The Mummy’s Tomb (1942)

Mummy Monday is back at it again, this time with a direct continuation of The Mummy’s Hand! Set 30 years after the previous movie (but filmed 2 years later), we see the return of several characters made up to look much older. And of course, the return of Kharis, this time played by Lon Chaney Jr., who is more known for playing the Wolf Man in The Wolf Man. And much later a mummified werewolf in Face of the Screaming Werewolf. Sure, why not?

This movie is barely over an hour, but we still open with a 10 minute long flashback. Handsome and bland Steve recounts the main plot points of the previous movie to his son, our new main character, John. Meanwhile, it turns out Andoheb and Kharis the mummy are alive as well! Don’t question it. Anyway, Andoheb explains the history of the Mummy and the importance of the Tana leaves to his new disciple, Mehemet Bey, who will be playing the role of main villain. Mehemet’s plan is to get revenge on the interlopers from 30 years ago, and sets sail for America, mummy in tow.

The plan goes off surprisingly well, and in no time at all Steve–again, the main character of the last movie–is dead at the hands of Kharis. I honestly didn’t expect a body count in this movie, but the mummy’s only getting started! Next to go are Steve’s sister and Babe (who was not at all annoying or a comic relief character this time), with John being the final target. That’s when Mehemet sees Isobel, John’s girlfriend, and has a very Monseigneur Frollo moment, asking the Egyptian gods to help him resist that ass. They don’t, and like Andoheb before him Mehemet orders Kharis to abduct a woman. The town comes to realize there’s a mummy murderer, a mob with torches storms in, John saves Isobel, Mehemet is killed (he didn’t learn how to survive getting shot from Andoheb, apparently), and Kharis is immolated when the mob sets a house on fire.

The mummy this time… was okay, I guess. Lon Chaney Jr. didn’t have the same blacked out eyes, but he appeared to have his eyes closed the whole time (movie posters suggest one eye was open, but I never noticed it). That’s an interesting take, especially when you start to wonder how the mummy knows how to find his targets, but it’s just not the same. There were several shots of the Mummy wearing a mask, usually in action scenes where he was definitely played by a stunt double. I don’t know, he just didn’t do it for me in this one. Maybe I’ll warm up to Junior over the next two movies.

MUMMY FUN FACT! This movie takes place 30 years after the first one, but there’s a passing reference to “the Russian Front” and John gets drafted, suggesting that either World War II continued on for 30 years in this movie’s grim future, that The Mummy’s Hand actually took place around 1910, or the writers didn’t care enough to check for things like that.