At the end of The Mummy's Tomb (1942), the mummy Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr.) perishes in a fire and high priest Andoheb (George Zucco) finally dies. It says a lot about the shoddy, muddled, and contrived nature of this follow up that, somehow, Andoheb is back among the living (albeit with a serious case of the shakes) and Kharis isn't even a little bit singed, no explanation given.
This time around, Andoheb passes control of Kharis to creepy Egyptian Yousef Bey (John Carradine), who instructs the crumbling creature to help retrieve the body of Princess Ananka, which is on display in an American museum. However, when the mummy arrives, he finds that Ananka is missing, her soul having entered the body of beautiful Amina (ravishing brunette Ransay Ames), girlfriend of college student Tom Hervey (who looks way too old to still be in school).
At just over an hour long, the film is too short for boredom to set in, but it's not for want of trying, the uninspired antics of the shuffling monster hardly the stuff of nightmares. Several victims are throttled to death by Kharis, but the acting is incredibly hammy and the direction torpid. The most animated performance comes from a cute dog called Peanut, the adorable woofer leading an angry mob to the mummy, who, in true Universal fashion, has carried off the unconscious Amina (whose hair has turned white with shock, Ames looking just as lovely as a peroxide blonde).
In an unusually downbeat finale, Tom is unable to prevent Kharis from disappearing under the surface of a swamp with the rapidly aging Amina still in his arms.
5/10.
This time around, Andoheb passes control of Kharis to creepy Egyptian Yousef Bey (John Carradine), who instructs the crumbling creature to help retrieve the body of Princess Ananka, which is on display in an American museum. However, when the mummy arrives, he finds that Ananka is missing, her soul having entered the body of beautiful Amina (ravishing brunette Ransay Ames), girlfriend of college student Tom Hervey (who looks way too old to still be in school).
At just over an hour long, the film is too short for boredom to set in, but it's not for want of trying, the uninspired antics of the shuffling monster hardly the stuff of nightmares. Several victims are throttled to death by Kharis, but the acting is incredibly hammy and the direction torpid. The most animated performance comes from a cute dog called Peanut, the adorable woofer leading an angry mob to the mummy, who, in true Universal fashion, has carried off the unconscious Amina (whose hair has turned white with shock, Ames looking just as lovely as a peroxide blonde).
In an unusually downbeat finale, Tom is unable to prevent Kharis from disappearing under the surface of a swamp with the rapidly aging Amina still in his arms.
5/10.