7/10
Le Borg's direction is much more stylish than his usual
29 May 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Copyright 31 December 1943 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 30 June 1944. U.S. release: 7 July 1944. U.K. release: 2 June 1947 (sic). Australian release: 6 July 1944. 6 reels. 5,499 feet. 61 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Sequel to The Mummy's Tomb starring Chaney junior as the mummy. Since Turhan Bey failed in the previous movie, Egyptian priest Zucco sends John Carradine to New England to help the mummy find his princess. This time a young college co-ed played by Ramsay Ames is the Ananka look-alike.

NOTES: Number four of the seven-picture "Mummy" series.

COMMENT: The story continues on from The Mummy's Tomb (1942). The mummy it appears was not destroyed in the fire after all, but only disfigured - if you can imagine a mummy being disfigured, though his one eye is rather frightening. Lon Chaney is so completely swathed in bandages as to be unrecognizable - any stuntman or cheap double could have done just as well. Robert Lowery is a rather wet hero, though Ramsay Ames makes a rather fetching heroine and there is a solid cast of character players.

Le Borg's direction is much, much more stylish than his usual humble standard. Some of the sequences are compellingly stated and good use is made of natural locations at the climax. The film looks well-produced though Sickner's photography lacks the atmosphere that Woody Bredell would have brought to the film. The eerie effects are mainly achieved through Jack Pierce's skilled make-up and Salter's well-thumbed musical compilation of standard Universal "B"-picture themes.

There is more than a hint of blasphemy in the script's adaptation of King James-type prayers to pagan identities such as Amon-Ra and it's odd that this was deemed acceptable by the supposedly strict censors of 1944.
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