Movies

The Mummy

Released on December 22, 1932, “The Mummy” is a supernatural horror thriller directed by Karl Freund. Its release marked the third official installment in the Universal Monsters universe, coming after “Dracula” and “Frankenstein.” While not as memorable as its predecessors, this movie is still a worthwhile watch. It solidified the mummy character as a staple of horror and pop culture. The movie stars Boris Karloff as a long deceased Egyptian priest, Imhotep, brought back to life by supernatural means, and co-stars Zita Johann as Helen, the mummy’s reincarnated lover, and Edward Van Sloan, who plays Dr. Muller, the Egyptian cult expert. The story centers around archaeologist named Joseph Whemple who, with Muller and his assistant Ralph, discover a mummy buried in the Egyptian desert, along with a box contains the scroll of Thoth, said to contain the power to resurrect the dead. After Ralph disobeys orders and reads the scroll while Muller and Whemple are talking outside, Imhotep rises from his coffin. The sight of the living mummy drives Ralph to insanity and the Mummy escapes, taking the scroll with him. Ten years later, Whemple’s son, Frank, and his assistant are ready to head home from Egypt after an expedition, before Imhotep, now assuming the persona of Ardith Bey, an Egyptian historian, approaches them and gives them coordinates to the lost tomb of his long lost lover, Anck-es-en-amon. They discover the mummy of the princess and her valuables and put them into a museum. Meanwhile, Helen Grosvenor, a half Egyptian woman under the care of Dr. Muller, encounters “Ardith” after being found sleepwalking at the Cairo museum and being taken to Whemple’s quarters. While this is going on, it is revealed that Joseph, Frank, and Muller that a guard was found murdered at the museum holding the scroll of Toth, an item not possessed by the museum. When Helen leaves, Imhotep drops the persona of Ardith and insists for the scroll back. He is refused and threatens to use black magic against Whemple before leaving. Trouble ensues after the scroll is taken back by Imhotep, planning to kill and mummify his lover’s reincarnate (Helen) before mummifying her and resurrecting her. I won’t spoil any more, but I will say the ending is slightly underwhelming. It isn’t bad, it just could’ve been more interesting. Other than that, I love this movie. The music is perfect, the set designs are cool, and Karloff’s portrayal of the mummy Imhotep was amazingly well done. The rest of the cast did well, but Karloff steals the show. The movie can be slow at points and definitely shows its age, but after getting past that, it’s a classic monster flick to watch during Halloween season. This movie is going to be “A” Tier, at the very top, because in my book, it could be a contender for “S” tier. That’s gonna wrap up this review, now onto the next one.

Too Late for Tears

I only had time to write one more review for a movie this week, so I decided to pick carefully. This movie, Too Late For Tears, is a noir/crime film from 1949 and is one of my favorite crime movies I’ve seen recently. It centers around a woman named Jane, a superficial, greedy, loathsome woman, and her husband who encounter a bag full of money that gets thrown into their car after a failed blackmail scheme. Jane and her husband, Allen, are conflicted. Allen wants to do the right thing and turn the money into the police, while Jane wants to keep it for her own satisfaction. They leave the cash at a train station compartment and decide to wait before making any decision about it. Then Jane is approached by the man who was supposed to receive the money, Danny Fuller, who presses Jane on its whereabouts. She convinces him that the money had been turned in, but he soon realizes her lies. Trouble ensues when Jane’s want of money causes her to commit horrid, despondent acts out of greed and jealousy, including murdering multiple people. I won’t go into anymore details about the film because you should watch it for yourself, but I will say, the ending is satisfying. The character of Jane is very notable because she is easily among my top five of characters in movies that I hate. She does horrible things to people she is supposed to care about and destroys herself and those around her in the pursuit of money, all the while acting like an innocent damsel in distress. She is manipulative, greedy, mean, and a liar. While much dishonor is done in this film, law and order prevail at the end and Jane is held accountable for her actions. Overall, I really did enjoy this movie. I felt bad for the characters around Jane, even Danny, because they are oblivious to her mischievous plots, but I’m glad all worked out in the end. This movie gets an A-Tier, because it’s not crazily good to innovative but its a cool crime drama with all the grit and violence that is typically seen in the genre. Give this movie a watch if you’d like. (It’s free on Tubi!!)——https://tubitv.com/movies/631321/too-late-for-tears