The Mummy Starring Boris Karloff 1932

The Mummy is a 1932 horror classic from Universal Pictures directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff as a revived ancient Egyptian priest. The movie also features Zita Johann, David Manners and Edward van Sloan.
The Mummy Starring Boris Karloff 1932
An Ancient Egyptian priest called Imhotep is revived when an archaeological expedition finds Imhotep's mummy and one of the archaeologists accidentally reads an ancient life-giving spell. Imhotep escapes from the archaeologists and prowls Cairo seeking the reincarnation of the soul of his ancient lover, Princess Ankh-es-en-amon. Imhotep was once mummified alive for attempting to resurrect her, and, upon finding her reincarnated, attempts to mummify her and make her his bride. In the end, she is saved when she remembers her past life and prays to the goddess Isis to save her. The young woman utters a prayer and the scroll containing the resurrection spell is burned, and Imhotep dissolved.
Inspired by the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 and the Curse of the Pharaohs, producer Carl Laemmle Jr. commissioned story editor Richard Shayer to find a literary novel to form a basis for an Egyptian-themed horror film, just as Dracula and Frankenstein informed their previous hits. Shayer found none, but he and writer Nina Wilox Putnam learned about Alessandro Cagliostro and wrote a nine-page treatment entitled Cagliostro. The story, set in San Francisco, was about a 3000-year old magician who survives by injecting nitrates. Laemmle was pleased, and he hired John L. Balderston to write the script. Balderston contributed to Dracula and Frankenstein, and had covered the opening of Tutankhamen's tomb for New York World when he was a journalist. He moved the story to Egypt and renamed the film and its title character Imhotep, after the historical architect.[1]

Karl Freund, the cinematographer on Dracula, was hired to direct two days before filming. The film was retitled The Mummy. He cast Zita Johann, who believed in reincarnation. Filming was scheduled for three weeks. Karloff's first day was spent shooting the Mummy's awakening from his sarcophagus. Make-up artist Jack Pierce began transforming Karloff at 11:00 am, applying cotton, collodion and spirit gum to his face; clay to his hair; and wrapping him in linen bandages treated with acid and burnt in an oven. Pierce had studied photos of Seti II's mummy to design Imhotep, and finished the job at 7:00 pm. Karloff finished his scenes at 2:00 am, and another two hours were spent removing the make-up. Karloff found the removal of gum from his face painful, and overall found the day "the most trying ordeal I [had] ever endured"

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[Horrorfilm101]

Karloff is the king of black and white horror.

nuff said.

[cha5]

Karloff and Lugosi were both outstanding

and it's kind of pointless to say one was better than the other IMHO.

[LindaC781]

Now THIS is a Mummy Movie!! The HELL with that crap in the sand!!

[Tessmage]

The early scene in this film, where karloff first comes to life, is one of the most scary moments in the history of horror films. It still holds up beautifully today -- nearly 80 years later. The reason is because unlike modern directors, Karl Freund knew that sometimes, what you DO NOT see can be more frightening than simply showing you everything on a silver platter.

[dltanner99]

Horror novel see video book trailer

[balrog13571]

Mummy movies don't get nearly enough credit as they should.

[hampsterbrick]

karloff is a great horror actor! he is the king of horror movies!!!

[MORKOS621]

@KTBEverlasting There are actually 0 movies entitled The Mummy. The second one starred Christopher Lee and was from Hammer. It had more in common with the mummy movies of the 40s, but had elements of the Karloff version. The mummy character was Kharis, not Imhotep, but he was a priest, not a prince, and a scroll was used to bring him back to life. And the character of Sir Joseph Whemple appeared.

[KTBEverlasting]

@MORKOS621 "He will never sleep. He will never eat. He will never stop." I think that's what he said. I need to watch the movie. I love the Mummy and Mummy 2. The third was...uh...alright. LOL

[MORKOS621]

@KTBEverlasting Ardeth Bey said, "He will not sleep, he will not eat, he will not rest." or something like that.