324
01:17:01,930 --> 01:17:04,550
Speaker 3: explained to him. Yeah, yeah.

1325
01:17:04,870 --> 01:17:09,800
Speaker 2: Again, not anyone's favorite part of this film. kind of

1326
01:17:09,840 --> 01:17:11,460
Speaker 2: a boring character but yeah it's right it's like he

1327
01:17:11,500 --> 01:17:14,900
Speaker 2: doesn't seem to have a lot of expertise himself um

1328
01:17:15,140 --> 01:17:16,920
Speaker 2: and maybe in a way that's supposed to be telling

1329
01:17:16,960 --> 01:17:20,570
Speaker 2: he is very much a you know proper gentleman that's

1330
01:17:20,590 --> 01:17:22,450
Speaker 2: being brought up in the family business and he has

1331
01:17:22,570 --> 01:17:24,790
Speaker 2: no clue really how it works yet yeah.

1332
01:17:25,110 --> 01:17:27,950
Speaker 3: So frank talks with his and i actually i just

1333
01:17:28,030 --> 01:17:32,250
Speaker 3: assumed he's an archaeologist but do they ever say that

1334
01:17:32,330 --> 01:17:34,110
Speaker 3: in the movie i mean i don't know why else

1335
01:17:34,130 --> 01:17:37,110
Speaker 3: he would be there at the at the museum field expedition.

1336
01:17:37,189 --> 01:17:39,910
Speaker 3: I don't know. So I just assumed he was supposed

1337
01:17:39,950 --> 01:17:41,510
Speaker 3: to be, I don't know what he's supposed to be.

1338
01:17:41,550 --> 01:17:44,010
Speaker 3: He's there doing the expedition with this other guy, a

1339
01:17:44,050 --> 01:17:47,790
Speaker 3: colleague named Pearson. Um, and they talk about what bad

1340
01:17:47,850 --> 01:17:50,800
Speaker 3: luck they've had in this digging season. Basically they found

1341
01:17:50,979 --> 01:17:54,860
Speaker 3: nothing of interest. Uh, and Pearson says, you know, hard

1342
01:17:54,900 --> 01:17:56,679
Speaker 3: work is not enough to make it in this field.

1343
01:17:56,700 --> 01:17:59,260
Speaker 3: He says, a man needs flair. He needs luck like

1344
01:17:59,300 --> 01:18:03,389
Speaker 3: your father. He found things. And once 10 years ago,

1345
01:18:03,840 --> 01:18:09,180
Speaker 3: He found too much. Okay. Um, and Frank says, yes, uh,

1346
01:18:09,280 --> 01:18:13,300
Speaker 3: strange that that student he had working with him went insane. And, uh,

1347
01:18:13,560 --> 01:18:16,240
Speaker 3: Frank thinks that this was brought on by heat and

1348
01:18:16,300 --> 01:18:20,439
Speaker 3: the exhaustion of working out under the sun. Uh, Pearson

1349
01:18:20,500 --> 01:18:23,360
Speaker 3: says he was laughing when your father found him and

1350
01:18:23,420 --> 01:18:27,440
Speaker 3: he died laughing in a straight jacket. I was like, whoa.

1351
01:18:27,479 --> 01:18:29,500
Speaker 3: So the laughing never stopped. It just continued.

1352
01:18:29,520 --> 01:18:30,460
Speaker 2: I love this detail.

1353
01:18:30,500 --> 01:18:30,760
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1354
01:18:30,979 --> 01:18:33,700
Speaker 2: Just stark raving mad for the rest of his life.

1355
01:18:34,880 --> 01:18:38,920
Speaker 3: Anyway, we learn that Wimple Sr. has since sworn off

1356
01:18:39,160 --> 01:18:41,660
Speaker 3: digging in Egypt, so he does not participate in the

1357
01:18:41,700 --> 01:18:45,809
Speaker 3: digs anymore. And then suddenly there's a knock at the door.

1358
01:18:45,970 --> 01:18:49,769
Speaker 3: So Pearson and Frank go to the door. Who could

1359
01:18:49,790 --> 01:18:53,080
Speaker 3: this be? be? It is Boris Karloff. So here we

1360
01:18:53,100 --> 01:18:55,960
Speaker 3: get our first vision of Karloff, the way he will

1361
01:18:56,000 --> 01:18:59,160
Speaker 3: look for most of the rest of the film. Here

1362
01:18:59,200 --> 01:19:02,570
Speaker 3: he is as Imhotep. He is no longer a dehydrated

1363
01:19:02,689 --> 01:19:05,939
Speaker 3: corpse wrapped in bandages anymore. He's now a living man

1364
01:19:06,120 --> 01:19:09,450
Speaker 3: dressed in a long simple tunic or robe wearing a

1365
01:19:09,510 --> 01:19:14,530
Speaker 3: tasseled fez on his head. Nothing about him is overtly

1366
01:19:14,710 --> 01:19:19,969
Speaker 3: monstrous but he does look strange. They've put on makeup

1367
01:19:20,010 --> 01:19:23,070
Speaker 3: to make his skin look very dry with these wrinkles

1368
01:19:23,130 --> 01:19:27,000
Speaker 3: in his face converging on his lips. I like this design.

1369
01:19:27,020 --> 01:19:30,400
Speaker 3: It's it makes it look like there is some withering

1370
01:19:30,540 --> 01:19:33,799
Speaker 3: power that emanates from his mouth and kind of saps

1371
01:19:33,880 --> 01:19:37,860
Speaker 3: the flesh all around. And part of this is just

1372
01:19:37,920 --> 01:19:41,480
Speaker 3: Karloff's face, but it's also partly makeup effects and lighting.

1373
01:19:42,100 --> 01:19:45,019
Speaker 3: His eyebrows are dark and heavy, and under them the

1374
01:19:45,320 --> 01:19:49,930
Speaker 3: eyes are very recessed and hollow. So Karloff's Imhotep has

1375
01:19:50,010 --> 01:19:55,570
Speaker 3: this powerful gaze. It really emphasizes the eyes as something that, like,

1376
01:19:56,420 --> 01:19:59,040
Speaker 3: is lancing us like coming out from kind of a

1377
01:19:59,100 --> 01:20:01,420
Speaker 3: cave or a hole. Yeah. Yeah.

1378
01:20:01,439 --> 01:20:05,280
Speaker 2: The overall feeling is, is one of an undead being

1379
01:20:05,340 --> 01:20:09,060
Speaker 2: with immense power who is choosing to, to sort of

1380
01:20:09,140 --> 01:20:11,480
Speaker 2: fit in with everyone else and can fit in with

1381
01:20:11,550 --> 01:20:14,150
Speaker 2: everyone else. So yeah, it doesn't look, it's not just

1382
01:20:14,170 --> 01:20:16,530
Speaker 2: like old man makeup or anything like that. It is

1383
01:20:16,570 --> 01:20:20,250
Speaker 2: this kind of subtle withered appearance that is just quite effective.

1384
01:20:21,100 --> 01:20:23,950
Speaker 3: So he does not introduce himself. He opens with a question.

1385
01:20:23,970 --> 01:20:27,470
Speaker 3: He says, you break your season's camp, Professor Pearson. Your

1386
01:20:27,530 --> 01:20:31,570
Speaker 3: colleagues have returned to London. So it seems like Pearson

1387
01:20:31,729 --> 01:20:35,970
Speaker 3: and Frank Wimple are left here alone. And they talk

1388
01:20:36,010 --> 01:20:39,150
Speaker 3: about how the expedition has largely been a failure. And

1389
01:20:39,250 --> 01:20:42,269
Speaker 3: Karloff offers them help. He says, permit me to present

1390
01:20:42,350 --> 01:20:46,220
Speaker 3: you with the most sensational find since that of Tutankhamen.

1391
01:20:47,120 --> 01:20:49,639
Speaker 3: and he hands them a broken piece of pottery, telling

1392
01:20:49,700 --> 01:20:52,640
Speaker 3: them it is part of the funerary equipment of the

1393
01:20:52,720 --> 01:20:56,310
Speaker 3: princess Anksanaman. He says it was found less than a

1394
01:20:56,370 --> 01:21:00,229
Speaker 3: hundred yards from where they stand, implying her tomb is

1395
01:21:00,310 --> 01:21:04,450
Speaker 3: underneath or nearby. If true, this would be an amazing discovery,

1396
01:21:05,229 --> 01:21:07,080
Speaker 3: but they want to know why would he simply give

1397
01:21:07,120 --> 01:21:11,519
Speaker 3: this information away to men he doesn't know? And Karloff

1398
01:21:11,580 --> 01:21:15,540
Speaker 3: explains with a little bit of venom in saying this.

1399
01:21:15,580 --> 01:21:19,110
Speaker 3: He says, We Egyptians are not permitted to dig up

1400
01:21:19,189 --> 01:21:22,610
Speaker 3: our ancient dead, only foreign museums.

1401
01:21:23,400 --> 01:21:25,780
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is as close as we get to any

1402
01:21:25,880 --> 01:21:29,320
Speaker 2: biting anti-colonialism sentiment in this film, or what we would

1403
01:21:29,340 --> 01:21:32,280
Speaker 2: think of as such today. But given the time, it

1404
01:21:32,320 --> 01:21:37,389
Speaker 2: feels weirdly daring. Mild by today's standards, but again, for

1405
01:21:37,410 --> 01:21:38,790
Speaker 2: the time, it feels a little cutting.

1406
01:21:39,229 --> 01:21:43,550
Speaker 3: I mean, it's very understated, but there is also something

1407
01:21:43,590 --> 01:21:47,140
Speaker 3: behind it. It kind of hits you. And so they

1408
01:21:47,280 --> 01:21:49,700
Speaker 3: ask Karloff his name and he tells them he is

1409
01:21:49,939 --> 01:21:56,460
Speaker 3: Ardath Bey. Just notes on Karloff's performance as this character.

1410
01:21:56,479 --> 01:22:05,110
Speaker 3: He is cold, observant, intelligent, very conservative with body movements.

1411
01:22:05,229 --> 01:22:08,870
Speaker 3: Like he both speaks and moves very slowly, but with

1412
01:22:08,930 --> 01:22:10,849
Speaker 3: great confidence and force.

