Has any man before ever offered his bride the gift of eternal life?
This movie is similar to The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) with a couple of better actors like John Carradine and Barton MacLane. The movie has a 33 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[1] However, the plot has a Mack truck-size hole in it. Did they even watch the earlier movies before they slapped this together? Anyway, it is a fun watch and I really enjoyed seeing the young John Carradine. So, I’ll jump right into the show veterans, of which there are a few.
Actors – The Mummy’s Ghost (1944)
Returning
Lon Chaney Jr. is returning in the role of Kharis AKA the mummy. Chaney was first covered in Of Mice and Men (1939).
George Zucco reprised his role as the High Priest from The Mummy’s Hand (1940) and The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), but this time working for a different sect. Zucco was first covered in The Mummy’s Hand (1940).
Frank Reicher returned as Professor Matthew Norman, the role he had in The Mummy’s Tomb (1942). However, his part was much larger this time. Reicher was first covered in King Kong (1933)
John Carradine appeared as the young priest the replaces the High Priest and executes the mission, Yousef Bey. Carradine was covered in Billy the Kidd Versus Dracula (1966).
Barton MacLane was cast in the role of Inspector Walgreen, bringing more gravitas to this character. MacLane was covered in The Maltese Falcon (1941).
Martha Vickers showed up as an uncredited student. Vickers was briefly mentioned in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).
New
Robert Lowery played Tom Hervey. Lowery was born in Missouri in 1913. He grew up and went to school in Kansas City and later played minor league ball. An injury ended his sports career and when his father died early, Lowery and his mother moved to Los Angles to find work. Lowery enrolled in acting schools and after several plays, he signed with Fox in 1938.
He is known for The Mark of Zorro (1940), Batman and Robin (1949), The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond (1960), and McLintock! (1963) where he played the incompetent territorial governor chasing John Wayne’s wife played by Maureen O’Hara.
He kept himself busy on television and running a celebrity cruise business. Lowery died on New Year’s Eve, 1971.
Ramsay Ames played Egyptian college student Amina Mansouri. Ramsey was born in New York City in 1919. Ramsay made a living as a model, dancer, and a singer. During a visit to California, she had a chance meeting with Columbia President Harry Cohn. This lead to a screen test and a movie role in Two Señoritas from Chicago (1943). Her best-known films are Calling Dr. Death (1943), The Mummy’s Ghost (1944), Follow the Boys (1944), and The Gay Cavalier (1946). It is said that more stuntmen were hurt on back lots running across roofs to look at her that were generally hurt filming a western.[2] In the late 1940s, she moved to Spain with her husband where she had a television interview show.
Ramsay died in 1998.
Story – The Mummy’s Ghost (1944)
This movie is more or less a continuation of The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), which is of course, more or less a continuation of The Mummy’s Hand (1940), which more or less used clips from The Mummy (1932) and shuffled the original story. After departing from The Mummy (1932), they made it pretty clear that Kharis, needs the juice of three tanna leaves, each night during the full moon cycle. Without getting dragged back into the argument about how long a full moon actually last, I want to know how long it has been since Kharis burned to death in the Banning house in The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) and how exactly is he still alive if no one was there to give him his tea! The people in the movie talk about remembering when the last mummy attack happened, so I get the feeling it was more than 30-days. Is it in the title, the mummy’s ghost? Is this mummy a ghost of a mummy that is a reanimated dead man? Ahh, the world may never know.
The actual movie begins with some shots around the pyramids. Then it reuses a long shot of a man walking towards Anaka’s temple. Inside Andoheb (George Zucco), the High Priest of Arkham is alive and waiting for the arrival of the young priest Yousef Bey (John Carradine). Andoheb is no longer working for the priest of Karnak, probably having lost that job due to incompetence. The two men meet and Andoheb gives him the mission briefing. Andoheb lays out the entire tale of how the mummy was created.
When Andoheb says 30-years ago, the scene switches to Mapleton, Massachusetts, where Professor Matthew Norman (Frank Reicher) teaching archeology to a very skeptical group. He tells the story of Kharis and Anaka and the small role he had in tracking the mummy. He tells them that he saw the creature and examined the mold on the bandage. He also says he has been researching with the remaining tanna leaves.
After class, a student asks Tom Hervey (Robert Lowery) about his Egyptian girlfriend Amina Mansori (Ramsay Ames) and he gets all pissy. Of course, we know this town has a history of racial profiling of Egyptians. Anyway, Tom says she gets all weird anytime Egypt is mentioned.
Tom drops by Amina work and she has raven-colored hair. Of course, Tom brings up Egypt. When she gets weird, he presses the issue. When she picks up some books on Egypt, she gets very weak.
Back in Egypt, Andoheb is giving Yousef Bey a class on Kharis and say the mission is to bring Kharis and Anaka back to Egypt. Yousef takes the vow willingly. Andoheb explains how to make the tanna tea that calls Kharis but only during the full moon.
Back in Mapleton, Dr. Norman is hard at work decoding a message on a vase. He realizes that he must brew nine tanna leaves during the full moon. His wife begs him to come to bed, but he stays up and continues to work. He brews nine tanna leaves and the mummy shuffles out of the woods, looking a little worse for the burning he took.
