I keep telling myself that he is really poor Zahi Hawass after going bonkers with the aliens-built-the-pyramids folks, his struggle to bring antiquities back to Egypt right as the country goes to hell... "I think UFOs built the..ack" Yes ladies and gents--it's skeptic mummy. Tired of SG1 fans crawling all over your sphinx? Or ISIS trashing all your events? Just send in skeptic mummy to choke the life out of all these pests. But he's wrapped in VCR tape. Well...
I haven't watched a lot of classic mummy movies and I think I was expecting something more out of Scooby Doo but he was pretty creepy and dynamic. This movie looks like it was before the Hammer house style became more pronounced and was a bit stodgy in that old movie way.
I didn't watch it this time but I've seen it before, and I'd agree that the personality clash is the best part... and it's interesting with many old movies how it's hard to root for the "heroes" against the colonial "villains" from today's perspective. The old Cary Grant Gunga Din has moments like that too.
The Karnak thing dates back to The Mummy's Hand (1940), where the "High Priests of Karnak" were responsible for guarding Kharis. It was, however, the Scroll of Thoth, "by which Isis raised Osiris from the dead," which was invoked the original Karloff movie. Kinda curious that Hammer never revived Lee's Mummy since, plot-wise, it would have been easy enough to raise him from that bog he disappears into. But, as noted above, their next Mummy movie was not linked to this one and started over again from scratch.
^According to Ben Mankiewicz's afterword, Lee had such a rough time dealing with the costume and the demands of the role -- apparently he injured himself repeatedly during the production -- that he refused to ever again do a heavy makeup role. I guess they figured that if they couldn't bring Lee back, there was no point in reviving his character.
Which seems odd, given that the character is so heavily made up that it would be easy enough to substitute another actor. I mean, I can why Lee would find it a thankless and uncomfortable role, but why not have another actor play the same Mummy? It's not like Universal ever balked at replacing the Mummy . . .
^Well, I haven't seen the second movie in the sequence yet, so I can't say whether it would've worked with the same mummy. Maybe needing to recast the role just inspired them to start over with the whole thing -- not because they had to, but because they could.
Yeah. It's just odd because Hammer did try to maintain some kind of continuity in its Frankenstein and Dracula series, and the ending of THE MUMMY does seem like a prime set-up for a sequel. The Mummy wasn't even destroyed, just preserved in a bog for the duration . . . Heck, if there's any monster that's known for coming back after being buried alive, it's a Mummy!
Since the discussion has somewhat focused on Hammer "Mummy" films, I'll note that that I watched "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb" last Saturday. If I ever watched it earlier, I was no doubt too young to actively remember it. It was supposed to star Peter Cushing as Julian Fuchs, the acheologist heading the expedition and father to Margaret, the focal point of the story. But Cushing left the production after one day's shooting when he learned his wife fell ill with emphysema. Andrew Keir, probably better known to genre fans for portraying Professor Quatermass in the film adaptation of "Quatermass and the Pit", replaced Cushing as Fuchs. Adding to the problems, the director, Seth Holt died literally on set and the final days of shooting was done by Michael Carreras. It was loosely based upon a story by Dracula's author, Bram Stoker, titled "The Jewel of Seven Stars". It was atypical for a "mummy" film as it did not depict a lumbering, desicated cadaver seeking revenge. rather, it dealt with a beautiful young woman being slowly possessed by the spirit of an Egyptian sorceress, both played by Valerie Leon. Actually, she didn't have to do much as the Egyptian other than hold her breath as they filmed her reclining in a sarcophagus mystically and perfectly preserved, unencumbered by linen wrappings. Since it was the early 70s, Hammer grew even more daring with the suggestive nature of its films. In some shots of Ms. Leon as Queen Tera, she appears to reveal the underside of her bustline, nipples strategically hidden by a decorative pectoral collar. Other shots reveal her wearing a flesh toned "bra" likely because she had to struggle and there was a danger the collar would slip. But at least one shot used repeatedly certainly looked as though she genuinely bared, ahem, "under-boob". I wondered if that was berely wishful assumption on my part, but there was a scene with Margaret bolting from the bed where her lover slept and she steps into a patch of light that revealed a very bare, uh, "backside". I won't debate the merits of the narrative as that kind of thing is highly "subjective". Sincerely, Bill
