"The Mummy's Ghost" *** (out of ****)The Mummy gets wrapped up in another story in Universal's "The Mummy's Ghost" (1944).
"The Mummy's Ghost" was the third movie in Universal's series to reboot The Mummy franchise and was the best of the pack.
Taking place 30 years after the events occurred in "The Mummy's Hand" (1940) and the awakening of the mummy Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr.). Several people have died at the hands of Kharis. Many townsfolk recall the grisly deaths and attest to the fact it was a mummy responsible for them. The story of a curse placed on those that entered to tomb of Princess Ananka has become folklore, as Kharis, the love of the princess, exacts revenge.
It is also believed Kharis has been brought to an end due to the events of "The Mummy's Tomb" (1942) where the character was trapped in a burning house.
We discover the "guardian" of Kharis, Mehemet Bey (seen in the first two movies) had a son, Yousef (David Carradine), who will take over responsibility of Kharis, after the death of his father. Yousef hopes to bring Kharis and Princess Ananka back to Egypt.
Kharis, we discover, did not die in the fire (it is never explained how he managed to escape) and can be summoned whenever nine tana leaves are brewed during the cycle of a full moon. He begins to go on a killing spree until he and Yousef are able to reunite with the princess.
A possible interference with this plan may be Tom (Robert Lowery), an American college student. He has been dating an Egyptian girl Amina (Ramsey Ames). She becomes mixed-up in a police investigation of the death of one of Tom's professors (Frank Reicher). She was found unconscious outside the home of the professor. Although she is never treated as a suspect, police do want to question her and find out why she was at the scene of the crime.
We are also lead to believe because of Amina's Egyptian heritage she will serve as a link to Kharis, Yousef and Tom.
"The Mummy's Ghost" corrects the problems of "The Mummy's Hand" by eliminating all the humor from the story. Like "The Mummy's Tomb" the movie almost works as a zombie movie with Kharis slowly walking through neighborhoods, with one of his feet dragging, towards his victim. Like a zombie, Kharis only seems to know how to go in a forward direction and never moves out of the way from on coming obstacles. Of course the sight of a mummy walking freely in an American city (we are suppose to be in Massachusetts) can be funny.
My issue with Universal's reboot of The Mummy is first of all it was not necessary. Secondly, they did nothing to improve upon the original. All of the 1940s Mummy movies are "B" movies, as were most of the horror movies coming out of Universal at the time. The movies are too short. "The Mummy's Ghost" is less than 60 minutes. No story can be fully expanded on within that time. Each of the following sequels waste time by inserting recaps of the first movie, so the audience is familiar with the origin story. None of the movies create atmosphere, playing with lighting and shadows and really build suspense.
"The Mummy's Ghost" in some ways plays as a police investigation. An inspector character, who knows nothing of ancient Egypt, tries to create a trap for Kharis at the professor's home, believing the guilty always return to the scene of the crime.
Instead of erasing the memory of "The Mummy" (1932) Universal should have burrowed elements from it. Why isn't there an expert on ancient Egypt fully utilized in the movie? The movie needs a Van Helsing character to guide everyone. Someone to inform them what the mummy is after and how to stop it. And how about truly making Kharis scary. A soulless, evil figure bent on destruction, seething with hatred. And would it have killed someone to give Yousef a bit of a personality? He could be suave and charming on the outside while he instructs Kharis to kill. Yousef could mingle among the townspeople discovering where the intended victims live. Which leads to the point, how does Kharis know his way around Massachusetts so well? He should get a job with Uber.
There are some continuity issues as well. The time of day keeps shifting within the same sequence. Some scenes are at night while others have light in them. And the scenes with light are always with Kharis. He should only be roaming Massachusetts at night, like other violent people.
This marked Lon Chaney Jr.'s second time playing Kharis and in many ways it is a thankless role. Under the make-up and bandages you can't even tell it is Lon Chaney Jr. and their is no dialogue for the character (and there shouldn't have been). You could make the comparison between this character and Frankenstein's Monster. Boris Karloff had to contend with many of the same issues, make-up, no dialogue, stiff movement, yet Karloff was able to make the character distinct and gave it personality. Perhaps because all of Karloff's face wasn't covered. There are times though Kharis is a bit like The Monster. Both did the bidding of others and were used as tools. You may also find it interesting that at one time Chaney played Dracula, The Wolf Man, Frankenstein's Monster and a mummy. The only actor to do so in Universal's movies.
While I may seem overly critical of "The Mummy's Ghost", in its cheap, exceptionally modest way, it works. It is far superior than any of the other movies in the series. I don't think of "The Mummy's Ghost" as a mummy movie but a zombie movie. This could have been more effective if Universal was willing to throw more money at the production and there was better cinematography.
Here is another interesting fact. If we follow the time line established in these movies, it is 1942 in "The Mummy's Tomb" because the character is drafted in the the war. "The Mummy's Ghost" takes place 30 years after that movie making it 1972. "The Mummy's Curse" (1944) takes place 25 years later, making it 1997. Amazingly, it all still looks like the 1940s. Notice though how they try to hide the identity of the time period. There is no emphasis placed on cars or city life. Rarely do we see streets and restaurants. Still, you can't hide the clothes.
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