Amina squirms in her bed like a hooker in church. Finally, she gets up and walks trancelike in the same direction as the mummy, to the house of Professor Norman. The mummy comes in through the open door and goes straight towards the professor. You have to move side to side, that mummy is good at going forward. It is reported that Lon Chaney was so into the role at this point that he actually left bruises on the neck on actor Frank Reicher. The mummy drinks the fluid and leaves the house.
Amina sees the mummy and awakens from her trance just in time to pass out on the street in her PJs. She has also grown a nasty mole on her wrist.
In the morning, Tom gets word that Norman has been killed and Amina has been found outside. He heads over. The sheriff (Harry Shannon) and the coroner (Emmett Vogan) are examining the body and when they see the marks on the neck, they know right away that it is mold and the mummy is back. They have Amina sitting and crying in the same room with the body.
The sheriff starts grilling Amina but she can’t remember anything. She has a huge white stream in her once dark hair. Tom bursts into the room and tries to provide an alibi for Amina but they separated at 11 pm and the murder took place near midnight. The sheriff finally releases her.
The newspapers show that the mummy is back in Mapleton. Everyone that is able registers to watch the streets for the mummy. Yousef has shown up in town. On the next full moon, Yousef brews the 9 tanna leaves too summon Kharis. The mummy almost gets Amina and Tom as they park at a lover’s lane. A man comes out of the woods and the couple leaves because they are scared.
The mummy is shuffling through a farm when he is attacked by a dog. The man from the woods goes out to see what it is and the mummy dispatches him. The sheriff investigates and they find mummy prints. They form a search party and head out after the mummy.
Finally, the mummy shows up and has his tanna leaves. Yousef takes control of the mummy and the next day head to the Scripps Museum, which I guess is located in New York City. Yousef goes on the mummy tour but slips back to the mummified body of Anaka. Later that night, Yousef lets the mummy into the museum. Yousef prepares the ceremony as the mummy shuffles, and the night guard listens to murder stories on the radio.
Kharis touches the wrappings around Anaka’s body and it deflates. At the same time, Amina sits up in bed and screams. The mummy is kind of freaking out but Yousef knows that the soul of Anaka has entered another form. The mummy starts destroying the room. The night guard comes in and takes a couple of shots at the mummy but is quickly killed. Actor Chaney, breaks a glass and cuts his chin through his mask and can be seen bleeding during the scene.
Amina says she felt the cold touch of someone in her room. Later that day, Tom tries to get the sheriff to let him take her away from town. He tells Tom of the murder in the museum.
In the museum, Police Inspector Walgreen (Barton MacLane) and Dr. Ayad (Lester Sharpe) can’t understand how the body of Anaka disappeared leaving the wrappings behind. Dr. Ayad reads the curse of Anaka off the sarcophagus. It says her body can take another form.
Walgreen and Ayad head to Mapleton and get a briefing from the sheriff. Ayad recognizes the tanna leaves and reads the hieroglyphics on the box to find out that the mummy can be summoned. Walgreen thinks that’s a great thing to do. Walgreen tells them to dig a pit in front of the door to trap the mummy.
Amina is still suffering and Tom plans to take her out of town and marry her. He leaves his dog with Amina.
Yousef prays to Amon Ra to help the mummy find the soul of Anaka. He sends Kharis out and says he will recognize her by a sign. They are holed up in an abandoned mill.
Walgreen interviews Professor Norman’s wife and finds out that they need to brew nine tanna leaves. Ayad starts cooking the tea. Amina is having a rough night and the dog wakes her. Again in a trance and her PJs, she heads towards the mummy. When she sees the mummy, she passes out and he carries her away.
Amina’s guardian sees the mummy carrying her away and calls Tom. Tom heads out after her. The little dog follows. What – Timmy’s trapped in the well. The Guardian runs and warns Walgreen what has happened. The dog leads Tom towards the mill.
The mummy delivers Amina to Yousef and more of her hair is turning white. They verify that she is Anaka by the mark on her wrist. Yousef tells Amina that she is Anaka and she takes it really well.
The mob of armed lawmen is heading towards the mills. Yousef starts having second doubts and wants to get funky with Amina who’s hair is now completely white. He plans on giving her a dose of tanna leaves so he can live with her forever.
This is like the third time that the mummy has heard this tripe and he attacks Yousef. He slaps Yousef out the window, killing him. Tom arrives at the mill and meets the mummy coming down the conveyor. The mummy beats the crap out of Tom and goes back to Amina.
Kharis grabs Amina and runs out the back. She is getting older all the time. The lawmen show up and the mummy flees into the swamp. As Tom and the men follow, the aging Amina, now Anaka head deeper into the swamp. Finally, they sink in the water as Tom and the others watch from a distance. Thank goodness that mummy is finally dead.
But really, the leading lady dies. When does that happen?
World-Famous Short Summary – Two men fight over the best-looking woman around
Beware the moors
[2] Director William Witney
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