cinema history class: the mummy's hand

Session: I Want my Mummy, Week 1
Movie: The Mummy's Hand (1940)
Directed by Christy Cabanne

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
A down-on-his-luck archaeologist leads an unlikely assemblage of people on an expedition to find the tomb of Princess Ananka. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:
The Mummy's Hand didn't really do much for me as I watched it. To a large degree it seemed like the same old mumbo-jumbo. Maybe the window dressing had changed a bit, but that's it. That said, Joe noted (in his comments) that this movie, more than any other (even the original Boris Karlof (note, in the original version, I incorrectly said "Bela Lugosi.") film) is responsible for our modern conception of the mummy as a horror film monster. So I do have to wonder if this is, like Shakespeare, a victim of its own success. A lot of Shakespeare seems cliche to people first discovering his works, but that's because it's been copied so many times. Perhaps this is the same thing?

At any rate, I think another issue is that I was tired. I didn't actually fall asleep while watching M'sH, but I did have a hard time concentrating, When I rewatched it again today (thanks, archive.org!), it made more sense to me. I also had a greater appreciation of the comedic elements. The combination of Dick Foran and Wallace Ford had a really good chemistry, and seemed at times to be almost like Abbott and Costello.*

In the class I gave it a 5, since it wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. I appreciate it more after a second viewing, and am now giving it a 6.

Ratings:

Me: 6
Dave: 9.8
Ethan: 8.5

Joe: 10

*Someone in class -- Joe? Keith? made that observation. It's true, and I'm pointing it out. This footnote is to make it clear that I'm not trying to steal their thoughts.