Here he is - KARLOFF The UNCANNY in the trailer for the 1932
film The MUMMY. Sadly, they don't make 'em like this any more.
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Tuesday, 8 September 2015
6 comments:
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Karloff had the advantage of spoken dialog. Im-Ho-Tep was more like a criminal mastermind than a monster. As with Frankenstein's monster, Karloff's successors did not have much to work with, since Kharis was usually just a hulking brute that shuffled around. Although Christopher Lee, in the 1959 version, did manage to convey some emotion in the scene where he meets the heroine, who may be the reincarnation of his lost love.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, Lee remained bandaged in the 1959 version, which reduced the Mummy to, as you say, a mere hulking brute. I found Karloff's unbandaged, softly-spoken portrayal much more sinister.
ReplyDeleteYes, the bandaged mummy shambling around became the norm - 'The Mummy' (1999) also showed him out of his bandages but I didn't like that film much. All these films misunderstand Egyptian mummification technique - the arms were bound to the chest by bandages and the legs were bound together by bandages so a living mummy would have very restricted movements - he'd have to hop.
ReplyDeleteApart from that, their internal organs were taken out and put in a jar. That's a fine pickle I must say.
ReplyDeleteThe Mummy's appearance and the flashback sequence are outstanding. When the Tut exhibit came to London we went to see it I got a poster to it up my my bedroom and had to take it down because it gave me nightmares. Nothing wrong with the poster, I just couldn't sleep with Tuts face looking at me.
ReplyDeleteI've got a copy of the original script, Phil, and there was meant to be more that didn't appear. Such as the female lead's various reincarnations down through the centuries. I can't remember now if it was shot and never used, or just cut from the script.
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