1413
01:22:11,550 --> 01:22:14,870
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Very much the sense of a man... patiently

1414
01:22:14,990 --> 01:22:15,990
Speaker 2: executing a plan.

1415
01:22:16,470 --> 01:22:20,479
Speaker 3: Yeah. So Ardoth Bay leads the men out into the desert,

1416
01:22:20,560 --> 01:22:23,080
Speaker 3: and he shows them the site of the hidden tomb.

1417
01:22:23,160 --> 01:22:25,939
Speaker 3: He points at it with this slender wooden cane, almost

1418
01:22:25,979 --> 01:22:30,080
Speaker 3: like a magician's staff. And Frank and Pearson call their

1419
01:22:30,120 --> 01:22:32,380
Speaker 3: workers in, they dig up the site, and it is

1420
01:22:32,460 --> 01:22:35,600
Speaker 3: indeed the burial place of the princess. They find the

1421
01:22:35,620 --> 01:22:37,980
Speaker 3: door is still sealed, so no one has set foot

1422
01:22:38,020 --> 01:22:50,860
Speaker 3: inside for 3,700 years. It's like another Tutankhamun's tomb. Then

1423
01:22:50,900 --> 01:22:54,160
Speaker 3: we get exposition via headlines. Uh, the newspapers tell us

1424
01:22:54,220 --> 01:22:57,320
Speaker 3: that Sir Joseph Wimple has come back from England to

1425
01:22:57,400 --> 01:23:00,479
Speaker 3: supervise the transfer of the artifacts, uh, from the tomb

1426
01:23:00,850 --> 01:23:03,870
Speaker 3: to a special exhibit in the Cairo museum. So these

1427
01:23:03,910 --> 01:23:06,750
Speaker 3: are not being taken back to, to England. They're, they're

1428
01:23:06,790 --> 01:23:08,150
Speaker 3: staying here in the Cairo museum.

1429
01:23:08,630 --> 01:23:11,490
Speaker 2: So all the action in this film takes place is

1430
01:23:11,930 --> 01:23:14,350
Speaker 2: in Egypt, uh, which I think is, is notable. And

1431
01:23:14,370 --> 01:23:17,630
Speaker 2: it's one way that's different, uh, from certainly Dracula, where

1432
01:23:17,670 --> 01:23:20,890
Speaker 2: the action goes back to London. Like here, everything is

1433
01:23:20,950 --> 01:23:21,350
Speaker 2: in Egypt.

1434
01:23:22,050 --> 01:23:25,590
Speaker 3: So in the museum, late in the evening, we now

1435
01:23:25,670 --> 01:23:29,490
Speaker 3: find Ardath Bey alone, looming over the glass case that

1436
01:23:29,550 --> 01:23:34,290
Speaker 3: covers the sarcophagus of Anxanamen. He does not speak, but

1437
01:23:34,350 --> 01:23:38,150
Speaker 3: he gazes down at her shrouded skeletal body with this

1438
01:23:40,660 --> 01:23:43,200
Speaker 3: interesting look on his face, kind of a mixture of

1439
01:23:43,439 --> 01:23:44,700
Speaker 3: anger and melancholy.

1440
01:23:45,910 --> 01:23:49,010
Speaker 2: I am, uh, I am afraid to, to admit that

1441
01:23:49,130 --> 01:23:51,490
Speaker 2: I did think that the sarcophagus of Ankes and Amund

1442
01:23:51,510 --> 01:23:52,889
Speaker 2: looked a little bit like Marge Simpson.

1443
01:23:53,010 --> 01:23:53,590
Speaker 3: It does.

1444
01:23:54,430 --> 01:23:57,450
Speaker 2: But again, that's probably says more about me. And Marge

1445
01:23:57,470 --> 01:23:59,910
Speaker 2: Simpson did not exist yet when this was, uh, this

1446
01:23:59,950 --> 01:24:03,910
Speaker 2: prop was created. So, uh, but it did amuse me personally.

1447
01:24:04,229 --> 01:24:07,530
Speaker 3: It does. Yeah. But then there is like a wipe

1448
01:24:07,729 --> 01:24:10,889
Speaker 3: from this sarcophagus that takes us straight to the face

1449
01:24:10,970 --> 01:24:13,010
Speaker 3: of our other main character, Helen Grosvenor.

1450
01:24:13,520 --> 01:24:15,140
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, this is a really cool wipe. It's like

1451
01:24:15,260 --> 01:24:20,820
Speaker 2: goes across seemingly like the Cairo skyline. It's like spinning. Yeah,

1452
01:24:20,840 --> 01:24:22,840
Speaker 2: really neat effect. You know, certainly you can see some

1453
01:24:22,880 --> 01:24:23,589
Speaker 2: trendsetting here.

1454
01:24:24,090 --> 01:24:26,950
Speaker 3: So Helen, when we first see her, is sitting on

1455
01:24:26,970 --> 01:24:30,170
Speaker 3: the balcony wall at the edge of a ballroom where

1456
01:24:30,189 --> 01:24:33,030
Speaker 3: a bunch of fancy British people are dancing in some

1457
01:24:33,070 --> 01:24:37,689
Speaker 3: kind of, you know, party, fancy party. This would not

1458
01:24:37,729 --> 01:24:39,830
Speaker 3: have been a reference point at the time, of course,

1459
01:24:39,950 --> 01:24:42,930
Speaker 3: but having been in high school in the 2000s, I

1460
01:24:42,970 --> 01:24:46,490
Speaker 3: looked at this shot and could not help but see

1461
01:24:46,760 --> 01:24:50,800
Speaker 3: sarcastic goth at a high school dance. She's got the

1462
01:24:50,840 --> 01:24:55,060
Speaker 3: dark eye makeup, dressed differently than everybody else, and looks

1463
01:24:55,180 --> 01:24:59,160
Speaker 3: as though she has thorough disdain for her peers. It's

1464
01:24:59,220 --> 01:25:02,360
Speaker 3: like all these jocks and cheerleaders, they make me want

1465
01:25:02,380 --> 01:25:02,639
Speaker 3: to puke.

1466
01:25:03,630 --> 01:25:06,070
Speaker 2: So almost kind of a Winona Ryder sort of role.

1467
01:25:06,210 --> 01:25:07,150
Speaker 3: A little bit, yeah.

1468
01:25:07,310 --> 01:25:10,870
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's a great read, and one that

1469
01:25:10,930 --> 01:25:14,229
Speaker 2: I think gets more interesting when the reincarnation angle comes

1470
01:25:14,450 --> 01:25:17,340
Speaker 2: fully into play. Someone out of place, out of time.

1471
01:25:17,780 --> 01:25:21,479
Speaker 3: Now, I admit that the sarcastic goth is not exactly

1472
01:25:21,540 --> 01:25:24,019
Speaker 3: her character once she starts speaking. She's a little bit

1473
01:25:24,080 --> 01:25:28,240
Speaker 3: more go-with-the-flow than that, but there is something about her, yeah,

1474
01:25:29,020 --> 01:25:32,370
Speaker 3: that is other, that is kind of alienated and that

1475
01:25:32,410 --> 01:25:36,750
Speaker 3: is certainly, she just has weird energy. And, uh, also

1476
01:25:36,890 --> 01:25:39,210
Speaker 3: we see from her point of view when she's out

1477
01:25:39,229 --> 01:25:42,559
Speaker 3: there on the balcony and she's wherever this like ballroom is,

1478
01:25:42,590 --> 01:25:45,950
Speaker 3: she's looking out at the pyramids in the dark. So

1479
01:25:45,990 --> 01:25:48,100
Speaker 3: I was just thinking like, wait, shouldn't more people be

1480
01:25:48,140 --> 01:25:50,240
Speaker 3: taking in this view instead of just dancing?

1481
01:25:50,700 --> 01:25:52,820
Speaker 2: I guess that's the thing. Like the people dancing inside

1482
01:25:52,860 --> 01:25:55,100
Speaker 2: or some of the, um, you know, the, um, the

1483
01:25:55,140 --> 01:25:58,500
Speaker 2: colonial elite who are not as interested as they should

1484
01:25:58,540 --> 01:26:00,729
Speaker 2: be in like the legitimate treasures of the land.

1485
01:26:01,010 --> 01:26:01,200
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1486
01:26:01,720 --> 01:26:05,280
Speaker 3: So Helen is approached by our old friend, Professor Mueller,

1487
01:26:05,660 --> 01:26:09,270
Speaker 3: the man who demurred from taking part in mummy-related blasphemies

1488
01:26:09,270 --> 01:26:13,890
Speaker 3: 10 years ago. And they speak. Helen reveals that she

1489
01:26:13,930 --> 01:26:19,350
Speaker 3: has a distaste for what she calls this horrible modern Cairo.

1490
01:26:20,670 --> 01:26:23,299
Speaker 3: You could maybe take that different ways. I mean, one

1491
01:26:23,400 --> 01:26:25,880
Speaker 3: way could just be that she doesn't like the modern world,

1492
01:26:25,920 --> 01:26:28,400
Speaker 3: but you could also read that as she does not

1493
01:26:28,479 --> 01:26:32,959
Speaker 3: like British-occupied Cairo anymore. Which at this point in history,

1494
01:26:33,300 --> 01:26:39,010
Speaker 3: Egypt was nominally a sovereign country. But my understanding is

1495
01:26:39,050 --> 01:26:41,910
Speaker 3: that a lot of the vestiges of the British protectorate

1496
01:26:41,950 --> 01:26:45,210
Speaker 3: still remain. So it was in many ways still de

1497
01:26:45,270 --> 01:26:51,280
Speaker 3: facto British occupied. And so I think she certainly does

1498
01:26:51,340 --> 01:26:54,660
Speaker 3: not seem to be a fan of that world. And

1499
01:26:54,760 --> 01:26:57,179
Speaker 3: Helen says she feels at home in what she calls

1500
01:26:57,400 --> 01:27:01,450
Speaker 3: the real Egypt. the Egypt of old with the pyramids

1501
01:27:01,510 --> 01:27:05,080
Speaker 3: and the Sphinx and the great ruins. It also here

1502
01:27:05,140 --> 01:27:08,940
Speaker 3: says that Helen is a patient of Mueller. So is

1503
01:27:08,979 --> 01:27:11,479
Speaker 3: he a physician of some kind? Is he supposed to

1504
01:27:11,500 --> 01:27:12,019
Speaker 3: be a doctor?