A lil' tidbit about Valerie Leon... If I correctly understood the article, she was one of the actresses considered for the role of Vampirella in a "failed to get made" Hammer Films production in 1976. Caroline Munro was the studio's first choice, but she declined since the strip called for nudity. Valerie leon was considered one of their "fall back" choices. I forget the reason why her selection did not pan out. It would have been odd if she too declined for reasons of nudity given she "mooned" the audience in "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb", but ultimately, Hammer struck an agreement with Barbara Leigh, a former PlayBoy model. Peter Cushing was to have played Pendragon, a semmingly second rate stage magician who is a mentor and eccentric uncle figure to the maid from Draculon. Cushing drew a portrait of his role within the script he was given, one that closely resembled the character as he was drawn in the original Warren Magazine comic. Thankfully, someone took a photograph of that drawing and a scan of the photo eventually made it online for all to see. (Cushing was quite the skilled illustrator and sculptor of miniatures, both objects and figurines. He made it a hobby to recreate pivotal scenes of the stage plays in which he performed. I don't know if he followed that practice for the movies he did, but it would be so cool to see little dioramas Cushing might have constructed for his two Doctor Who films!) Sadly, just as Hammer started to develop the project, the studio declared bankruptsy and the movie died in early pre-production. One good thing resulted from it however, Vampirella's infamous red "bikini" was tailored for Ms. Leigh and she posed for a photoshoot. several of the images were printed as cover art for the comic in 1977 or '78. Thus Barbara Leigh became the first official Vampi' model. Some fans have wondered how Caroline Munro and Valerie Leon might have looked and thanks to PhotoShop, they have "frankensteined" their faces onto images of other models. Some are rather 'clumsy", but a few appear near seamless. Hmm, that kinda' wandered onto a tangent. Sincerely, Bill
"Jewel" is actually a full-length novel. I actually reprinted it at Tor several years ago, complete with a beautiful Boris Vallejo cover. It's probably Stoker's second-best book and has been filmed at least three times--never under its own title!
I seem to remember a version back in the 80s that wasn't very good. I missed Blood From The Mummy's Tomb, but it's probably up on On Demand by now. I'll watch it tomorrow. I've got the next few days off. I'm not exactly a Hammer expert, but I think they were allowing nudity in their films by then, so the minimal nudity in Blood may have been reluctance on the actress's part. It's a shame that the Vampirella movie never happened. Warren and Hammer were made for each other.
Is "On Demand" a "pay per view" type service? If so, you might feel disappointed. "Blood..." is not one of Hammer's more atmospheric productions. Some of it is quite...awkward. There's a sequence when Maragret's boyfriend drives away in his convertible. A storm starts to roll into the area and the guy tries to pull up the top while driving and thus loses control of the car. But is is so pathetically obvious the car is standing perfectly still as the actor pretends to struggle with the ragtop. So the final cut looks like he's driving; a clap of thunder echoes; he's stopped the car to pull up the top; he's suddenly driving again; and finally slams into a tree. Very bad editing and camera angles. Really, the main draw of the film is Ms. leon, either in sultry repose with naught but a pectoral collar or sleeping restlessly, her chest heaving as she struggles with nightmares. As for vampirella, yes, a film was produced. But many Vampi fans would rather forget it was made. As tacky as this may sound, let's face it, a great deal of her appeal is her distinctive blood red "bikini" and the outfit presented in the 1996 "direct to video" film was ironically far more "conservative" than the average beachwear ensemble. The "panty" section came almost to the navel and just had no "flow". Supposedly, it wqas designed this way to avoid "wardrobe malfunctions" during filming. I don't buy that idea. I have personally seen Leslie Culton (fan-girl turned pro "scream queen") sport a Vampi-kini just as abbreviated as the more stylized, minimal designs in the comics, strutting around Dragon-Con for photo-ops and she never experienced a "nip slip" while in public. Besides, in a film, if there was an accidental reveal, the shot could be taken again. Concerning the Hammer attempt, an outline posted on-line 9for which I'm providing a link) seemingly wanted to include some of the hot paranormal topics of the 1970s, specifically, the Bermuda Triangle. Some fans in the linked thread wonder if we may have "dodged a bullet" when the studio failed. They seem a bit dubious of the outline. Never the less, here is that discussion. It also presents a couple of those PhotoShop experiments In mentioned a couple of posts above, placing Valerie Leon's and Caroline Munro's faces onto fans in costume. At least that will give one an idea how a Hammer Films Vampi might have looked. It also features the Cushing sketch of Pendragon http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/26647/Vampirella Sincerely, Bill
Sometimes, for premium content. But for something like TCM, it's generally a free service of the cable provider that lets you watch certain programs whenever you want (i.e. on demand) rather than at a preset time. So for instance, on my Time Warner Cable service, I can change to channel 1400, Free Movies On Demand, and it gives me a menu of channels. I scroll over to TCM, and I can choose from a limited selection of films that are currently available for instant viewing. But it doesn't include Blood from the Mummy's Tomb at the moment. Maybe it will later; there's sometimes a week's delay for these things. But it only offers seven films at the moment, so there's no guarantee than any given film will show up.