THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB
(director/writer: Michael Carreras; cinematographer: Otto Heller; editor: Eric Boyd-Perkins; music: Carlo Martelli; cast: Terence Morgan (Adam Beauchamp), Ronald Howard (John Bray), Fred Clark (Alexander King), Jeanne Roland (Annette Dubois), Dickie Owen (Ra-Antef), Jack Gwillim (Sir Giles Dalrymple), George Pastell (Hashmi Bey), John Paul (Inspector MacKenzie), Micheael Ripper (Achmed); Runtime: 76; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Michael Carreras; Columbia Pictures; 1964)
“Stale and uninspired formulaic mummy pic.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Michael Carreras(“The Steel Bayonet”/”Maniac”/”Shatter”), whose pop is head of Hammer Studios, where the film was made, directs this stale and uninspired formulaic mummy pic, a sequel to The Mummy (1959).
In 1900, in the Egyptian desert, the tomb of Ra-Antef, the pharaoh, is excavated by an expedition of British archeologists led by the renown Sir Giles Dalrymple (Jack Gwillim) and financed by the crass American entrepreneur Alexander King (Fred Morgan). In Hollywood lore, the opening of a pharaoh’s tomb means a curse is cast on the infidel defilers of the tomb and those who gaze upon the mummy will die.
Leader Sir Giles wishes to give the valued mummy to the Egyptian government for its National Museum, to preserve that country’s culture, and the Egyptians offer some money in return. But big talker showman King chooses to make a killing by taking it back to Victorian London and taking the mummy on tour as a ticket-buying peepshow. The Egyptian advisor Hashmi Bey (George Pastell) warns of the curse, but is ignored by the Westerners. Meanwhile the archeologist Professor Dubois is murdered in Egypt.
Warning: spoiler in the next paragraph.
On the boat taking the mummy back to England, John Bray (Ronald Howard), the boyfriend of Professor Dubois’ daughter Annette (Jeanne Roland), and the new leader of the expedition when Sir Giles resigns rather than defy the Egyptian authorities for the American’s commercial venture, is attacked but saved by Adam Beauchamp (Terence Morgan). The hero falls in love with Annette, and what ensues is a gory trail of murder in London. At the first exhibit in London, the mummy (Dickie Owen) has gotten loose from his bandages and murders King, Sir Giles, and Hashmi Bey and abducts Annette. It turns out that Beauchamp is Ra-Antef’s brother, who is cursed with immortality because he killed Ra-Antef. The brothers meet in the sewers, where Beauchamp begs to be killed and have his cursed immortality removed and for his brother to kill Annette so they can be together in the other world. Ra-Antef kills his brother. But before he can kill Annette, John Bray and Inspector MacKenzie (John Paul) are able to rescue her while Ra-Antef destroys himself.
REVIEWED ON 7/29/2013 GRADE: C https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/