Movie Review – The Mummy’s Tomb (1942)

In 1940, the horror film The Mummy’s Hand introduced the audience to a new storyline involving a killer mummy from ancient Egypt.

While not as successful or critically acclaimed as the original movie, 1932’s The Mummy, The Mummy’s Hand did offer a somewhat new plot along with a new cast of characters.  And unlike the original film, The Mummy’s Hand made it easier for the writers to continue the story in a sequel.

The Mummy’s Tomb continues the story that was established in The Mummy’s Hand.  As we suspected, the fire really didn’t kill Kharis.  It also turns out that Babe Jenson’s bullet didn’t kill Andoheb either.  Set thirty years later and in New England, Andoheb sends his follow with Kharis on a mission to kill everybody associated with the Banning Expedition along with their descendants.

Directed by Harold Young, The Mummy’s Tomb returns Dick Foran as Stephen Banning, Wallace Ford as Babe Hanson (renamed from Jenson in the previous film) and George Zucco as Andoheb.  In this film we’re introduced to John Hubbard as Dr. John Banning, Elyse Knox as Isobel Evans, Turhan Bey as the villain Mehemet Bey, and Lon Chaney, Jr. as the mummy Kharis.

The Mummy’s Tomb takes place thirty years after the events in the first film, putting this movie around the year 1970.

The film begins with an aged Stephen Banning (Dick Foran) recanting the tale of his expedition and that of Kharis the mummy to his family and friends.  Banning is back in his hometown of Mapleton, Massachusetts.  The guests at his home include his son, Dr. John Banning (John Hubbard), and his fiancée, Isobel Evans (Elyse Knox).  It takes about eight or nine minutes for Banning to tell his tale.  During that time we see flashback clips from the previous movie.  As far as Banning knows, both the mummy and Andoheb were killed.

The film switches to inside of an Egyptian tomb.  An elder Andoheb (George Zucco) is also telling the tale to his follower, Mehemet Bey (Turhan Bey).  He explains that Babe’s gunshot only crushed his arm, and it certainly did not kill him.  Nor was Kharis killed by the fire.  Andoheb has Mehemt open a sarcophagus and we see that the mummy Kharis (Lon Chaney, Jr.) is ready to be brought back to life with the tana leaves.

Andoheb explains to Mehemet about how to use the tana leaves to control Kharis.  He then sends him and Kharis on a trip to Mapleton, Massachusetts, where it’s been arranged for Mehemet to be the caretaker at the local cemetery.  While living and working in Mapleton, Mehemet is to use Kharis to kill the members of the Banning Expedition as well as their descendants.  Andoheb then dies and Mehemet heads to America on a ship with Kharis locked in a crate in the cargo hold.  While on the journey to America, Mehemet begins to administer the liquified tana leaves to Kharis to bring him back to life.

After Mehemet arrives in Mapleton, Massachusetts, he assumes his new job of the caretaker at the Mapleton Cemetery.  He conducts a small ceremony, liquifies more tana leaves, and then sets Kharis loose on Andoheb’s mission of revenge.  It’s nighttime as the mummy leaves the cemetery and heads into town to find his victims.  Some of the villagers spy something suspicious moving through the area, but they can only describe it as a shadow.  Nobody gets a clear look at the mummy.

Kharis arrives at Banning’s house, and his arrival unintentionally gets the dogs’ attention.  The dogs go into a barking frenzy and sound an alarm as the mummy calmly climbs a trellis to access the upper floor of the house.  He then enters Banning’s bedroom and strangles Stephen Banning to death.  The mummy then escapes from the house before anybody can investigate what just happened.

Nobody has any idea about who killed Stephen Banning.  The coroner (Emmett Vogan) doesn’t find any worthwhile evidence, and the villagers didn’t actually see the murderer.  John is also puzzled as he believed that his father had no enemies.  He sends news of his father’s death to Babe Hanson, his father’s accomplice on the Banning Expedition.

The following evening Babe Hanson (Wallace Ford) arrives in Mapleton to mourn for the loss of his friend and to also help look for the murderer.  Meanwhile, Kharis returns to the Banning house on orders to kill again.  A caretaker for the house spots the mummy and tries to shoot it with a shotgun, but the mortal weapon doesn’t phase it.  The man collapses and goes into shock while Kharis easily continues into the house like he did the previous night.  The mummy then finds and then strangles Jane Banning (Mary Gordon), Stephen Banning’s sister, to death.

The town’s newspapers go wild with headlines about a mysterious killer at large.  Now two people are dead and the only witness is suffering “. . . from severe mental shock,” so he’s useless to solving the crimes.

Babe Hanson thinks that the murders are the work of a mummy.  The only problem is that it’s only a theory as they have no solid evidence.  He believes that the dust marks found on Stephen and Jane’s throats is really mold from the mummy.  John Banning doesn’t want to believe Babe’s theory, and neither does the town’s sheriff or coroner.

Disgruntled that nobody is willing to listen to him, Babe heads to a local bar and orders a beer.  There he meets a newspaper reporter who is eager to listen to his theory about the murders, especially since Babe was part of the Banning Expedition thirty years ago.  Unfortunately, the newspaper reporter isn’t the only person in the bar listening to Babe’s story.  Mehemet is also there and he overhears Babe’s story.  He quickly leaves the bar and heads back to the cemetery.

