Five years after the tomb of Imhotep is discovered, and the mummy is accidentally brought back to life, Imhotep, in the guise of Ardath Bey, directs a team of archeologists to the tomb of his beloved Ankh-es-en-amon. Now that Ankh-es-en-amon's mummified body is within his reach, Ardath Bey encounters Helen Grosvener, who he is certain is the reincarnation of Ankh-es-en-amaon, and he intends to make her his bride.
I was surprised to see that I hadn't watched The Mummy (1932) as part of my Halloween countdown in the past. The Mummy has always been one of my favorite Universal monsters, but my feelings towards the movie itself have been all over the place over the years. There were periods where I found it dull and long, but for at least the past decade I've found it to be a marvelous movie and much more suspenseful than Dracula (1931) which The Mummy is essentially a remake of. Boris Karloff is fantastic as the ancient Ardath Bey, giving him a regal presence while simultaneously suggesting how incredibly fragile he must be physically. His character is also incredibly menacing and determined, and the supernatural aspects of his abilities are well presented even though it's through not much more than illuminating his eyes. Zita Johann as Helen, is also magnetic to watch with her exotic beauty as she wrestles with possibly being two women inhabiting one body and the draw that Ardath Bey has on her. David Manners plays the leading man and is only slightly less boring than usual. This was the perfect movie to close the month with.
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