1505
01:27:12,040 --> 01:27:15,020
Speaker 2: I thought he was an Egyptologist and possible a cultist.

1506
01:27:15,100 --> 01:27:17,500
Speaker 2: But I guess we're in an era where any man

1507
01:27:17,520 --> 01:27:20,769
Speaker 2: with a doctorate of any sort can still make a

1508
01:27:20,810 --> 01:27:22,350
Speaker 2: woman have a sherry and then tell her to go

1509
01:27:22,390 --> 01:27:26,730
Speaker 2: to bed. Otherwise, I can't make any sense of it.

1510
01:27:26,979 --> 01:27:29,560
Speaker 3: Maybe he practices ancient Egyptian healing rights.

1511
01:27:30,040 --> 01:27:31,540
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, maybe so that would work.

1512
01:27:31,580 --> 01:27:31,720
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1513
01:27:32,439 --> 01:27:35,479
Speaker 3: Whatever he is, they have a warm relationship. Uh, Helen

1514
01:27:35,560 --> 01:27:39,920
Speaker 3: is currently staying at Mueller's family, uh, residence in Cairo, uh,

1515
01:27:40,740 --> 01:27:43,310
Speaker 3: because she does not want to stay with her own family.

1516
01:27:43,430 --> 01:27:47,450
Speaker 3: We learned that her father is the British governor of Sudan.

1517
01:27:48,189 --> 01:27:50,929
Speaker 3: And then we learned from some gossip around the room

1518
01:27:51,010 --> 01:27:53,860
Speaker 3: that her father is English. Her mother is Egyptian and,

1519
01:27:54,510 --> 01:27:57,170
Speaker 3: And we also get to hear gossip about Dr. Mueller's

1520
01:27:57,370 --> 01:28:02,689
Speaker 3: unwholesome interest in ancient magic and the occult. In the

1521
01:28:02,729 --> 01:28:08,090
Speaker 3: following scenes, the elder Wimple has a courteous but strange

1522
01:28:08,170 --> 01:28:11,490
Speaker 3: meeting with Ardoth Bay at the Cairo Museum in the

1523
01:28:11,590 --> 01:28:16,269
Speaker 3: Anxanamen exhibit. Wimple thanks Ardoth Bay for his help in

1524
01:28:16,330 --> 01:28:21,370
Speaker 3: locating the tomb. And then Ardoth Bay displays odd behavior,

1525
01:28:21,430 --> 01:28:25,979
Speaker 3: such as recoiling from a handshake and generally remaining frosty.

1526
01:28:26,000 --> 01:28:31,580
Speaker 3: Then later that night, after the museum is closed, the

1527
01:28:31,620 --> 01:28:35,510
Speaker 3: camera explores the dark exhibit hall again. And now we

1528
01:28:35,570 --> 01:28:39,240
Speaker 3: find Ardath Bay having crept in after hours. He is

1529
01:28:39,340 --> 01:28:42,540
Speaker 3: kneeling beside the coffin of the princess and he has

1530
01:28:42,600 --> 01:28:45,849
Speaker 3: with him the scroll of Thoth that we saw earlier.

1531
01:28:45,860 --> 01:28:49,670
Speaker 3: It's unfurled. It is illuminated by a flame from a

1532
01:28:49,729 --> 01:28:53,790
Speaker 3: small lamp. And we see this pitiable yearning in his

1533
01:28:54,030 --> 01:28:57,310
Speaker 3: eyes in a reverse shot. And this scene of him

1534
01:28:57,439 --> 01:29:00,680
Speaker 3: reading from the scroll is intercut with scenes of Helen

1535
01:29:00,720 --> 01:29:04,640
Speaker 3: Grosvenor dancing with random handsome young men at the party

1536
01:29:04,680 --> 01:29:08,750
Speaker 3: across town. Uh, so the music of the ballroom bleeds

1537
01:29:08,910 --> 01:29:12,830
Speaker 3: over into shots of Karloff reading her name, Anks and Amun,

1538
01:29:13,070 --> 01:29:13,870
Speaker 3: Anks and Amun.

1539
01:29:14,689 --> 01:29:17,150
Speaker 2: I really love this scene. Again, it's a great use

1540
01:29:17,210 --> 01:29:21,100
Speaker 2: of light and shadow here. And there's a haunting loneliness to, uh,

1541
01:29:22,050 --> 01:29:24,769
Speaker 2: to his ritual, you know, carrying it out, not in

1542
01:29:24,810 --> 01:29:28,269
Speaker 2: a secret layer of eldritch power, but in the shadows

1543
01:29:28,330 --> 01:29:32,370
Speaker 2: of a reassembled sacred chamber in a museum. So again,

1544
01:29:32,390 --> 01:29:34,610
Speaker 2: he's not trying to take over the world. His aim

1545
01:29:34,689 --> 01:29:38,260
Speaker 2: is much humbler than that. And in many ways, relatable,

1546
01:29:38,300 --> 01:29:45,140
Speaker 2: like he is trying to make this ancient romantic connection. Again,

1547
01:29:45,200 --> 01:29:47,720
Speaker 2: he is trying to reconnect with the woman that he

1548
01:29:47,820 --> 01:29:48,599
Speaker 2: died loving.

1549
01:29:49,590 --> 01:29:53,590
Speaker 3: So suddenly on the dance floor, Helen stops moving with

1550
01:29:53,610 --> 01:29:57,220
Speaker 3: the music. She freezes and a grave look comes over

1551
01:29:57,270 --> 01:29:59,460
Speaker 3: her face. And then as if in a trance, she

1552
01:29:59,560 --> 01:30:02,580
Speaker 3: wanders away from her dancing partner and she goes straight

1553
01:30:02,620 --> 01:30:04,700
Speaker 3: for the exit. She like stops at the coat check

1554
01:30:04,740 --> 01:30:06,820
Speaker 3: to get her stuff. And then she gets in the car,

1555
01:30:07,260 --> 01:30:09,880
Speaker 3: tells the driver to take her to the Museum of Antiquities.

1556
01:30:11,070 --> 01:30:14,179
Speaker 3: And then in the car on the way there with

1557
01:30:14,220 --> 01:30:17,740
Speaker 3: these spaced out eyes, she starts whispering the same words

1558
01:30:18,200 --> 01:30:21,220
Speaker 3: Imhotep was saying in the museum. But she says his name.

1559
01:30:21,300 --> 01:30:26,059
Speaker 3: She says Imhotep. Her car arrives at the museum just

1560
01:30:26,140 --> 01:30:29,400
Speaker 3: as Frank Wimple and his father are leaving. They watch

1561
01:30:29,479 --> 01:30:31,850
Speaker 3: as she like stumbles up to the main entrance in

1562
01:30:31,890 --> 01:30:34,010
Speaker 3: a daze and is banging on the door trying to

1563
01:30:34,050 --> 01:30:37,410
Speaker 3: get in. Frank goes to help her. He tells her

1564
01:30:37,450 --> 01:30:39,970
Speaker 3: the museum is closed for the night. And then she

1565
01:30:40,010 --> 01:30:42,849
Speaker 3: just falls unconscious on the ground. So the Wimples take

1566
01:30:42,890 --> 01:30:44,969
Speaker 3: her back home and they lay her out on the couch.

1567
01:30:45,910 --> 01:30:50,189
Speaker 3: Wimples Sr. recognizes the language that she is speaking in

1568
01:30:50,229 --> 01:30:55,700
Speaker 3: her trance. He realizes that she is speaking ancient Egyptian

1569
01:30:55,920 --> 01:31:00,099
Speaker 3: and saying Imhotep, quote, the name of a man unspoken

1570
01:31:00,200 --> 01:31:04,580
Speaker 3: since before the siege of Troy. There's also a scene

1571
01:31:05,140 --> 01:31:08,300
Speaker 3: right around here of a night watchman at the museum

1572
01:31:08,340 --> 01:31:12,850
Speaker 3: who catches Imhotep conducting this ritual. So the guard sees

1573
01:31:12,890 --> 01:31:15,810
Speaker 3: him and Imhotep tries to flee. The guard chases him

1574
01:31:15,890 --> 01:31:19,510
Speaker 3: off screen, but then the guard screams. We don't know

1575
01:31:19,530 --> 01:31:20,290
Speaker 3: what happened to him.

1576
01:31:20,890 --> 01:31:23,750
Speaker 2: Yeah, again, great use of light and darkness here with

1577
01:31:24,390 --> 01:31:29,150
Speaker 2: Imhotep putting out his lantern and then causing everything to

1578
01:31:29,189 --> 01:31:29,740
Speaker 2: go dark.

1579
01:31:29,880 --> 01:31:33,360
Speaker 3: Wonderful. So the characters here, this is a scene where

1580
01:31:33,380 --> 01:31:37,560
Speaker 3: there's a dawning awareness of what's going on. Wimple Sr.

1581
01:31:39,060 --> 01:31:41,900
Speaker 3: is greeted by Dr. Mueller, who arrives at his house,

1582
01:31:42,360 --> 01:31:45,840
Speaker 3: and they discuss what they overheard. They talk about the

1583
01:31:45,920 --> 01:31:50,019
Speaker 3: dread significance of the name of Imhotep, the mummy that vanished.

1584
01:31:50,050 --> 01:31:53,700
Speaker 3: They recognize that that was the name of the mummy. Now,

1585
01:31:53,800 --> 01:31:57,060
Speaker 3: at this point, Wimple Sr. thinks that the mummy was stolen.

1586
01:31:57,340 --> 01:31:59,400
Speaker 3: But of course, you know, the guy who went insane

1587
01:31:59,439 --> 01:32:03,639
Speaker 3: was like, yeah, he went for a walk. Meanwhile, Frank

1588
01:32:03,900 --> 01:32:07,870
Speaker 3: hangs out with Helen, who's like recovering on the couch.

1589
01:32:08,430 --> 01:32:11,250
Speaker 3: She's trying to figure out what happened. She's like, I fainted.

