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The Mummy (1932)
In director Karl Freund's creepy, Pre-Code classic
horror film:
- the opening title screen after the credits: "This
is the SCROLL of TOTH. Herein are set down the magic words by which
Isis raised Osiris from the dead. Oh! Amon-Ra--Oh! God of Gods
-- Death is but the doorway to new life --- We live today-we shall
live again--In many forms shall we return-Oh, mighty one."
- the scene of British archaeologists, led by Sir Joseph
Whemple (Arthur Byron) and Dr. Muller (Edward Van Sloan), discovering
that the mummified 3,700 year-old ancient Egyptian high priest Im-ho-tep
(Boris Karloff in his second horror starring role) had not been eviscerated,
but wrapped as a Mummy and buried alive in a "sensationally
unpleasant manner...he struggled in the bandages"; he had been
'executed for treason' or possibly for a "sacrilege"; he
had been "sentenced to death not only in this world but in the
next"
- the engraving on the wooden chest found inside the
sarcophagus of the Mummy was translated - - revealing a terrible
curse: ("Death, eternal punishment, for anyone who opens this
casket. In the name of Amon-Ra, the king of the gods"); he had
been sentenced to a live burial for a forbidden act of sacrilege
- for attempting to revive a sacrificial vestal virgin whom he loved
named Princess Ankh-es-en-Amon (Zita Johann), a priestess of the
temple of Karnak, and the daughter of Pharoah Amenophis
- the dramatic scene of the awakening and coming to
life of the Mummy after archaeologist Sir Joseph Whemple's assistant
Ralph Norton (Bramwell Fletcher) from Oxford foolishly opened the
chest (out of curiosity) and removed the Scroll of Thoth with which
Isis raised Osiris from the dead; after unrolling the ancient parchment,
he began reading a translation of the words, causing Imhotep's slow
resurrection from his coffin
- the first movements of the animated mummy - the opening
of one eye, the movement of an arm and hand, the snatching of the
Scroll, and then the trailing of bandages under the door
- the reaction of assistant Ralph Norton to the phenomenon
-- instant insanity -- uncontrollable screams and hysterical laughter,
as he described to Sir Joseph Whemple what had happened: "He
went for a little walk. You should have seen his face"; later,
Norton "died laughing, in a straitjacket"
- the remainder of the film - set 10 years later in
1932 - when Im-ho-tep - now resurrected (and disguised) as an Egyptian
man named Ardath Bey, met with son Frank Whemple (David Manners)
and Professor Pearson (Leonard Mudie) and suggested that they dig
to find the unplundered funerary tomb of the princess Ankh-es-en-amon
- it would be the "most sensational find since that of Tutankhamen"
- the appearance of Helen Grosvenor (also Zita Johann)
- the half-Egyptian daughter of the English governor of the Sudan
- who showed signs that she was somehow connected to the recent dig's
findings and to Ardath Bey; she went into a trance, and after fainting,
she uttered words in ancient Egyptian "not heard on this Earth
for 2000 years"; she also complained to Frank Whemple about
the recent archaeological excavations in Cairo that discovered the
Princess: "Do you have to open graves to find girls to fall
in love with?"
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Helen in a Trance-Like State
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Helen Uttering Ancient Egyptian Words
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Ardath Bey's First View of Helen
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- the fact of Bey's belief that Helen was his reincarnated
ancient Princess and forbidden lover - when he first saw her, he
asked: "Have we not met before, Miss Grosvenor?"; his
objective was to cause her to "awaken memories of love and
crime and death,"
when as Imhotep, he had conducted a forbidden rite over her corpse
in 18th-Dynasty Egypt (circa 1730 BC); during a visionary flashback
with Helen looking into his magic pool, he recalled how he had stolen
the Scroll of Toth to bring the Princess back to life, but was caught
doing "an unholy thing"; as punishment, his father buried
him alive, with the Scroll, to ensure that "no such sacrilege
might disgrace Egypt again"; he remarked how he had suffered
for her love: "My love has lasted longer than the temples of
our gods. No man ever suffered as I did for you..."
- the concluding scene of Helen's summoning by Bey,
and appearing in Egyptian royal garb; his objective was to kill her
on an altar, then mummify her (or embalm her in a bath of natron),
place her in her original sarcophagus, and then resurrect her, and
make her his immortal bride; she objected to his crazed plan: "No,
I'm alive. I'm young! I won't die! I loved you once but now you belong
with the dead. I am Ankh-es-en-amon, but I-I'm somebody else too.
I want to live, even in this strange new world!....The bath of natron.
You shall not plunge my body into that!"
Bey's Sacrifice of the Reincarnated Helen Grosvenor
She Was Saved by Praying to the Statue of Isis
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The Statue of Isis with Ankh Symbol
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The Scroll of Toth Burning
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The Crumbling of Ardath's Face and Body
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- during the climactic scene as Ardath Bey compelled
Helen to lie on the altar, he was about to stab her with a sacrificial
knife, but she jumped up and prayed to a large black statue of
the goddess Isis to save her and offer forgiveness and protection:
("Oh Isis, holy maiden, I was thy consecrated vestal. I broke
my vows. Save me now! Teach me the ancient summons, the holy spells
I've forgotten. I call upon thee as of old!"), the statue
responded by raising its right arm with an emitted ball of flame
from an ankh symbol in its hand to set the Scroll on fire
- the spell was broken that kept the curse functioning,
and in a stunning transformation scene, Ardath's face dried, crumbled
and deteriorated, witnessed by Dr. Muller and Sir Joseph's son Frank,
as Helen was saved
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Mummified Imhotep
Assistant Ralph Norton Unrolling and Reading the Scroll
of Toth
The Slow Resurrection of Imhotep
The Insanity of Ralph Norton
The Entrance of Ardath Bey, 10 Years Later
The Discovery of the Princess' Ancient Tomb
Helen Grosvenor
Visionary Flashback in Magic Pool:
In Ancient Egypt, Imhotep Attempted to Save The Princess
As Punishment, Imhotep Was Mummified and Buried
Alive in a Nameless Grave
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