zardoz-13 "The Mummy's Tomb" is the sequel to "The Mummy's Hand." "Machine Gun Momma" director Harold Young alternates between the present day in Mapleton, Massachusetts, where Stephen Banning (Dick Foran of "The Petrified Forest") ruminates about his archaeological expedition in Egypt thirty years ago. "Most of these incidents are so incredible that one would almost have to be there in order to believe them. You know, many people believe that we archaeologists are just a collection of old fogies digging around in ruins after old dried up skulls and bones." Everybody but Banning's skeptical sister Jane (Mary Gordon of "The Bride of Frankenstein") finds Banning's reminiscences captivating. "Personally, I think you're boring Isobel and her mother," Jane contends. The women disagree with Jane and listen to Stephen's memories with fascination gleaming in their respective eyes. Stephen continues his tale as the film lurches into flashback mode, and Stephen explains that his partners and he excavated a plagued tomb. They found a three-thousand-year-old mummy, Kharis (Lon Chaney, Jr. of "The Wolfman") who appeared to be buried alive, in the tomb. For the record, Chaney reprised his role later in both "The Mummy's Ghost" (1944) and "The Mummy's Curse" (1944). No sooner had they located the tomb than Stephen's native laborers saw the curse and abandoned him. Meantime, the Priest Andoheb (George Zucco of "Dead Men Walk") gives his successor, Mehemet Bey (Turhan Bey of "The Mad Ghoul"), instructions about how to administer tana leaf juice to awaken Kharis. He explains that Bey must give Kharis three to nine leaves each night to maintain life and motivation to the Mummy. Earlier, after the expedition had exhumed the Mummy, Andoheb persuaded Dr. Petrie (Charles Trowbridge of "Sergeant York") to hold the mummy's hand. Naturally, Petrie is terrified when Andoheb revives the Mummy with the Tanis leaves. The Mummy strangles the helpless Petrie. Afterward, The Mummy then snatches Marta Solvani (Peggy Moran of "Horror Island"), the lone female member of the expedition, but Stephen and his friend, Babe Hanson (Wallace Ford of "Freaks") rescue her once they learn about the tomb's secret chamber and set the mummy alight with their blazing torches. Stephen believes that Kharis expired in the fire and tells his family about the corpse's demise. Unfortunately, the clueless Stephen doesn't know that the Mummy suffered only inconsequential wounds. Andoheb has since died and entrusted the Mummy to Mehemet. The mummy's new master has set sail for America with Kharis stored in the cargo hold. Mehemet plans to exact revenge upon the families of Stephen Banning as well as Babe Hanson for despoiling his tomb. As the new high priest of the mummy's tomb, Mehemet manages to get himself hired as the caretaker of the local Mapleton cemetery. When the first full moon arises, Bey gives Kharis enough tana juice to send The Mummy shambling off on his first mission. Kharis heads to Stephen's home, clambers up a trellis to a second-floor window, enters the darkened room, and strangles Stephen without a qualm. Stephen's son Dr. John Banning (John Hubbard of "Youth on Parade") lets his obsession run rampant in his efforts to track down his father's murderer. Simultaneously, Banning puts his romance with beautiful Isobel Evans (Elyse Knox of "Sheriff of Tombstone"), on the back burner, while he struggles to make sense out of his father's mysterious murder. News of Stephen's death attracts Babe, who arrives by passenger train in Mapleton, during the next full moon. Unbeknownst to either of them as John picks Babe up at the train station, Kharis strangles Stephen's sister Jane. The killings spawn sensational headlines in newspapers along the Eastern seaboard, and reporters flock to Mapleton for a scoop. Babe assures John that Kharis killed both Stephen and Jane. Furthermore, he explains that the gray dust on the murder victims' throats is really mold from the Mummy's linen bandages. Of course, the doctors refused to believe such an outlandish yarn. Babe shares his sentiments with the reporters, and Mehemet Bay overhears him. Babe contact the local sheriff (Cliff Clark) who has received reports from locals that something weird happened to them the same night that Jane was slain. The sheriff finds it difficult to believe that a Mummy could be at large. When Kharis rises again, the Mummy kills Babe. The next day, John and Isobel stumble onto remnants of the mummy's bandages the next day. The couple take their evidence to university professor Matthew Norman (Frank Reicher of "King Kong"), and he verifies Babe's hypothesis to the authorities. At this point, the Army Medical Corp drafts John. He has three days until he must report for duty. He suggests Isobel and he stage a quick wedding at the Banning home. It seems that the evil Bey has grown infatuated with Isobel. The priest dispatches Kharis to kidnap Isobel. After the mummy abducts John's the bride-to-be, the good doctor assembles a posse. One of the townspeople reveals that an Egyptian serves as caretaker at the local cemetery. The people storm off to the graveyard with their fiery torches. Bey announces his plans not only to wed Isobel but also immortalize her. The mob show up at the cemetery before Bey can drug Isobel with the tana leaf juice. Bey orders Kharis to carry Isobel away so he can defuse the mob. Since the citizens have exposed him, Bey endeavors to shoot John, but the sheriff drills Mehemet with a bullet. Afterward, the townspeople pursue Kharis, who returns to the Banning estate with Isobel in his arms. John as well as the crowd set the estate afire through carelessness in their efforts to save Isobel. John takes advantage of conflagration to free Isobel from the Mummy. After Kharis is incinerated in the fire, John and Isobel live happily ever after as an old married couple.Interestingly enough, director Terence Fisher based his 1959 remake of "The Mummy" from "The Mummy's Tomb" rather than the classic 1932 Boris Karloff "Mummy.