1590
01:32:11,330 --> 01:32:13,670
Speaker 3: Where was I again? But then suddenly she doesn't want

1591
01:32:13,689 --> 01:32:16,970
Speaker 3: to talk about it. And they end up discussing his

1592
01:32:17,189 --> 01:32:21,110
Speaker 3: unearthing of the tomb of Anksanaman. He explains that she

1593
01:32:21,150 --> 01:32:23,770
Speaker 3: was buried with all of the things she used in life,

1594
01:32:23,830 --> 01:32:28,089
Speaker 3: her clothes, her jewelry, her toilet things, he says. And

1595
01:32:28,130 --> 01:32:31,270
Speaker 3: then he starts to talk about something that happened when

1596
01:32:31,310 --> 01:32:35,070
Speaker 3: he began to unwrap her. But Helen interrupts at this

1597
01:32:35,110 --> 01:32:38,380
Speaker 3: as she says, how could you do that? And he says,

1598
01:32:38,400 --> 01:32:43,120
Speaker 3: had to. Science, you know. That's not a good explanation, though.

1599
01:32:44,460 --> 01:32:48,580
Speaker 3: But then he goes on to explain how when they

1600
01:32:48,620 --> 01:32:52,979
Speaker 3: finally unwrapped her, He saw her face and he says,

1601
01:32:53,400 --> 01:32:55,870
Speaker 3: you'll think me silly, but I sort of fell in

1602
01:32:55,910 --> 01:32:58,150
Speaker 3: love with her. And then I was like, wait, was

1603
01:32:58,189 --> 01:32:58,910
Speaker 3: that science?

1604
01:33:00,590 --> 01:33:04,890
Speaker 2: Well, it seems neither science nor magic, right? Because there's

1605
01:33:04,930 --> 01:33:08,450
Speaker 2: no at least established connection that he has to these

1606
01:33:08,530 --> 01:33:12,000
Speaker 2: reincarnated souls and so forth. But yeah, he's like, oh yeah,

1607
01:33:12,040 --> 01:33:14,060
Speaker 2: I saw this mummy and I was like, she's a

1608
01:33:14,060 --> 01:33:16,460
Speaker 2: little hot and you kind of look like her. It's

1609
01:33:16,580 --> 01:33:19,030
Speaker 2: maybe at the Maybe it's just a weird line he's

1610
01:33:19,050 --> 01:33:19,610
Speaker 2: been trying.

1611
01:33:19,670 --> 01:33:22,590
Speaker 3: I don't know. Yeah. She mocks him saying, do you

1612
01:33:22,610 --> 01:33:25,030
Speaker 3: always have to open graves to find girls to fall

1613
01:33:25,070 --> 01:33:28,330
Speaker 3: in love with? It's pretty good. Yeah. But he's like,

1614
01:33:28,350 --> 01:33:30,910
Speaker 3: you know, you really do look like that mummy. You

1615
01:33:31,150 --> 01:33:34,020
Speaker 3: look like that beautiful mummy that I loved. So we

1616
01:33:34,060 --> 01:33:36,660
Speaker 3: can see where this is going. There is somehow this

1617
01:33:36,720 --> 01:33:41,420
Speaker 3: striking resemblance between Helen Grosvenor and this skeletal mummified remains

1618
01:33:41,479 --> 01:33:44,850
Speaker 3: of a princess from 3700 years ago. And we also

1619
01:33:44,870 --> 01:33:47,410
Speaker 3: see that Helen and Frank are going to fall in love,

1620
01:33:47,490 --> 01:33:52,930
Speaker 3: and they will. So meanwhile, Mueller and Wimple Sr., they

1621
01:33:52,970 --> 01:33:55,150
Speaker 3: have to dash off to the museum because they get

1622
01:33:55,189 --> 01:33:57,670
Speaker 3: a telephone call about the night watchman who was killed

1623
01:33:57,729 --> 01:34:01,250
Speaker 3: on his rounds. It seems he died of fright, though

1624
01:34:01,270 --> 01:34:03,770
Speaker 3: I don't know how the other museum guards who were

1625
01:34:03,790 --> 01:34:06,639
Speaker 3: standing around have established this, that that was the cause

1626
01:34:06,660 --> 01:34:10,820
Speaker 3: of death. But in the dead man's hand, they found

1627
01:34:10,840 --> 01:34:15,240
Speaker 3: a scroll. What is it? The learned men look at

1628
01:34:15,280 --> 01:34:18,019
Speaker 3: it and they discover it is the scroll of Thoth.

1629
01:34:18,920 --> 01:34:21,140
Speaker 3: So they head back home with the scroll where they

1630
01:34:21,180 --> 01:34:23,860
Speaker 3: find Helen and Frank kissing on the couch now. Well,

1631
01:34:23,880 --> 01:34:26,440
Speaker 3: that escalated fast. Yeah, yeah.

1632
01:34:26,600 --> 01:34:29,099
Speaker 2: And actual kissing, right? I mean, we get to see

1633
01:34:29,160 --> 01:34:30,230
Speaker 2: it and everything. Yeah.

1634
01:34:30,320 --> 01:34:33,950
Speaker 3: And this is the scene somewhere around here where she's like, oh,

1635
01:34:34,050 --> 01:34:37,170
Speaker 3: I don't know. Should I be okay with a strange

1636
01:34:37,229 --> 01:34:41,830
Speaker 3: man making love to me? Yeah, yeah. But Wimple is

1637
01:34:41,890 --> 01:34:45,580
Speaker 3: heartbroken when he sees this because he says quietly to Mueller,

1638
01:34:45,620 --> 01:34:48,800
Speaker 3: he says, the curse has struck her and now through her,

1639
01:34:48,820 --> 01:34:52,180
Speaker 3: it will strike my son. Things are about to get

1640
01:34:52,240 --> 01:34:55,479
Speaker 3: worse from here. Helen falls asleep on the couch and

1641
01:34:55,560 --> 01:34:57,790
Speaker 3: the three men retired to the study to talk about

1642
01:34:57,810 --> 01:35:01,510
Speaker 3: what's going on. So they talk about, does Wimple still

1643
01:35:01,550 --> 01:35:04,410
Speaker 3: believe the mummy of Imhotep was stolen? He's not so

1644
01:35:04,470 --> 01:35:08,060
Speaker 3: sure anymore. Uh, Frank suggests, well, you know, if this

1645
01:35:08,100 --> 01:35:10,340
Speaker 3: scroll is so full of devilry, why don't we just

1646
01:35:10,500 --> 01:35:13,340
Speaker 3: burn it? And Mueller says that might not be a

1647
01:35:13,360 --> 01:35:15,939
Speaker 3: bad idea. I think we should just burn it. But

1648
01:35:16,100 --> 01:35:19,290
Speaker 3: before they can do that, uh, Imhotep, who they still

1649
01:35:19,330 --> 01:35:22,170
Speaker 3: know as Ardoth Bay arrives at the front door. Uh,

1650
01:35:23,710 --> 01:35:27,170
Speaker 3: now when he arrives at the door using his sorcery,

1651
01:35:27,350 --> 01:35:32,010
Speaker 3: Imhotep hypnotizes the Nubian manservant who opens the door and

1652
01:35:32,130 --> 01:35:36,200
Speaker 3: forces him thereafter to obey his commands. So now he

1653
01:35:36,240 --> 01:35:39,340
Speaker 3: has someone to do his bidding here on Earth. And

1654
01:35:39,380 --> 01:35:42,379
Speaker 3: then he steps into the room while Helen is asleep.

1655
01:35:42,900 --> 01:35:46,080
Speaker 3: He sees her on the couch and he is seized

1656
01:35:46,160 --> 01:35:49,620
Speaker 3: with recognition. He's like, oh, what could it be? He

1657
01:35:49,700 --> 01:35:54,450
Speaker 3: creeps closer to her. She wakes up and they introduce themselves.

1658
01:35:55,290 --> 01:35:59,350
Speaker 3: And he says, have we not met before, Miss Grosvenor?

1659
01:36:00,250 --> 01:36:02,470
Speaker 3: She says, no, I don't think so. I don't think

1660
01:36:02,530 --> 01:36:06,330
Speaker 3: I would forget. One would forget meeting you, Ardathbae. He

1661
01:36:06,410 --> 01:36:09,250
Speaker 3: asks her if she's Egyptian. She says her mother was.

1662
01:36:10,430 --> 01:36:12,840
Speaker 3: And then the three men come out of the room

1663
01:36:12,900 --> 01:36:15,680
Speaker 3: and find these two with their faces like eight inches

1664
01:36:15,760 --> 01:36:19,260
Speaker 3: apart staring into each other's eyes. So they're having an

1665
01:36:19,340 --> 01:36:24,560
Speaker 3: intense meeting of the minds here or something. And we

1666
01:36:24,620 --> 01:36:27,710
Speaker 3: see his face. His eyes are shot in such a

1667
01:36:27,770 --> 01:36:30,849
Speaker 3: way that much of his face is in shadow, but

1668
01:36:30,870 --> 01:36:32,170
Speaker 3: his eyes seem to glow.

1669
01:36:32,790 --> 01:36:36,610
Speaker 2: Again, the perfection of that effect that was first utilized

1670
01:36:36,670 --> 01:36:39,330
Speaker 2: in Dracula, or at least was utilized previously in Dracula.

1671
01:36:39,630 --> 01:36:42,559
Speaker 3: Yeah. Helen does not want to leave his company at

1672
01:36:42,600 --> 01:36:45,519
Speaker 3: this point. She is entranced by Ardoth Bay, but the

1673
01:36:45,540 --> 01:36:48,820
Speaker 3: guys force her to depart. She promises she will see

1674
01:36:48,860 --> 01:36:51,900
Speaker 3: him again, and he says he will be honored. So

1675
01:36:53,640 --> 01:37:05,480
Speaker 3: the link is now established here. Now, after Helen leaves

1676
01:37:05,520 --> 01:37:09,889
Speaker 3: with Frank, there is some intellectual sparring between Mueller and

1677
01:37:10,060 --> 01:37:14,570
Speaker 3: Wimple and Imhotep. They're asking him questions about how he

1678
01:37:14,650 --> 01:37:18,790
Speaker 3: found the location of Oxenamen's tomb. They're trying to trap

1679
01:37:18,850 --> 01:37:22,010
Speaker 3: him in inconsistencies in his story or sort of trip

1680
01:37:22,050 --> 01:37:24,750
Speaker 3: him up in recognition of the scroll found at the

1681
01:37:24,770 --> 01:37:27,990
Speaker 3: scene of the murder. Imhotep talks his way out of this.

