The Mummy

An adaptation from the legendary British film studio Hammer, and that should tell you everything. Hammer films, especially in the 50s and 60s, were renowned for their gorgeous sets and seductively horrific atmosphere, and this is one is no exception. Here, they basically made do with three locations: a studio oasis, a large house in London and a swamp, with occasional exteriors somewhere in the landscape around the studio. The oasis in particular looks gorgeous, beautifully overlit, with garish colours. I am under no illusion that this is what an Egyptian landscape could have looked like, not at all, but the viewer's eye is feasted; Hammer knew how to render these studio landscapes. Another triumph is the central acting duo: legendary Hammer stalwarts Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Cushing may have been prescribed a role that would be more appropriate for an actor at least a generation younger (it looks weird when he calls a fellow actor the same age "daddy"), but his charisma carries over. It's worse with Christopher Lee, who has punishingly small space – in the flashback from ancient Egypt he doesn't show much, in Victorian England he's a mummy, he's all puffed up, has a strange limp (the result of an injury he sustained during filming) and basically he has to play with his eyes and he can't do much with them alone. The plot is predictable, you as a viewer will be about two or three steps ahead of the actors, but it doesn't matter, watching them is like observing a complex but elegant machine in action. You know what I mean. (27.09.2021)

In the case of the mummy, you won't see much of Christopher Lee, but luckily there are scenes from the past where his face appears. Peter Cushing has enough space, but his character is somewhat shallow and boring. The story itself definitely won't impress you, and a few of those fairly scary scenes have simply aged to the point of being toothless. I guess I had too high expectations for the movie. (13.01.2016)