Movie Review – The Mummy’s Hand (1940)

Back in 1932 the audiences were terrified with The Mummy, a horror film that involved an ancient Egyptian priest being brought back to life, and his quest to kill a modern woman so that he can reincarnate an Egyptian princess.

The Mummy was a hit with the audiences.  Not only did the film provide thrills and chills, but it also involved the ancient Egyptians, one of the oldest known civilizations.  And mummies, pyramids and tombs are just plain awesome as well.

It was just a matter of time before The Mummy would receive a sequel.  More Mummy films would be made, but, unfortunately, none of them would be a sequel to the original film.

Released in 1940, The Mummy’s Hand is a new Mummy film that’s part remake/ripoff of the original film, and part original story.  The Mummy’s Hand does involve a similar back story and even uses footage from The Mummy, the main story has been changed to present an original film.

Directed by Christy Cabanne, The Mummy’s Hand stars Dick Foran as Steve Banning, an archaeologist in Egypt who is down on his luck at making a major discovery.  Wallace Ford is Babe Jenson, Banning’s sidekick, and Peggy Moran plays the role of Marta Solvani, Banning’s accomplice / partial love interest / damsel in distress.  Tom Tyler plays the role of Kharis, an Egyptian mummy still alive after thousands of years.

The Mummy’s Hand begins in modern times (1940) as Egyptian Andoheb (George Zucco) arrives at the Hill of the Seven Jackals to answer the summons of the High Priest of Karnak (Eduardo Ciannelli).  The elderly priest is dying and has decided to tell his follower, Andoheb, the story of Kharis (Tom Tyler).  The two of them gaze into a pool of water and the high priest explains that Princess Ananka died and Kharis tried to resurrect her body by using tana leaves.  Kharis is caught in the act, and as punishment he is mummified alive and buried underground with tana leaves.

The high priest informs Andoheb that the secret to controlling Kharis is through the tana leaves.  During each full moon, the leaves can be cooked and converted into a fluid which can then be administered to Kharis and to keep him alive.  If Andoheb would need to restore movement to Kharis so that he could be used to attack people, for example, then Andoheb would need a bigger dose of tana leaves.  The priest cautions that too many tana leaves will give Kharis uncontrollable power.

Meanwhile, archaeologist Steve Banning (Dick Foran) is down on his luck when it comes to making a major discovery in Egypt.  He’s touring a market one day with his assistant, Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford), when he finds an old vase with some hieroglyphics.  He believes that the ancient inscription has clues that will lead them to the hidden tomb of Princess Ananka.  Unfortunately, purchasing the vase uses the last of their money.

Banning and Jenson take the vase to be further analyzed by Dr. Petrie (Charles Trowbridge) at the Cairo Museum, and he concurs with Banning’s belief that the hieroglyphics lead to Princess Ananka’s tomb.  Andoheb also works for the Cairo Museum, but he tries to discourage Banning from venturing to that part of Egypt.  He claims that the previous expedition disappeared without leaving behind any traces.  Andoheb’s discouragement only forces Banning to go out and seek his own funding.  After Banning and Jenson leave the museum, Andoheb is seen meeting with a local beggar, implying that there’s something more sinister to Andoheb’s intentions.

The two archaeologists go to a bar and Jenson tries to use card tricks to win money, but it doesn’t go very well.  Jenson’s “tricks” go poorly when he tries to swindle an American magician named The Great Solvani (Cecil Kellaway) out of some money.  Solvani is a good sport though and treats the two archaeologists to a round of drinks.  He then listens to Banning’s story and signs on as a financial supporter for Banning’s expedition.

When Solvani’s daughter, Marta Solvani (Peggy Moran), hears about her father spending two thousand dollars, she’s furious and believes that the two men are just fraudsters.  She confronts them in their hotel room and learns that Banning was really speaking the truth.

The expedition begins and the Solvanis tag along.  It’s not long before they accidentally discover a tomb marked by the Seal of the Seven Jackals.  Banning believes that it contains the remains of Princess Ananka.  Inside the tomb though are the mummified remains of a man, and not the princess.  Dr. Petrie helps Banning further analyze the mummy and they conclude that he was buried alive.  He was also buried with a collection of tana leaves.

Andoheb had been quietly observing the expedition, and he surprises Dr. Petrie inside the tomb with the mummy.  He has Dr. Petrie feel the mummy’s wrist and discover that it still has a pulse.  Andoheb then takes the liquid version of nine tana leaves and administers it to the mummy.  The mummy (Tom Tyler) suddenly comes alive and strangles Dr. Petrie.  When Banning and Jensen hear the professor’s screams and finally reach the tomb, the mummy is gone and Dr. Petrie is dead.