1682
01:37:28,770 --> 01:37:32,030
Speaker 3: It reminds me of some similar verbal sparring scenes in

1683
01:37:32,070 --> 01:37:35,350
Speaker 3: the Universal Dracula, like the scene where Van Helsing uses

1684
01:37:35,439 --> 01:37:41,220
Speaker 3: the mirrored tobacco case to trick the vampire, showing his

1685
01:37:41,300 --> 01:37:45,379
Speaker 3: lack of reflection. Much like in that scene, eventually Imhotep

1686
01:37:45,400 --> 01:37:48,150
Speaker 3: kind of loses his cool and he drops the facade.

1687
01:37:48,790 --> 01:37:51,670
Speaker 3: He says, the scroll is my property and it is

1688
01:37:51,830 --> 01:37:55,310
Speaker 3: in this house. And he points to Wimple Senior and

1689
01:37:55,350 --> 01:37:57,969
Speaker 3: starts to speak the words of a spell, but Mueller

1690
01:37:58,070 --> 01:38:01,310
Speaker 3: interrupts him somehow. He says, we have foreseen this. The

1691
01:38:01,350 --> 01:38:03,780
Speaker 3: scroll is in safe hands and it will be destroyed

1692
01:38:03,840 --> 01:38:05,820
Speaker 3: the minute it has learned that you have harmed us.

1693
01:38:06,020 --> 01:38:08,380
Speaker 3: This is a bluff, by the way. They've just got

1694
01:38:08,400 --> 01:38:11,920
Speaker 3: it in the other room, but it works. Imhotep says,

1695
01:38:12,800 --> 01:38:15,280
Speaker 3: you have studied our ancient arts and you know that

1696
01:38:15,320 --> 01:38:18,360
Speaker 3: you cannot harm me. You also know that you must

1697
01:38:18,460 --> 01:38:22,689
Speaker 3: return that scroll to me or die. So they're at

1698
01:38:22,710 --> 01:38:27,340
Speaker 3: an impasse and Imhotep leaves calmly walking out the front door. Uh,

1699
01:38:28,140 --> 01:38:30,760
Speaker 3: I love this scene. There's something hair raising about it

1700
01:38:30,820 --> 01:38:33,019
Speaker 3: the way that it, you know, it doesn't come to

1701
01:38:33,120 --> 01:38:36,760
Speaker 3: any kind of violence, but the thread is like overwhelmingly

1702
01:38:36,800 --> 01:38:41,349
Speaker 3: in the air. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, so the next thing

1703
01:38:41,430 --> 01:38:45,050
Speaker 3: we get to see is the curse murder of Wimple senior. So, uh,

1704
01:38:45,890 --> 01:38:48,590
Speaker 3: Imhotep is at home in his quarters, uh, where there

1705
01:38:48,630 --> 01:38:51,340
Speaker 3: is this pool of water in which he can watch

1706
01:38:51,460 --> 01:38:54,780
Speaker 3: events far away in space or time. This kind of

1707
01:38:55,220 --> 01:38:58,840
Speaker 3: a misty pool. Later, we'll see the same pool used

1708
01:38:58,920 --> 01:39:01,729
Speaker 3: to show things that happened long ago in Egypt.

1709
01:39:02,390 --> 01:39:04,970
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. At this point, it's not really introduced with

1710
01:39:05,130 --> 01:39:07,729
Speaker 2: much fanfare, but it will definitely get its moment to

1711
01:39:07,790 --> 01:39:08,349
Speaker 2: shine here in.

1712
01:39:08,310 --> 01:39:11,110
Speaker 3: Just a little bit. Now, in the pool, he watches

1713
01:39:11,150 --> 01:39:14,100
Speaker 3: Wimple Sr. take the scroll to the fireplace to burn it.

1714
01:39:14,640 --> 01:39:18,100
Speaker 3: But before he can do this, Imhotep inflicts his death curse.

1715
01:39:18,160 --> 01:39:21,170
Speaker 3: He says a spell and points at the image of Wimple.

1716
01:39:21,710 --> 01:39:23,950
Speaker 3: And then we see Wimple clutching at his chest as

1717
01:39:23,990 --> 01:39:28,640
Speaker 3: his heart seizes. And then after this, the hypnotized manservant

1718
01:39:28,700 --> 01:39:32,260
Speaker 3: of Wimple's house enters the study. He takes the scroll.

1719
01:39:32,360 --> 01:39:35,350
Speaker 3: And then as this decoy tactic, it's pretty clever. He

1720
01:39:35,370 --> 01:39:39,150
Speaker 3: takes papers from Wimple's desk and burns them in the fireplace.

1721
01:39:39,689 --> 01:39:43,550
Speaker 3: And the trick initially works. Mueller thinks that when they

1722
01:39:43,590 --> 01:39:46,210
Speaker 3: come on the scene later, he thinks that the scroll

1723
01:39:46,250 --> 01:39:49,150
Speaker 3: has been burned. And he says to Frank, your father

1724
01:39:49,210 --> 01:39:54,189
Speaker 3: destroyed the scroll knowing that it would cost him his life. Now,

1725
01:39:54,350 --> 01:39:59,560
Speaker 3: in the following scene, a MacGuffin is revealed. Mueller shows

1726
01:39:59,620 --> 01:40:02,780
Speaker 3: Frank a pendant necklace bearing the image of Isis, the

1727
01:40:02,820 --> 01:40:06,330
Speaker 3: goddess Isis. which he says is the Egyptian symbol of life.

1728
01:40:06,830 --> 01:40:09,970
Speaker 3: And he was going to give it to Frank's father,

1729
01:40:10,710 --> 01:40:13,599
Speaker 3: presumably as a protection against curses like the one that

1730
01:40:13,640 --> 01:40:17,380
Speaker 3: killed him, but he arrived too late. So he couldn't

1731
01:40:17,420 --> 01:40:20,140
Speaker 3: protect Wimple Sr., but he's going to try to give

1732
01:40:20,200 --> 01:40:22,000
Speaker 3: it to Wimple Jr.

1733
01:40:22,040 --> 01:40:22,220
Speaker 1: Here.

1734
01:40:22,520 --> 01:40:25,099
Speaker 3: And Frank is dismissive. He's like, don't try to make

1735
01:40:25,140 --> 01:40:27,540
Speaker 3: me believe that this Ardoth fellow is a mummy come

1736
01:40:27,560 --> 01:40:30,280
Speaker 3: to life. It was that idea and the horror of

1737
01:40:30,340 --> 01:40:34,450
Speaker 3: it that killed my father. So Mueller comes and he

1738
01:40:34,510 --> 01:40:37,090
Speaker 3: collects some of the ashes of the paper from the

1739
01:40:37,130 --> 01:40:39,710
Speaker 3: fire into an envelope so he can study them later.

1740
01:40:39,729 --> 01:40:43,720
Speaker 3: And they're going to go visit Helen. Mueller is concerned

1741
01:40:43,760 --> 01:40:46,220
Speaker 3: for her well-being after seeing the way that she and

1742
01:40:46,280 --> 01:40:49,380
Speaker 3: Ardoth Bay were looking at each other. But in the

1743
01:40:49,460 --> 01:40:53,180
Speaker 3: car on the way there, Mueller examines the burned remains

1744
01:40:53,260 --> 01:40:56,740
Speaker 3: of the newspaper and he figures out that they were

1745
01:40:56,780 --> 01:41:01,030
Speaker 3: not the papyrus scroll. Uh-oh. Uh, Frank is still skeptical,

1746
01:41:01,100 --> 01:41:04,200
Speaker 3: but Mueller convinces him to take the amulet of ISIS.

1747
01:41:04,920 --> 01:41:07,760
Speaker 3: Frank initially wants to give the amulet to Helen if

1748
01:41:07,820 --> 01:41:09,780
Speaker 3: it's really going to work, but Mueller tells him, no,

1749
01:41:09,860 --> 01:41:13,540
Speaker 3: he says, Imhotep is not going to try to curse Helen.

1750
01:41:13,939 --> 01:41:16,570
Speaker 3: He has other plans for her, but you, he will

1751
01:41:16,610 --> 01:41:19,730
Speaker 3: destroy you if he gets the chance. Uh, you know,

1752
01:41:20,630 --> 01:41:23,470
Speaker 3: basically you're the other guy at this point, you're, you're

1753
01:41:23,729 --> 01:41:27,670
Speaker 3: target number one. Uh, so Frank takes the amulet, puts

1754
01:41:27,729 --> 01:41:31,519
Speaker 3: it in his pocket. Here we get another chilling closeup

1755
01:41:31,560 --> 01:41:35,130
Speaker 3: of Karloff with the, the softly glowing mummy eyes. He's

1756
01:41:35,189 --> 01:41:37,830
Speaker 3: working some kind of magic on Helen from afar. Uh,

1757
01:41:38,710 --> 01:41:41,590
Speaker 3: Helen told Frank and Mueller on the phone that she

1758
01:41:41,630 --> 01:41:44,210
Speaker 3: wouldn't leave her, her hotel, but she does. Anyway, she

1759
01:41:44,250 --> 01:41:47,750
Speaker 3: goes out for a walk in the city with her dog. And, uh,

1760
01:41:47,810 --> 01:41:51,340
Speaker 3: she's walking, wearing this dark dress ornamented with what looks

1761
01:41:51,380 --> 01:41:54,320
Speaker 3: kind of like a sash of something like a metallic

1762
01:41:54,380 --> 01:41:58,580
Speaker 3: medallions across her body. Uh, her dog is a German shepherd.

1763
01:41:58,960 --> 01:42:01,180
Speaker 3: And it does not want to go where she's taking it.

