Zita Johann as Helen Grosvenor (left) takes direction from Karl Freund (right).Īfter his role as cinematographer on Tod Browning’s Dracula (some say he did more directing than Browning did), Universal execs gave German expat Karl Freund The Mummy for his official directorial debut. Balderston probably also drew inspiration from Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1890 short story The Ring of Thoth. The setting, character names, and their motivations were adapted to the Egyptian theme. Passionate about Ancient Egypt, Balderston set about reworking Putnam and Schayer’s Cagliostro story into the first screenplay he had ever written.
The mummy movies cast full#
Tasked with turning this story into a full screenplay was none other than John Balderston, who, in the years since reporting on King Tut, had penned successful stage plays of Dracula and Frankenstein, which would become the basis for Universal’s films. Schayer employed Nina Wilcox Putnam who wrote a tale inspired by a real 18th century occultist: Alessandro Cagliostro – an Italian magician who (in Putnam’s tale) was actually an Ancient Egyptian that had stayed alive for millennia by the injection of nitrates. called on story editor Richard Schayer to find a story about Ancient Egypt upon which a film could be based. Trying to double-down on this success, and inspired by the popular legend of the curse of King Tut, studio head Carl Laemmle, Jr. In 1931, Universal had found huge success with their horror pictures Dracula and Frankenstein. Balderston reported on the opening of the sarcophagus. In 1922, Egyptologist Howard Carter discovered King Tutankhamun’s tomb. In 1932, public fascination with Ancient Egypt was at an all-time high. The good guys must foil the plans of the scheming Mummy, and save Helen from a fate worse than death! Into the mix comes Helen Grosvenor, a half-Egyptian beauty who falls under Imhotep’s spell. He’s actually The Mummy Imhotep, who has been hiding among the populace for a decade, trying to locate the burial place of his long lost love. There’s more to Ardeth Bay than meets the eye.
Sure enough, they find the tomb of an Egyptian princess, Ankh-sen-amen. Ten years later, Whemple’s son Frank leads an expedition of his own, and is fortunate when a native named Ardeth Bay advises them where to dig. Norton is reduced to hysterical laughter!
The magic spell reanimates the Mummy, which takes the scroll and shambles out into the night. Inside is a relic known as The Scroll of Thoth, which Norton foolishly reads from. While Whemple and Muller go outside to deliberate, Norton opens a gilded chest. Muller and Norton process the contents of the chamber. The British Egypt Expedition of 1921, led by noted archaeologist Sir Joseph Whemple, has stumbled upon the discovery of a lifetime – the undisturbed tomb of an Ancient Egyptian prince! Imhotep’s mummified remains stand propped in the corner of the tomb as Whemple and his associates, Dr.