''The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb'' is a 1964 British
horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
produced, written and directed by
Michael Carreras
Michael Henry Carreras (21 December 1927 – 19 April 1994) was a British film producer and director. He was known for his association with Hammer Films, being the son of founder James Carreras, and taking an executive role in the compan ...
, starring
Terence Morgan,
Ronald Howard,
Fred Clark
Frederick Leonard Clark (March 19, 1914 – December 5, 1968) was an American movie and television character actor, often playing in authoritative roles.
Early years
Born in Lincoln, California, Clark was the son of Fred Clark Sr. He attended S ...
and
Jeanne Roland.
Plot
"
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
in the year 1900". The mummy of Ra-Antef, son of
Ramesses VIII, is discovered by three
Egyptologist
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...
s: Englishmen John Bray and Sir Giles Dalrymple, and French Professor Eugene Dubois. Assisting in the expedition is Dubois' daughter, and Bray's fiancée, Annette, herself an Egyptology expert. All the artifacts are brought back to
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
by the project's backer, American showman Alexander King, who plans to recoup his investment by staging luridly sensational public exhibits of the Egyptian treasures. Soon after arrival, however, the mummy revives and starts to kill various members of the expedition, while it becomes evident that sinister Adam Beauchamp, a wealthy arts patron whom members of the expedition meet on the ship returning to England, harbours a crucial revelation of the mummy's past and future.
Cast
*
Terence Morgan as Adam Beauchamp, a secretive key character
*
Ronald Howard as John Bray, the Egyptologist
*
Fred Clark
Frederick Leonard Clark (March 19, 1914 – December 5, 1968) was an American movie and television character actor, often playing in authoritative roles.
Early years
Born in Lincoln, California, Clark was the son of Fred Clark Sr. He attended S ...
as Alexander King, the American promoter
*
Bernard Rebel as Professor Eugene Dubois (uncredited; he died three weeks before the film's UK premiere)
*
Jeanne Roland as Annette Dubois, daughter of Professor Dubois, and John Bray's fiancée
*
George Pastell as Hashmi Bey, representative of Egypt's colonial government and worshipful supplicant of the Mummy
*
Jack Gwillim as Sir Giles Dalrymple, another Egyptologist
*
John Paul as Inspector Mackenzie
*
Dickie Owen as Ra-Antef the Mummy
* Jill Mai Meredith as Jenny, Beauchamp's maid
*
Michael Ripper
Michael George Ripper (27 January 1913 – 28 June 2000) was an English character actor who appeared in many British horror and science fiction films.
Career
Ripper began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 195 ...
as Achmed, Egyptian servant
*
Harold Goodwin as Fred, one of Alexander King's workmen
*
Jimmy Gardner as Fred's mate
* Vernon Smythe as Jessop, Beauchamp's butler
*
Marianne Stone
Marianne Stone (23 August 1922 – 21 December 2009) was an English character actress. She performed in films from the early 1940s to the late 1980s, typically playing working class parts such as barmaids, secretaries and landladies. Stone app ...
as Hashmi Bey's landlady
*
Ray Austin as Stuntman, assassin on board ship
Production
Hammer Studios originally offered the project to
Universal Pictures
Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
in 1963. The film credits Henry Younger as the screenwriter, while the screenplay was written by Michael Carreras and Alvin Rakoff.
Release
''The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb'' was released on 18 October 1964 by Columbia Pictures/BLC Films in support of ''
The Gorgon''. The film was distributed by
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
in the United States on 17 February 1965 also in support of ''The Gorgon''.
In North America, the film was released on 14 October 2008 along with three other Hammer horror films on the 2-DVD set ''Icons of Horror Collection: Hammer Films'' (ASIN: B001B9ZVVC) by
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home entertainment distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony.
Background
SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures libra ...
, and on a double feature
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
with ''
The Revenge of Frankenstein
''The Revenge of Frankenstein'' is a 1958 Technicolor British horror film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Peter Cushing, Francis Matthews (actor), Francis Matthews, Michael Gwynn, Oscar Quitak, Eunice Gayson and Michael Ripper. Made by H ...
'' by Mill Creek Entertainment in September 2016. Its title was misspelled on the Blu-ray spine as "Curese of the Mummy’s Tomb".
Critical reception
From contemporary reviews, ''Daily Cinema'' referred to the film as being "eerie but routine shocker thrills. But, hand it to Hammer, they've got this kind of scary hokum down to a grisly art".
''
Variety'' commented on the plot of the film stating that "one needs a crystal ball to sort out the reasons for some of the contrived goings on in the modest and rather slapdash horror pic".
The ''
Monthly Film Bulletin
The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' noted that "the sewer finale has a moderate grandeur" but stated that "it is some indication of the film's lack of inventiveness that the mummy's first appearance should be so lengthily delayed".
In a retrospective review,
AllMovie
AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne.
History
AllMovie was ...
critic Cavett Binyon called the film a "rather dull mummy muddle".
References
Sources
*
External links
*
''The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb''at
Moviephone
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb, The
Hammer Film Productions horror films
1964 horror films
Mummy films
British historical horror films
Films about curses
Films shot at Associated British Studios
Films directed by Michael Carreras
1964 films
Films set in 1900
Films set in Egypt
1960s British films