The Mummy

The Mummy (1932)

Timing: 1:13 (73 min)

6.777/10
586

6.892/10
3315

7/10
29458

All about film

Video 4

Photo 39

Actors and characters

Release date

1932-12-22

Country

United States

Production

Universal Pictures

Genre

Horror, Drama, Fantasy

Budget

$196 000

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

Karl Freund

Actors

Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Arthur Byron, Edward Van Sloan, Bramwell Fletcher, Noble Johnson, Kathryn Byron, Leonard Mudie, James Crane
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Carl Laemmle Jr.

Operator

Charles J. Stumar

Composer

James Dietrich

Artist

Audition

Editing

Milton Carruth
All team (22)

• The play by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Shayer, which was originally intended to be adapted into a film, was called “Cagliostro.” It was later rewritten “for Egypt” by John Balderston in order to capitalize on public interest in the discovery of Tutankhamun’s famous tomb.
• The name “Imhotep” was taken by John Balderston from a hieroglyphic inscription – it is the name of one of the ancient Egyptian architects.
• Jack Pierce designed the makeup for the role of Imhotep. Applying the makeup carefully for close-ups took him and Boris Karloff up to eight hours a day.
• The episode depicting Imhotep’s memories of ancient events was intentionally filmed in the style of silent cinema – without dialogue, with characteristic expressive gestures and facial expressions of the characters, and even with a slightly altered filming speed.
• The initial version of the film featured a substantial scene showing a chain of Ankhsenamun's reincarnations across different eras of history. This material was entirely removed from the release version of the film at the request of censors and is considered lost. The only remaining trace of this episode is a mention in the credits of Henry Victor, who never appears on screen, in the role of a “Saxon warrior.”
• Certain situations and mise-en-scènes in the film almost exactly replicate those in “Dracula”—Universal Studio’s first hugely popular sound horror film.