The Mummy's Hand (1940)

Film: The Mummy's Hand (1940)
Stars: Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Wallace Ford, Cecil Kellaway, George Zucco, Tom Tyler, 
Director: Christy Cabanne
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

This month we are devoting all of our classic film reviews to Golden Age Horror films that I saw for the first time this year.  If you want to take a look at past titles (from this and other seasons of this series), look at the bottom of the page for links.

We move now into one of the monsters we've seen before (like I said, look below for links), but whose sequels I haven't seen unless we jump ahead about sixty years to the work of Brendan Fraser & future Oscar winner Rachel Weisz.  The Mummy sequels didn't seem to boast the starry casts (there's not a Lugosi or a Chaney in sight, let alone original star Boris Karloff), but they were plentiful, and this is the second one, coming in the wake of Son of Frankenstein's success.  Made on a shoestring budget, I was curious how I'd react to this film, as I wasn't super invested in the original film, and The Mummy franchise is usually so obsessed with its own franchise, it sometimes distracts from the goosebumps.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie takes place in "modern day," but initially hearkening back to ancient Egypt, when Kharis (Tyler) was buried alive for trying to revive the life of his beloved Princess Ananka.  Kharis is mummified alive for his crime, and three thousand years later Steve Banning (Foran) and his buddy Babe Jensen (Ford) come across a broken vase at a bazaar, and he thinks it has a map to the tomb of Ananka.  Joined by a beautiful young woman Marta (Moran) and her father the Great Solvani (Kellaway playing a magician), they set out to find the tomb, but are stalked by Adhodeb (Zucco) who is both protecting the tomb and wanting to reanimate the mummy.  Madness ensues when Adhodeb starts to instruct the mummy to kill the people of Steve's camp, and for a while it appears that Adhodeb will imprison Marta (whom he's in lust with), but Steve saves the day, Babe kills Adhodeb, and the mummy is stopped...for now.

As you've probably been able to tell this month, these sorts of old horror movies are a guilty pleasure for me.  I love the idea of creepy visuals, intense makeup, outlandish makeup...but without ever having to worry about being properly scared (as I definitely get freaked out from scary movies after all these years).  There's something about the C-list stars & thin plots that resonates with me.

But The Mummy's Hand comes close to testing even my devotion.  The acting is weak (only Kellaway finds a way to be somewhat memorable as a doddering old man), and the plot is convoluted without being inventive (this is in almost every capacity the same plot as the 1932 film with lesser returns).  There's nothing scary about the monster, or original.  We get little personality other than the creature's dead eyes, and it is sidelined for Adhodep & his expository dialogue.  I enjoyed myself, so I can't quite go with 1-star, but know that it was an option.  We'll do one more Mummy film later this month, and my hope is that it's an improvement on Hand.

Past Horror Month Reviews (Listed Chronologically): The Golem, The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, The Black Cat, The Bride of Frankenstein, Mad Love, Werewolf of London, Son of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man Returns, The Wolf Man, The Ghost of Frankenstein, The House of Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, It Came from Outer Space, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Masque of the Red Death