In a secret tomb, Andoheb tells the mummy that he may have control of his other hand and leg when he finds more of the tana leave liquid.  That liquid is in the tents in the nearby campground, and he is to kill anybody he finds over there.  He sends the mummy on his mission.

Meanwhile, in the campground, Marta analyzes some hieroglyphics and discovers that the tomb of Princess Ananka must be on the other side of the mountain, and that a hidden tunnel connects the two tombs.  While the gang goes back into the mummy’s tomb to look for more clues, the mummy enters the campground and kills one of the native overseers.

Later that night, the mummy returns to the campground and enters the Solvanis’ tent.  The mummy attacks The Great Solvani and then kidnaps Marta, carrying the woman’s unconscious body back to the tomb.  Banning and Jensen spot the mummy and follow it back to its tomb, but when they reach the tomb the mummy is gone.  The two of them return to the campground and shoot and kill the beggar from the Cairo bazaar when it tries to attack them.  The beggar was wearing a medallion that implies there’s a tunnel connecting the two tombs buried in the mountain.  The two men separate and set out in search of Marta and Princess Ananka’s tomb.

Marta is carried inside of Princess Ananka’s tomb and she is strapped to a table.  She wakes from her sleep and is horrified when Andoheb tells her about his plans for immortality by injecting herself and then himself with the liquid version of tana leaves.  Just as he’s about to inject Marta with the tana leaves, Andoheb hears somebody approach the tomb.  He takes a gun and goes to investigate.  Jensen confronts him and then shoots and kills Andoheb.

As Jensen was dealing with Andoheb, Banning had found the secret tunnel and he made it to Princess Ananka’s tomb.  He reaches Marta and cuts her free from the table.  The mummy also arrives inside of the tomb.  Banning tries to shoot and kill the creature, but the mortal weapon is useless against the immortal creature.  The mummy spots the liquid tana leaves and tries to drink them and gain back all of its strength.  Just as the mummy is about to drink it, Jensen arrives and shoots the container out of the mummy’s hands, causing the liquid to spill on the floor.  When the mummy tries to drink it, Banning kills the mummy by setting it on fire.

The Mummy’s Hand ends with Banning and Marta together and heading back to the United States along with Jensen and Marta’s father.  It’s implied that they recovered the mummified body of Princess Ananka along with the rest of the treasure within her tomb.  Banning is set to receive a promotion when he returns to the Museum of Manhattan in New York City.

So is The Mummy’s Hand a good movie?

Yes and no.

For starters, the background story for Kharis is basically a ripoff of Imhotep from The Mummy.  Just switch actors and replace the Scroll of Thoth for tana leaves, and there you go.  That part of The Mummy’s Hand is nearly identical to The Mummy.

The rest of The Mummy’s Hand is mediocre at best.  The first half of the film tends to drag on before we see any interesting material.  We know that Andoheb is a sinister character, but his motives are too mysterious in the beginning for there to be much tension or thrills.  We really don’t know about Andoheb’s true quest for immortality until basically the end of the movie.

One of the biggest differences between The Mummy and The Mummy’s Hand is the mummy creature itself.  In the first film the mummy is a creature that was brought back to life and is now capable of its own rational thoughts and actions.  It’s a creature that can speak, think, and blend in with the rest of the society, making it a very dangerous creature.  In the first film we briefly see the creature wrapped in bandages (with some outstanding make-up, BTW).  For the rest of the movie, the mummy is in its camouflaged human form.

In The Mummy’s Hand the mummy is only seen wrapped in bandages.  This time the creature is primarily controlled by a master, and in this film it’s almost exclusively used as a killing machine.  We briefly see the mummy act on its own after Andoheb is killed by Jensen, but at that point the mummy is only trying to get to the liquid tana leaves so that it can regain full control of its body.  It’s unknown what the mummy would have done after that point as it was set on fire and killed.

Speaking of the fire, how was it that bullets couldn’t kill the mummy but fire could?  Isn’t fire just as “mortal” of a weapon as bullets, or does fire have a special effect on allegedly immortal creatures?

The Mummy’s Hand (1940) – movie trailer

What this version of the mummy does best is simply killing people.  In The Mummy’s Hand, the mummy is only seen in its bandages, making it a great movie monster.  And in this film the mummy walks slowly, is nearly indestructible, and it has incredible strength.  It’s easy to see how the bandaged version of the mummy became an icon with the classic Universal Studios monster movies, just like Dracula, Frankenstein and The Wolf Man.

The Mummy’s Hand is clearly a B-movie.  It’s not great, nor is it a terrible movie.  This is just a classic Universal Studios monster movie featuring a fantastic creature.

Andoheb – “You are very beautiful… so beautiful I’m going to make you immortal. Like Kharis, you will live forever. What I can do for you I can do for myself. Neither time nor death can touch us. You and I together for eternity here in the Temple of Karnak. You shall be my high priestess.”