‘Half-bone, half-bandage and all blood-curdling horror!’
The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb is a British horror film about archaeologists who ship an Egyptian mummy’s sarcophagus to London. However, someone has the amulet to revive the mummy that will then kill all those who disturbed its tomb.
The movie was directed and produced by Michael Carreras from a screenplay credited to Henry Younger [Michael Carreras and Alvin Rakoff]. The Hammer Films production stars Terence Morgan, Ronald Howard, Fred Clark and Jeanne Roland.
The film was released in the Britain on 18 October 1964 and, in the US, by Columbia Pictures on 31 December 1964. Unlike most Hammer films of that period, it was filmed at Elstree Studios, rather than the company’s permanent home at Bray. With the exception of (for example) character actors Michael Ripper and George Pastell, director Carreras and designer Bernard Robinson, most of the cast and crew were not Hammer veterans.
Plot [contains spoilers]:
Egypt in the year 1900. A mummy is discovered by three Egyptologists: Englishmen John Bray (Ronald Howard) and Sir Giles Dalrymple (Jack Gwillim) as well as French Professor Eugene Dubois (unbilled Bernard Rebel, who died three weeks before the film’s British premiere). Assisting in the expedition is Professor Dubois’ daughter, and Bray’s fiancee, Annette (Jeanne Roland), herself an Egyptology expert.
All the artefacts are brought back to London by the project’s backer, American showman Alexander King (Fred Clark), who plans to recoup his investment by staging luridly sensational public exhibits of the Egyptian treasures.
Soon after arrival, however, the mummy revives and starts to kill various members of the expedition, while it becomes evident that sinister Adam Beecham (Terence Morgan), a wealthy arts patron whom members of the expedition meet on the ship returning to England, harbours a crucial revelation of the mummy’s past and future.
Contemporary critical reception:
Daily Cinema referred to the film as being “eerie but routine shocker thrills. But, hand it to Hammer, they’ve got this kind of scary hokum down to a grisly art”.
Variety commented on the plot of the film stating that “one needs a crystal ball to sort out the reasons for some of the contrived goings on in the modest and rather slapdash horror pic”,
The Monthly Film Bulletin noted that “the sewer finale has a moderate grandeur” but stated that “it is some indication of the film’s lack of inventiveness that the mummy’s first appearance should be so lengthily delayed”.
Cast and characters:
Terence Morgan as Adam Beauchamp, a secretive key character
Ronald Howard as John Bray, the Egyptologist
Fred Clark as Alexander King, the American promoter
Bernard Rebel as Professor Eugene Dubois (uncredited; he died three weeks before the film’s UK premiere)
Jeanne Roland as Annette Dubois, daughter of Professor Dubois, and John Bray’s fiancée
George Pastell as Hashmi Bey, representative of Egypt’s colonial government and worshipful supplicant of the Mummy
Jack Gwillim as Sir Giles Dalrymple, another Egyptologist
John Paul as Inspector Mackenzie
Dickie Owen as Ra-Antef the Mummy
Jill Mai Meredith as Jenny, Beauchamp’s maid
Michael Ripper as Achmed, Egyptian servant
Harold Goodwin as Fred, one of Alexander King’s workmen
Jimmy Gardner as Fred’s mate
Vernon Smythe as Jessop, Beauchamp’s butler
Marianne Stone as Hashmi Bey’s landlady
Ray Austin as Stuntman, assassin on board ship
Trailer:
Full film – free to watch online on YouTube [regions vary – best to get a VPN and sign up for YouTube Premium for no ads]:
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