Uriah43 After a brief retelling of the previous movie ("The Mummy's Hand") it is now 30 years later and "Stephen Banning" (Dick Foran) is telling some relatives of his adventures in Egypt. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, we find that both the mummy, "Kharis" (Lon Chaney Jr.) and the High Priest of Karnak, "Andoheb" (George Zucco) managed to survive. However, Andoheb is old and frail and he chooses a new person named "Mehemet Bey" (Turhan Bey) to succeed him upon his death. When that happens Turhan Bey decides to exact vengeance upon those who dared to commit sacrilege to the ancient Egyptian gods. This vengeance also extends to any family members as well. Anyway, rather than revealing what happens next I will just say that this was an okay sequel to the previous film. Unfortunately, the short length of the film (only an hour) prevented it from achieving anything noteworthy or remarkable. As such I rate it as average.

dougdoepke Forget the plot, which is just an excuse to activate Egypt's favorite 1940's export.Kharis (Chaney) is all wrapped up like a tattered 3,000-year old package from heck. No antiseptic bandages here. No sir, those ribbons look like they've been gathering mold for at least that long. And catch that ugly deadpan mug—if Chaney's under all the plaster, I couldn't spot him. This is one scary mummy, even if he does move with all the dispatch of a turtle stumbling through molasses.But it's not just outstanding make-up, Universal's set decoration and art department shine too. Gloom hangs heavier over the land than smog over LA; plus, there's an eye-catching series of nightmare sets for the living dead to clump around in. And I really like the final jets of flame shooting in every direction that I don't think house insurance is going to cover. In my book, this little programmer delivers the horror goods in fine, unexpected fashion, a real treat for the eye for those of us who think Technicolor took the dreaming away from horror movies.Okay, not everything is original. Universal cannibalized their previous mummy movie for the story set-up, and also to get Dick Foran's name on the marquee instead of the very un-charismatic John Hubbard. But I really like Turhan Bey as the mumbo-jumbo high priest. Unlike Zucco, Atwill, and the rest of the aging sinister types, Bey looks like he could slide into a Valentino role any time. He's an inspired departure from the stereotype. All in all, this little programmer's a lot niftier than expected, a full 60-minutes of horror fun.(In passing— According to IMDb, it looks like Bey and the lovely Elyse Knox are still with us as of 2011. Good deal. Maybe it's the Tannus leaves.)

bkoganbing As Dick Foran and Wallace Ford put the torch to Kharis the Mummy in The Mummy's Hand there's no way that Universal Pictures was thinking about a sequel. Otherwise they would have made sure to identify the fact that the action was taking place in 1912 and had everyone wear costumes of the period.So it looks a little ridiculous to have Dick Foran and Wallace Ford now elderly beginning The Mummy's Tomb made up as elderly gents with Foran reminiscing about those days on that dig in Egypt where he bested the cult of Kharis and Princess Ananka and brought back the Princess Ananka's mummy with the treasures of her tomb. The first 10 to 12 minutes of this film is a flashback synopsis of the previous film.But it turns out that Wallace Ford didn't really kill George Zucco with those bullets fired at point blank range. George has been waiting for 30 years, but he and the cult want some payback. Kharis survived too and Zucco before he dies turns him over to a new handler in Turhan Bey. They've even got a cover story with Bey getting a job as cemetery worker, the better to bring Kharis over from Egypt.The Mummy's Tomb takes the unusual step of having Kharis kill the heroes of the previous film. But Foran left a grown son in John Hubbard who has taken up the fight against the undead. And Bey deviates from the mission because he's decided he wants Hubbard's intended bride Elysse Knox all for himself and he sends Kharis out to arrange it in his inimitable fashion.I think you see where this one is going, but Universal did this one in their usual Gothic horror style. But The Mummy's Tomb is not as good as its predecessor and none of those films involving Kharis are anything approaching light years as good as Boris Karloff in the original The Mummy. Universal did not do as good as it did with Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman.Mummy films are the runt of Universal's litter.