A short while later, more villagers call the sheriff with reports of seeing the shadow again.  He goes out to investigate along with many of the villagers.  Babe instead chooses to retire for the evening, but as he’s walking down the empty streets he spots Kharis.  The mummy chases Babe into an alley where he then strangles and kills the man, bringing his death count to three.

John Banning takes the investigation into his own hands and brings a sample of the dust to Professor Norman (Frank Reicher).  The professor carefully analyses the sample and concludes that the dust is, in fact, mold that dates back several centuries.  The same goes true for the old piece of linen that was found in the town.  The scent and other evidence can be traced to a particular tree that only grows in northern Africa.  All of the evidence points to that of a mummy from ancient Egypt.

The following day John receives a telegram informing him of a promotion and transfer with the Medical Corps.  He’s to report to his new duty station, Fort Myers, in three days.  John takes a walk with Isobel Evans to tell her the news.  As they’re walking through the woods and discussing their future together, Mehemet runs across the happy couple and eavesdrops on them.

When Mehemet returns to the cemetery, he orders Kharis to go out and kidnap Isobel so that he can marry her instead of John.  If she were to marry John, then the two of them could produce an offspring and an heir to the Banning Expedition.  He’s under instructions by the late Andoheb to kill all of the descendants.  Kharis initially refuses to go out and kidnap Isobel, but he succumbs to Mehemet’s orders.  The mummy breaks into Isobel’s home and kidnaps the woman.

Meanwhile, a mob has gathered outside of the Banning house, and the sheriff briefs the men about the mummy that they are hunting.  One of the villagers mentions that the new caretaker of the Mapleton Cemetery was speaking all about Egypt.  That caretaker must know something about this mummy business in town.  Suddenly Isobel’s mother comes running to the house and tells John that Isobel was captured by the mummy.  It’s now a race against time to rescue the woman.

At the cemetery, Kharis delivers the unconscious Isobel to Mehemet.  She’s then strapped to a coffin to prevent her from fleeing.  When Isobel awakens, Mehemet informs her that she is to become a bride to the High Priest of Karnak and become immortal.  She is also to bear him an heir to the royal line.  Isobel faints when she learns of Mehemet’s evil plans.

Just as Mehemet is about to force Isobel to drink the liquified tana leaves, he hears the commotion from the angry mob.  Mehemet quickly unstraps Isobel and instructs Kharis to take and hide the woman from the mob.  As the mummy carries away the woman, Mehemet steps outside to calmly speak to the mob of people.  Mehemet stalls for time and then pulls out his gun.  When he does one of the villagers shoots and kills him.

Kharis carries Isobel to the Banning house.  The mob follows his footprints, and they quickly close the distance to the creature.  Once again the mummy climbs the trellis to access the upper floor of the house.  The mob surrounds the house and John tries to run up the stairs and free Isobel.  He fails when the mummy pushes him down the stairs.  John recovers and makes a second attempt to free his fiancée from the creature.  This time when confronting Kharis he uses fire to keep the mummy at bay.  John flees with Isobel and sets the house on fire.  He and Isobel escape down the trellis while the sheriff and coroner distract the mummy.  The two men then escape from the house and set fire to the trellis, trapping the mummy on the upper floor as the house continues to burn.

Newspaper headlines later report that the mummy perished in the flames.

The Mummy’s Tomb ends with the marriage of Dr. John Banning and Isobel Evans.  The final scene shows the two lovers at the Mapleton train station leaving for their honeymoon.

So is The Mummy’s Tomb a good movie?

Although this film lacks original material and ideas, I found this movie to be fairly enjoyable and slightly better than the previous mummy film, The Mummy’s Hand.

For starters, this is a much better Universal Studios monster movie as the mummy is purely a killing machine.  He follows the orders of the high priest and kills (or kidnaps) anybody ordered.  There’s more of a shock value here as he will kill a defenseless woman just as he would to an armed man.  There is no discrimination.  Nor is there any mercy.  When Kharis is sent on a mission to kill, he kills.

Thankfully this is the majority of the movie as other parts of the film will leave you scratching your head.

One of the more questionable parts of the movie is why the events take place thirty years after the Banning Expedition in the first movie?  Shouldn’t Andoheb have tried to get his revenge when he was younger?  I’m sure there’s a back story as to why this movie was set so much later in time, but without explaining it the viewers are left in confusion.  Instead of showing us about eight minutes of footage from the first film, The Mummy’s Tomb could have done a better job setting the background for this film.

Another blaring question is how is Kharis able to find his targets so easily?  It’s like he has a homing beacon.  There’s probably some ancient Egyptian magic involved here, but again, it would have been nice to have at least a small clue as to how the mummy sought out his victims.

Finally, in the end of The Mummy’s Hand, we know that Kharis was *not* killed by the fire.  Are we really sure that he died in the fire this time?  The newspaper headline says so, but fire is a mortal weapon and Kharis is an immortal creature.  As far as we know, the only thing keeping him “alive” are the liquified tana leaves.

The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) – movie trailer

The Mummy’s Tomb is a solid B-movie, and, sadly, the plot holes go along with it.  Still, parts of this movie are entertaining, and this is a classic film from Universal Studios’ glory days of monster movies.  If you’re a fan of that era, then make sure that The Mummy’s Tomb is on your listing of films to watch.