1764
01:42:01,260 --> 01:42:03,939
Speaker 3: It's like pulling back on its leash, but she forces

1765
01:42:04,020 --> 01:42:06,380
Speaker 3: it to go with her. And Helen arrives at a

1766
01:42:06,439 --> 01:42:09,460
Speaker 3: house in the city with a heavy wooden door. Inside

1767
01:42:09,500 --> 01:42:12,599
Speaker 3: she finds Ardoth Bay and the man from Wimple's house

1768
01:42:12,680 --> 01:42:15,940
Speaker 3: who was hypnotized in the earlier scene. Now he serves

1769
01:42:16,000 --> 01:42:20,380
Speaker 3: the sorcerer. And there is a, oh, there's a cat inside.

1770
01:42:20,400 --> 01:42:24,170
Speaker 3: She brings a dog. Yeah. Yeah.

1771
01:42:24,430 --> 01:42:26,309
Speaker 2: And, and I believe we see a statue of the

1772
01:42:26,350 --> 01:42:29,870
Speaker 2: goddess Bast in the background too, which is nice. You know,

1773
01:42:29,890 --> 01:42:32,390
Speaker 2: you're in, this is cat country now. This is, uh,

1774
01:42:32,950 --> 01:42:35,480
Speaker 2: the cats have divine authority over the dogs.

1775
01:42:35,760 --> 01:42:39,700
Speaker 3: Yeah. Uh, Helen loves this house inside is decorated like

1776
01:42:39,800 --> 01:42:42,980
Speaker 3: ancient Egypt, like a temple of some kind. And she's like, oh,

1777
01:42:43,000 --> 01:42:45,140
Speaker 3: this is great. This is the good Egypt. That's what

1778
01:42:45,180 --> 01:42:47,800
Speaker 3: I'm into. And then they sit down in front of

1779
01:42:47,820 --> 01:42:51,980
Speaker 3: Imhotep's pool of water in which these images appear. He

1780
01:42:52,020 --> 01:42:54,320
Speaker 3: tells her that she is not going to remember what

1781
01:42:54,360 --> 01:42:57,710
Speaker 3: he shows her. And yet he shall awaken memories of

1782
01:42:57,830 --> 01:43:00,410
Speaker 3: love and crime and death.

1783
01:43:01,030 --> 01:43:03,550
Speaker 2: And this is where the pool of memory really gets

1784
01:43:03,670 --> 01:43:08,090
Speaker 2: proper introduction. We get this amazing sequence with this. I'm

1785
01:43:08,250 --> 01:43:10,350
Speaker 2: honestly not sure how they move the camera here, but

1786
01:43:10,470 --> 01:43:12,140
Speaker 2: one gets at least gets the sense of like a

1787
01:43:12,189 --> 01:43:16,320
Speaker 2: crane shot, like a moving crane shot, just so smooth

1788
01:43:16,700 --> 01:43:21,570
Speaker 2: moving in on this, on this dark smoking surface of the, uh,

1789
01:43:21,600 --> 01:43:25,040
Speaker 2: the pool of memory. And we get amazing dissolve transitions

1790
01:43:25,220 --> 01:43:28,610
Speaker 2: here as well. Just a technical Marvel, this sequence.

1791
01:43:29,189 --> 01:43:31,470
Speaker 3: So this part of the movie is a flashback, uh,

1792
01:43:31,490 --> 01:43:35,190
Speaker 3: where we learned the backstory of Imhotep and Oxen Amon

1793
01:43:35,189 --> 01:43:39,190
Speaker 3: 3,700 years ago. Uh, we, uh, did you understand that

1794
01:43:39,310 --> 01:43:43,120
Speaker 3: was there love secret? I think it had to be secret.

1795
01:43:43,280 --> 01:43:46,120
Speaker 3: Like they couldn't openly be in love with each other.

1796
01:43:46,620 --> 01:43:47,740
Speaker 2: That's the sense I got from it.

1797
01:43:47,760 --> 01:43:47,980
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1798
01:43:48,060 --> 01:43:51,019
Speaker 2: Secret love that could not be realized was found out

1799
01:43:51,080 --> 01:43:53,910
Speaker 2: too soon. And of course he is punished horribly for it.

1800
01:43:54,240 --> 01:43:57,900
Speaker 3: Right. Well, he's punished specifically because of what he does

1801
01:43:58,260 --> 01:44:01,940
Speaker 3: because she dies. So that's right. Yes. Uh, she becomes

1802
01:44:02,160 --> 01:44:05,800
Speaker 3: ill and dies. And when the princess dies, she's mummified

1803
01:44:05,860 --> 01:44:09,860
Speaker 3: buried in a sacred tomb by her father, the Pharaoh, uh,

1804
01:44:09,939 --> 01:44:12,720
Speaker 3: cannot stand to be without his beloved. So he steals

1805
01:44:12,780 --> 01:44:15,340
Speaker 3: the scroll of thought from the temple. He tries to

1806
01:44:15,420 --> 01:44:17,460
Speaker 3: use it to resurrect the princess so that they can

1807
01:44:17,500 --> 01:44:20,680
Speaker 3: be together again, but he is caught before he can

1808
01:44:20,780 --> 01:44:25,880
Speaker 3: finish the spell. And this is a terrible sacrilege. So

1809
01:44:26,020 --> 01:44:29,700
Speaker 3: Imhotep is condemned to a fate worse than execution. He

1810
01:44:30,280 --> 01:44:34,060
Speaker 3: is mummified and buried alive without the rites that would

1811
01:44:34,080 --> 01:44:37,000
Speaker 3: allow his soul to go on to the afterlife. And

1812
01:44:37,020 --> 01:44:39,519
Speaker 3: then the scroll is also buried with him so that

1813
01:44:39,660 --> 01:44:43,140
Speaker 3: no such blasphemy can ever happen again. Then they say

1814
01:44:43,180 --> 01:44:46,350
Speaker 3: that the workers who buried him were killed, too. And

1815
01:44:46,390 --> 01:44:48,929
Speaker 3: then the soldiers who killed them were killed, too.

1816
01:44:49,430 --> 01:44:50,930
Speaker 2: But then those soldiers said, that's enough.

1817
01:44:50,970 --> 01:44:54,250
Speaker 3: We can stop here. That's right. So no one could

1818
01:44:54,430 --> 01:44:58,790
Speaker 3: ever find the burial place. No veneration, no unearthing of

1819
01:44:59,070 --> 01:44:59,970
Speaker 3: the terrible spell.

1820
01:45:01,630 --> 01:45:03,640
Speaker 2: But if it were to ever be unearthed, you'd have

1821
01:45:03,720 --> 01:45:06,820
Speaker 2: a really self-contained mummy resurrection kit.

1822
01:45:07,740 --> 01:45:11,300
Speaker 3: I guess so. So Helen is entranced by all this,

1823
01:45:11,340 --> 01:45:14,740
Speaker 3: and then Karloff gives this powerful speech after the flashback,

1824
01:45:15,700 --> 01:45:19,750
Speaker 3: which I transcribed part of here. He says, Anxanamen, my

1825
01:45:19,830 --> 01:45:23,189
Speaker 3: love has lasted longer than the temples of our gods.

1826
01:45:23,790 --> 01:45:27,269
Speaker 3: No man ever suffered as I did for you, but

1827
01:45:27,310 --> 01:45:30,570
Speaker 3: the rest you may not know, not until you're able

1828
01:45:30,610 --> 01:45:33,820
Speaker 3: to pass through the great night of terror and triumph,

1829
01:45:34,400 --> 01:45:37,520
Speaker 3: until you're ready to face the moments of horror for

1830
01:45:37,560 --> 01:45:41,360
Speaker 3: an eternity of love. Until I send back your spirit

1831
01:45:41,420 --> 01:45:44,820
Speaker 3: that has wandered through so many forms and so many ages.

1832
01:45:45,420 --> 01:45:50,660
Speaker 3: But before then, Bast must again send forth death. Death

1833
01:45:50,760 --> 01:45:53,640
Speaker 3: to that boy for whom love is creeping into your heart.

1834
01:45:54,200 --> 01:45:57,430
Speaker 3: Love that would keep you from myself. Love that would

1835
01:45:57,450 --> 01:46:02,660
Speaker 3: bring sickness and even death to you. So he is

1836
01:46:02,740 --> 01:46:06,300
Speaker 3: acknowledging that there is a conflict within her, that there

1837
01:46:06,340 --> 01:46:08,460
Speaker 3: is part of her that does not want to go

1838
01:46:08,520 --> 01:46:11,920
Speaker 3: through whatever this night of terror is, this night of

1839
01:46:11,979 --> 01:46:14,700
Speaker 3: horror that she must endure in order to be his

1840
01:46:14,760 --> 01:46:20,849
Speaker 3: beloved forever. I think he's recognizing that it's not just

1841
01:46:20,930 --> 01:46:24,450
Speaker 3: like she's purely 100% on board. She needs some convincing.

1842
01:46:24,510 --> 01:46:27,290
Speaker 3: And part of what needs to be done is killing

1843
01:46:27,330 --> 01:46:30,050
Speaker 3: this other guy who half of her soul is in

1844
01:46:30,110 --> 01:46:33,290
Speaker 3: love with. Anyway, here we move into the final act

1845
01:46:33,330 --> 01:46:37,050
Speaker 3: of the movie. Helen goes back to her hotel, somewhat

1846
01:46:37,090 --> 01:46:40,570
Speaker 3: confused and missing memories. Like, what happened to my dog?

1847
01:46:40,600 --> 01:46:44,760
Speaker 3: Didn't I have a dog? No, not anymore. Frank and

1848
01:46:44,800 --> 01:46:47,320
Speaker 3: Mueller try to keep her confined in the house so

1849
01:46:47,360 --> 01:46:50,740
Speaker 3: that she cannot go to Imhotep. And she is torn

1850
01:46:50,800 --> 01:46:54,179
Speaker 3: between these different desires, like the two souls within her.

1851
01:46:55,220 --> 01:46:58,280
Speaker 3: So she alternately wants to go to Imhotep and tries

1852
01:46:58,320 --> 01:47:01,610
Speaker 3: to escape. And then she fears him and then begs

1853
01:47:01,950 --> 01:47:04,189
Speaker 3: the people around her to not let her leave, no

1854
01:47:04,229 --> 01:47:06,750
Speaker 3: matter what she says. She says, it's like there is

1855
01:47:06,810 --> 01:47:09,670
Speaker 3: another thing inside of me that is fighting for life.

