The Mummy

So grab your torch, check your pockets for scarabs, and whatever you do, don't read the damn book out loud.

This is What We Saw on Stolen Cable, October Monster Mash: The Mummy 1932 versus The Mummy 1999.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in.

I am your host, Uncle Patches.

I am your host, Uncle Patches.

And I'm Sinister Cinema.

You've been listening to What We Saw On Stolen Cable: October Monster Mash, The Mummy 1932 versus The Mummy 1999.

All right, y'all have a fantastic time.

Uh, similar to how Karloff does.

Like, uh, you know, we were talking about The Mummy earlier in the month.

Karloff is only, I think five, was only 5'11".

Mm.

Uh, but in The Mummy appears to just tower over everyone.

Uh, whilst on the other hand, Christopher Lee was legitimately like 6'5", uh, during, uh, you know, the, uh, at, at his tallest.

And, uh, and, uh, and certainly looks it on the screen.

[mysterious music] It seems like a lifetime ago now, but back in the wild of 2014, when this podcast was still finding its form and finding its feet, I had something of a crazy idea.

How would it be to create a single show devoted to the entire cycle of Universal horror movies? And not just the big hitters such as Frankenstein, and Dracula, and The Mummy.

How about all of the smaller B movies, some of which have been largely forgotten today? And also the roster of talent bringing these tales to the screen.

Everyone from Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi to the queen of the screamers, Evelyn Ankers, and Lon Chaney Sr. and Jr.

10 years after the tomb was opened, and still in the honeymoon period when it came to horror movies, Carl Laemmle Jr. remembered the chilling effect of the Egyptian curse on the public's imagination and cast about for a story to base a movie on.

Universal script writer John Balderston, who'd worked on Dracula and Frankenstein, came up with a story about a 3,000-year-old magician.

Changing a few details and adding an Egyptian slant, Balderston finished with a complete script entitled Imhotep, which was subsequently renamed The Mummy.

Balderston was well qualified to write the film.

Oh, yeah.

He is the Dr. Fu Manchu in The Mask of Fu Manchu, and then he does The Mummy.

I mean, he kind of stuck in horror for pretty much all of the, the 1930s.

I get not wanting to be typecast, but also, he was working like a dog for the majority of his career.

I mean, I was surrounded by horror.

My mother loved horror movies, so w- she had me watching those universal classics, The Mummy, The Fly, The Mole People, all that.

She had me reading the Stephen King.

But there was this disconnect for some reason between my creative drives and horror for a long time.

And he comes into the world as an innocent, only harming people at first by accident and then later out of desperation and rage after being persecuted.

And so you could contrast this with the other Universal horror villains of the era, such as Dracula, The Mummy, uh, The Invisible Man, which are all much more vicious and devilish.

The, it, I think it's an interesting choice the first ever monster mash film decided to combine the two monsters that don't want to be monsters and would live in peace if they could.

Yeah, that's a great point.

Yeah, w- w- even when you list Dracula, The Mummy, and The Invisible Man, like, The Invisible Man is kind of the most evil in many respects.

[laughs]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

He's a megalomaniac, yeah.

And the one that you're gonna recognize right away, of course, is going to be Edward Van Sloan, who plays Dr. Waldman in this movie.

And Dr. Waldman Well, the, the, the actor, he was Van Helsing in the first movie, he's in this, and he's going to be in, you know, spoiler alert, our next movie, The Mummy, as well.

It's, it's crazy.

You need a doctor-like guy, you're gonna go ahead and get Edward Van Sloan.

Now, that might be overturned next week because for some people, the next movie that we're going to be covering is the best out of all of them.

And this one also stars Boris Karloff here in the lead role, in a speaking role in this film.

And it again, it is a classic for a reason, and we're gonna be looking at, next week, The Mummy.

[dramatic music] Death, eternal punishment for anyone who opens this casket.