boudica_'s Full Review: Mummy: The Legacy Collection
The Mummy is one of Universal Studio’s black and white "horror" films from the 1930s and 40s that was released in a special collection called "The Legacy Collection". These collections were themed movies, about 4 to 6 films in each collection, that were focused around the one "big hit" and it's "Sons of" features.
The Mummy is the must have title classic featuring Boris Karloff in one of his best "horror" roles. He plays a dual role here as "the mummy" ImHoTep/"the modern" Ardath Bey. He is seeking his lost love, the woman he died for thousands of years ago, and finds the lovely Helen played by Zita Johann. Classic material, lovely shots of Egypt, and a great film overall. Especially love the "flash backs" which builds a great story that carries into that current day. The Title for this review comes from this film.
The collection also includes The Mummy's Hand. While not as good as the original it is supposed to be "spooky". But it lacks the chemistry and a good strong cast and it is more of a comedy than a horror film. The original story is changed, and this one is a lemon in my opinion. Kharis is the mummy’s name, we have a "High Priest of Karnak" who controls the mummy, two very comic archeologists and rampaging "on command" mummy.
These are all "Sons of" movies, featuring Mummy's. Not as good as the original in my opinion, but for the time period, they were good box office follow-ups that attracted attention and the public back then seemed to like it.
Lon Chaney Jr. stars as the mummy in The Mummy’s Tomb and to be honest, the script is lacking and this is not a good vehicle for Lon Chaney Jr.'s excellent talents. The story follows the "changed" script, with Kharis the mummy, and Mehmet Bey as the controlling High Priest who travels to the US to kill off tomb desecrators. We move from Egypt to – "Cajun Country". Huh?
Lon Chaney Jr. reprises his role in The Mummy's Curse and again, he is good, but the script fails him. Again in Cajun Country, we end up with the mummy who was formerly buried in quicksand now showing in an irrigation ditch and going on a rampage looking for a woman.
And finally, we see The Mummy's Ghost again with Lon Chaney Jr. as Kharis and featuring John Carradine as the High Priest Yousef Bey. Again, the story spins, but we are treated to a couple of great actors in a film that was not totally bad, but not anywhere near the original.
The films keep to the "lost love" theme, but never make it as good as the original. And running through some of these films, you will catch where they clip out of the earlier films to fill in the later ones. Some of the acting by some of the lesser characters is just plain bad.
Quality wise, these films are cleaned up, the sound is very good and overall the appearance of these films is remarkable. There are also extras, like the making of the film, theatrical trailers, stills, and film history. This is a two disk set with a double sided DVD.
These "collections" do contain some films that you will not find anywhere else, and if you are a big fan of the old Universal horror films, especially The Mummy, and cameos by classic actors, this collection will fill the bill. This one was a bit better in that it did have one classic movie and one "Son of" that wasn’t so bad. But it does have some pretty cheesy films included.
This 2-disc set contains Universal Studios' horror classic THE MUMMY 1932 and its four sequels: THE MUMMY'S HAND 1940 THE MUMMY'S TOMB 1942 THE MUMMY'...More at Family Video
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