1856
01:47:11,450 --> 01:47:15,400
Speaker 3: And so what is Imhotep's plan here? It's going to

1857
01:47:15,460 --> 01:47:19,340
Speaker 3: amount to a showdown at the museum. Imhotep believes that

1858
01:47:19,420 --> 01:47:23,160
Speaker 3: Helen is the reincarnation of Anxanamen, of course. But in

1859
01:47:23,340 --> 01:47:26,700
Speaker 3: order for her to become his immortal revenant bride, he

1860
01:47:26,740 --> 01:47:30,160
Speaker 3: has to kill her. mummify her and then resurrect her

1861
01:47:30,500 --> 01:47:33,630
Speaker 3: using the scroll of Thoth. So you can't go straight

1862
01:47:33,729 --> 01:47:36,809
Speaker 3: from life to eternal lover. You got to die and

1863
01:47:36,850 --> 01:47:39,990
Speaker 3: be resurrected. That's the only way it works. Yeah. Yeah.

1864
01:47:40,189 --> 01:47:42,090
Speaker 2: Like, you know, he needs her to be the Eve

1865
01:47:42,210 --> 01:47:45,940
Speaker 2: to his Adam. They need to both be undying like

1866
01:47:46,060 --> 01:47:47,340
Speaker 2: lich people.

1867
01:47:47,500 --> 01:47:49,820
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. So he's going to do this at the

1868
01:47:49,860 --> 01:47:54,620
Speaker 3: museum surrounded by the Egyptian artifacts and artwork. His plan involves, uh,

1869
01:47:55,000 --> 01:47:58,200
Speaker 3: burning the original body of onks and almond. They like

1870
01:47:58,220 --> 01:48:00,420
Speaker 3: get out the mummy of his beloved and set it

1871
01:48:00,520 --> 01:48:06,160
Speaker 3: on fire. Uh, eventually, uh, uh, uh, Helen escapes from

1872
01:48:06,200 --> 01:48:11,580
Speaker 3: the house, uh, when Imhotep nearly kills Frank with a curse. Uh,

1873
01:48:11,610 --> 01:48:13,870
Speaker 3: though I think at the last moment, Frank is protected

1874
01:48:13,910 --> 01:48:17,519
Speaker 3: by touching the amulet of Isis. so frank does not

1875
01:48:17,620 --> 01:48:20,920
Speaker 3: quite die and then mueller and frank arrive at the

1876
01:48:20,960 --> 01:48:24,160
Speaker 3: museum in time to stop imhotep from killing helen uh

1877
01:48:24,860 --> 01:48:27,240
Speaker 3: there's when they get there they see mummy smoke pouring

1878
01:48:27,280 --> 01:48:31,070
Speaker 3: out of the chimney but in the middle of this

1879
01:48:31,170 --> 01:48:35,890
Speaker 3: ritual helen suddenly has a flash of lucidity and And

1880
01:48:35,950 --> 01:48:37,970
Speaker 3: she says she does not want to die. She wants

1881
01:48:38,030 --> 01:48:42,580
Speaker 3: to live. And she appeals to the goddess Isis for help. Uh,

1882
01:48:42,710 --> 01:48:46,380
Speaker 3: cause there is a statue of Isis there in the museum.

1883
01:48:46,880 --> 01:48:49,360
Speaker 3: She says to the statue of Isis, I call upon

1884
01:48:49,439 --> 01:48:54,019
Speaker 3: thee as of old. And then in a hair raising turn,

1885
01:48:54,040 --> 01:48:59,320
Speaker 3: the statue of Isis responds by moving. It raises its

1886
01:48:59,620 --> 01:49:02,759
Speaker 3: arm in power where it is holding in its hand

1887
01:49:02,840 --> 01:49:06,620
Speaker 3: and onk. And, uh, this Ankh emits like a flare

1888
01:49:06,660 --> 01:49:11,200
Speaker 3: of energy, which incinerates the scroll of Thoth and takes

1889
01:49:11,240 --> 01:49:15,270
Speaker 3: away Imhotep's power, causing him to revert to his former state.

1890
01:49:15,370 --> 01:49:20,030
Speaker 3: So he again becomes this dead withered thing and crumbles

1891
01:49:20,110 --> 01:49:23,030
Speaker 3: to dust and bones on the floor. And so that's

1892
01:49:23,070 --> 01:49:27,299
Speaker 3: how Helen is saved, not by the heroes, like, you know,

1893
01:49:27,340 --> 01:49:29,640
Speaker 3: figuring out how to defeat the villain, but by her

1894
01:49:29,760 --> 01:49:32,920
Speaker 3: appealing to the goddess Isis and Isis saves the day

1895
01:49:33,180 --> 01:49:35,520
Speaker 3: deus ex machina. I love this.

1896
01:49:35,600 --> 01:49:38,860
Speaker 2: I love how, as it's established early in the film,

1897
01:49:38,920 --> 01:49:41,920
Speaker 2: this is a place, the entire setting of the film

1898
01:49:41,960 --> 01:49:45,360
Speaker 2: is one in which the Egyptian gods of old hold sway.

1899
01:49:46,270 --> 01:49:51,350
Speaker 2: Christian gods are never seriously invoked in the film. They're

1900
01:49:51,410 --> 01:49:54,490
Speaker 2: not a part of the solution. Nobody's brandishing crosses or

1901
01:49:54,530 --> 01:50:00,700
Speaker 2: calling on Christian power to overcome the adversary here. Isis

1902
01:50:01,020 --> 01:50:06,110
Speaker 2: is the authority figure that is called upon. just as

1903
01:50:06,350 --> 01:50:09,939
Speaker 2: Imhotep also calls on different Egyptian deities to carry out

1904
01:50:10,000 --> 01:50:13,460
Speaker 2: his ends. So I really love this detail here.

1905
01:50:14,060 --> 01:50:17,740
Speaker 3: Yeah. The very last line is Frank has Helen, and

1906
01:50:17,760 --> 01:50:21,240
Speaker 3: he says, Helen, come back. It's Frank. Come back. That

1907
01:50:21,280 --> 01:50:23,809
Speaker 3: line feels a little underwhelming compared to the scene that

1908
01:50:23,830 --> 01:50:27,710
Speaker 3: just happened, but it's that classic, that old monster movie wrap-up.

1909
01:50:27,770 --> 01:50:29,530
Speaker 3: It's very abrupt at the ending.

1910
01:50:29,550 --> 01:50:31,309
Speaker 2: Yeah, just abrupt as hell.

1911
01:50:31,510 --> 01:50:31,630
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1912
01:50:32,490 --> 01:50:34,439
Speaker 2: They just suddenly were in the credits. I think there's

1913
01:50:34,479 --> 01:50:37,920
Speaker 2: something in the credits where it's almost like they're letting

1914
01:50:37,939 --> 01:50:39,280
Speaker 2: you know. It's like, yeah, we can have credits at

1915
01:50:39,300 --> 01:50:41,260
Speaker 2: the end of the film where they're like, I forget

1916
01:50:41,280 --> 01:50:42,880
Speaker 2: what the wording was, but it's like, they're great at

1917
01:50:42,920 --> 01:50:44,479
Speaker 2: the beginning of a film. They're great at the end.

1918
01:50:44,520 --> 01:50:45,519
Speaker 3: Enjoy the credits, folks.

1919
01:50:48,100 --> 01:50:51,350
Speaker 2: But yeah, this one, yeah, 73-minute runtime. And when the

1920
01:50:51,390 --> 01:50:53,850
Speaker 2: film is over, it's over. It's time to send folks home.

1921
01:50:53,890 --> 01:50:55,390
Speaker 2: Let them talk about it on their own time.

1922
01:50:57,430 --> 01:51:00,299
Speaker 3: So that's the original Mummy. You know, I'm wondering, why

1923
01:51:00,340 --> 01:51:03,310
Speaker 3: does it, it seems... Like, it works great to me

1924
01:51:03,410 --> 01:51:06,570
Speaker 3: that he is defeated in the end by an appeal

1925
01:51:06,670 --> 01:51:09,170
Speaker 3: to the power of the goddess Isis, where I don't

1926
01:51:09,189 --> 01:51:11,240
Speaker 3: think it would work at all at the end of

1927
01:51:11,360 --> 01:51:14,640
Speaker 3: Dracula or Frankenstein or any of these other movies I

1928
01:51:14,660 --> 01:51:17,059
Speaker 3: can think of for someone to just suddenly appeal to

1929
01:51:17,120 --> 01:51:21,080
Speaker 3: a god and have them defeat the monster for them. Yeah, yeah.

1930
01:51:21,120 --> 01:51:24,060
Speaker 2: It would feel a lot more, yeah, just out of

1931
01:51:24,120 --> 01:51:26,280
Speaker 2: nowhere and kind of a cheap out. But here it doesn't.

1932
01:51:26,390 --> 01:51:29,170
Speaker 2: Here it feels very much part of the fabric of

1933
01:51:29,210 --> 01:51:32,840
Speaker 2: the story. Like, it's just well-balanced within uh, the screenplay

1934
01:51:32,880 --> 01:51:35,000
Speaker 2: and within the, the, the picture that we've been watching

1935
01:51:35,060 --> 01:51:37,300
Speaker 2: up to this point. So, uh, yeah, I thought it

1936
01:51:37,320 --> 01:51:39,920
Speaker 2: was a great end ending, uh, overall, you know, again,

1937
01:51:40,100 --> 01:51:42,769
Speaker 2: abrupt as is fitting of the time. Uh, but, uh,

1938
01:51:42,810 --> 01:51:44,930
Speaker 2: but still I think excellently pulled off.

1939
01:51:45,370 --> 01:51:49,090
Speaker 3: I guess in the end, it emphasizes that it, it

1940
01:51:49,310 --> 01:51:56,189
Speaker 3: takes Imhotep's, uh, sacrilegiousness, his blasphemy against what is good

1941
01:51:56,260 --> 01:52:00,729
Speaker 3: and holy in a religious sense, seriously, uh, but not

1942
01:52:00,800 --> 01:52:03,639
Speaker 3: in the sense that he's not in the sense that,

1943
01:52:03,939 --> 01:52:07,380
Speaker 3: you know, Western Christian audiences would be familiar with where

1944
01:52:07,420 --> 01:52:10,160
Speaker 3: it's like, the problem is you're not honoring, you know,

1945
01:52:10,200 --> 01:52:14,400
Speaker 3: my religion. It's like within its own religion is a blasphemy.

1946
01:52:15,100 --> 01:52:18,120
Speaker 3: And that is the problem. Like he is violating the

1947
01:52:18,270 --> 01:52:22,070
Speaker 3: order of things from an Egyptian religious perspective. And thus

1948
01:52:22,130 --> 01:52:26,390
Speaker 3: it is within the Egyptian religious perspective that he is chastened. Yeah.

1949
01:52:26,430 --> 01:52:30,030
Speaker 2: Like he has, he is obstructing Mott, you know, the, the,

1950
01:52:30,410 --> 01:52:34,920
Speaker 2: the ancient Egyptian concept of balance and order and, and, and, and, and, uh,

1951
01:52:35,000 --> 01:52:38,059
Speaker 2: more morality, you know, like that is what he is, his, uh,

1952
01:52:38,160 --> 01:52:40,120
Speaker 2: as that's where he's crossed the line. And that is

1953
01:52:40,180 --> 01:52:41,970
Speaker 2: why he's shut down by ISIS.

1954
01:52:42,470 --> 01:52:46,410
Speaker 3: One thing I was wondering about here, how human is

1955
01:52:46,510 --> 01:52:51,679
Speaker 3: the reanimated Imhotep? Uh, so we see him appearing kind

1956
01:52:51,689 --> 01:52:55,100
Speaker 3: of strange looking, but basically human. Like he doesn't, strike

1957
01:52:55,160 --> 01:52:57,910
Speaker 3: anybody you know the people who interact with him don't

1958
01:52:57,990 --> 01:53:01,110
Speaker 3: think he's undead they think he's a normal man but

1959
01:53:01,130 --> 01:53:03,550
Speaker 3: does he have to like eat and sleep and stuff

1960
01:53:04,189 --> 01:53:07,050
Speaker 3: or is he more like a vampire in that sense

1961
01:53:07,110 --> 01:53:08,979
Speaker 3: and then he's not going to be eating food or

1962
01:53:09,020 --> 01:53:10,820
Speaker 3: i guess a vampire does have to sleep but you

1963
01:53:10,860 --> 01:53:13,420
Speaker 3: know is does he have no is he basically a

1964
01:53:13,800 --> 01:53:18,000
Speaker 3: functional biological human being at this point or is he

1965
01:53:18,060 --> 01:53:22,300
Speaker 3: you know like a sleepless hungerless deathless creature who just

1966
01:53:22,360 --> 01:53:26,710
Speaker 3: dwells in his you know, in his feelings and staring

1967
01:53:26,750 --> 01:53:28,830
Speaker 3: into the magical pool all day.

1968
01:53:28,850 --> 01:53:32,410
Speaker 2: I think the latter. I think that he is sustained

1969
01:53:32,470 --> 01:53:35,689
Speaker 2: entirely by ancient magic at this point. Yeah, I don't

1970
01:53:35,710 --> 01:53:38,130
Speaker 2: think he has to eat or sleep. You know, he

1971
01:53:38,170 --> 01:53:41,299
Speaker 2: cannot be killed in the traditional sense of the word

1972
01:53:41,310 --> 01:53:44,760
Speaker 2: as established earlier. So, yeah, I think he is in

1973
01:53:44,780 --> 01:53:48,180
Speaker 2: a different place entirely. And he avoids human touch because

1974
01:53:48,220 --> 01:53:50,060
Speaker 2: I imagine he is not warm to the touch. I

1975
01:53:50,100 --> 01:53:53,280
Speaker 2: imagine he is room temperature at best. Hmm.

1976
01:53:53,760 --> 01:53:54,020
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1977
01:53:54,650 --> 01:53:54,809
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1978
01:53:54,850 --> 01:53:56,670
Speaker 3: I wondered why that was, why he doesn't like to

1979
01:53:56,710 --> 01:54:00,050
Speaker 3: be touched. Is that a, uh, like a holiness or

1980
01:54:00,110 --> 01:54:04,050
Speaker 3: purity thing? Like there's another part, uh, there's a part

1981
01:54:04,170 --> 01:54:08,280
Speaker 3: in the ending where, uh, he has, uh, like he

1982
01:54:08,300 --> 01:54:10,980
Speaker 3: has awakened sort of the onks and almond part of

1983
01:54:11,040 --> 01:54:15,229
Speaker 3: Helen's personality, uh, where he's about to sacrifice her and

1984
01:54:15,270 --> 01:54:18,630
Speaker 3: she looks around and sees all of the trappings of mummification, uh,

1985
01:54:19,140 --> 01:54:21,550
Speaker 3: And she says, it is not permitted for me, a

1986
01:54:21,590 --> 01:54:24,750
Speaker 3: goddess of the Temple of Isis, to be around impure

1987
01:54:24,810 --> 01:54:30,430
Speaker 3: things like the mummification process. So she is observing blasphemies

1988
01:54:30,550 --> 01:54:35,480
Speaker 3: and sacrileges that he is carrying out on her behalf. Yeah, yeah.

1989
01:54:35,600 --> 01:54:40,260
Speaker 2: I mean, I think he's come to the viewpoint that

1990
01:54:40,300 --> 01:54:43,560
Speaker 2: these rules don't apply to him. You know, anything is

1991
01:54:43,620 --> 01:54:47,150
Speaker 2: worth bending to his will and to carry out what

1992
01:54:47,190 --> 01:54:48,630
Speaker 2: he wants to achieve here.

1993
01:54:49,080 --> 01:54:49,320
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1994
01:54:49,980 --> 01:54:50,720
Speaker 2: Makes him a great villain.

1995
01:54:53,200 --> 01:54:56,930
Speaker 3: Okay. Well, that's all I've got to say about the mummy. Yeah.

1996
01:54:56,930 --> 01:54:58,570
Speaker 2: 1932 is the mummy. I'm glad we got to talk

1997
01:54:58,630 --> 01:55:00,890
Speaker 2: about it. Uh, we went a little long here, but

1998
01:55:00,950 --> 01:55:03,710
Speaker 2: I mean, it's, uh, it is an obelisk, uh, in

1999
01:55:03,730 --> 01:55:06,310
Speaker 2: the horror genre. It is a, an important film. So I'm,

2000
01:55:06,390 --> 01:55:08,730
Speaker 2: I'm glad we, we took the time to, to talk

2001
01:55:08,750 --> 01:55:10,870
Speaker 2: it all out here. So, uh, we'd love to hear

2002
01:55:11,030 --> 01:55:12,980
Speaker 2: what you have to say out there though. Listeners, what

2003
01:55:13,030 --> 01:55:16,700
Speaker 2: is your history with mummy movies with, uh, the universal

2004
01:55:16,740 --> 01:55:22,000
Speaker 2: mummy franchise, uh, or indeed 1932's The Mummy itself, write in,

2005
01:55:22,200 --> 01:55:24,300
Speaker 2: talk about it with us. We'd love to hear from you.

2006
01:55:25,000 --> 01:55:28,180
Speaker 2: And we'll also, if you have thoughts about the Brendan

2007
01:55:28,200 --> 01:55:31,120
Speaker 2: Fraser Mummy films as well, yeah, that's on the table

2008
01:55:31,180 --> 01:55:34,010
Speaker 2: as well. Any and all Mummy movies, we'd love to

2009
01:55:34,060 --> 01:55:34,700
Speaker 2: hear your take.

2010
01:55:35,050 --> 01:55:38,690
Speaker 3: Do you have thoughts about the late 90s Irish bog

2011
01:55:38,750 --> 01:55:42,110
Speaker 3: Mummy movie with Christopher Walken in it? Oh, yeah, yeah.

2012
01:55:42,190 --> 01:55:45,190
Speaker 2: Well, you know, we'll have to come back to that one,

2013
01:55:45,210 --> 01:55:48,400
Speaker 2: I think. I wouldn't still... under consideration for weird.

2014
01:55:48,200 --> 01:55:52,640
Speaker 3: House i haven't seen it but i'm tempted all right.

2015
01:55:52,500 --> 01:55:53,920
Speaker 2: Well let's go ahead and close it out here uh

2016
01:55:54,240 --> 01:55:56,620
Speaker 2: as always we'll just remind everyone out there that stuff

2017
01:55:56,640 --> 01:55:58,480
Speaker 2: to blow your mind is primarily a science and culture

2018
01:55:58,500 --> 01:56:00,660
Speaker 2: podcast with core episodes on tuesdays and thursdays but on

2019
01:56:00,700 --> 01:56:02,820
Speaker 2: fridays we set aside most serious concerns to just talk

2020
01:56:02,840 --> 01:56:06,240
Speaker 2: about a weird film on weird house cinema uh if

2021
01:56:06,260 --> 01:56:09,160
Speaker 2: you were on letterboxd.com look us up our username is

2022
01:56:09,200 --> 01:56:10,860
Speaker 2: weird house we have a nice list of all the

2023
01:56:10,900 --> 01:56:13,589
Speaker 2: movies we've covered over the years sometimes a peek ahead

2024
01:56:13,600 --> 01:56:15,950
Speaker 2: at what's coming up next Huge.

2025
01:56:15,750 --> 01:56:19,090
Speaker 3: Thanks, as always, to our excellent audio producer, J.J. Posway.

2026
01:56:19,470 --> 01:56:20,890
Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us

2027
01:56:20,950 --> 01:56:23,430
Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest

2028
01:56:23,490 --> 01:56:25,470
Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello,

2029
01:56:25,840 --> 01:56:29,400
Speaker 3: you can email us at contact at stufftoblowyourmind.com.

2030
01:56:36,620 --> 01:56:39,100
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2031
01:56:39,440 --> 01:56:42,760
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2032
01:56:42,800 --> 01:56:45,140
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