A Múmia de Ananka

Archeologists seeking lost tomb of Egyptian princess when a mummy is revived after thousand of years . An ancient Egyptian mummy is awakened from his centuries-old sleep when a royal tomb is desecrated . The very deadly mummy (Christopher Lee) takes avenge on some archaeologist (Felix Aylmer and his son played by Peter Cushing) who desecrated the tomb of his beloved princess (Ivonne Furneaux in double role ) . They go back to England and those consequences , to everyone's regret . The mummy slipping into English swamps where soon strangling people , meanwhile a Police Inspector(Eddie Byrnes) is investigating the strange deeds . However , the mummy attacks and suddenly stops when believes Furneaux is reincarnation of ancient sweet heart .

Horror Hammer classic with effective atmosphere , sense of awe and wonder along with fine performances . Entertaining blend of thrills , chills , drama and action . Remarkable makeup and eerie scenes make it chilling and frightening . Peter Cushing is terrifying as obstinate archaeologist who is attacked by the mummy incarnated by Christopher Lee holding a heavy makeup. Colorful and atmospheric cinematography by usual Hammer cameraman Jack Asher . The motion picture is well directed by Terence Fisher . Rating : Better than average , it's high-power entertaining . Superb atmosphere , flavorful music , make this one of the best terror movies from Hammer , using intelligence and interesting dialogue rather than guts and blood to horrify its audience . In spite of its age this all time classic has lost none of its qualities. It's followed by ¨Mummy's shroud¨(1967) also produced by Hammer Films, directed by John Gilling with Andre Morell and Elizabeth Sellars.

Other pictures about Mummy character are the following : the Universal classic (1933)¨The mummy¨ by Karl Freund with Boris Karloff and David Manners , that ahead many follow-ups as sequels as ¨¨Mummy's hand (1940) with Dick Foran and Cecil Kallaway . And modern updating full of computer generator FX as ¨The mummy¨(1999) by Stephen Sommers with Brendan Fraser , Rachel Weisz , John Hanna and ¨Mummy returns¨with similar players.

The Mummy capped off an impressive initial run of horror movies from Hammer Studios. Believe it or not, it was mostly downhill from here; the company's subsequent efforts tended to be tackier and cheesier. But the "big three" (Curse of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Mummy) are all solid horror flicks with, oddly enough, some of the most crisp and colorful photography I've ever seen.

There are some weaknesses here, though. The Egypt flashback waffles on for quite a while, and then we get ANOTHER flashback when Banning Sr. resurrects the mummy. However, the beginning and ending are well-paced and exciting, so most sins are forgiven. Lee's Mummy is spectacular; he's goddamn huge, and it's very impressive to watch him crashing through doors and French windows, absorbing shotgun blasts as if they were pinpricks (I hear Lee actually got injured several times making this movie; I can't say I'm surprised!)

My favorite scene is the ideological debate between the Egyptian badguy (a very cool performance by George Pastell) and Peter Cushing's snooty archaeologist character. Their heated exchange adds a bit of texture to the story and even makes me sympathetic to the villain's POV. However, subtext goes out the window again for the violent final confrontation.

On a side note, the exceedingly brilliant BBC show Doctor Who practically remade this movie twice. The episode "Tomb of the Cybermen" features Pastell as a guest star in a story involving an ill-fated archaeological dig, and "Pyramids of Mars" once again pits a hapless poacher against killer mummies. Just thought I'd mention it.

Director Terence Fisher and crew at Hammer Films revives life in the MUMMY. Horrific color and a much livelier and threatening wrapped menace is the modern slant on the 1930's original.

Boris Karloff was almost mystic in the title role decades ago. Stealing some of his thunder is Christopher Lee. Lee is down right wicked and relentless. And in his own way, just as scary as Karloff.

Peter Cushing brings a double whammy to this movie. More shakes and shivers. Also in the cast are Yvonne Furneaux, George Pastell, Raymond Huntley, David Browning and Michael Ripper.

What a way to spend a rainy night. Curl up with this and the original. Yikes!

England's Hammer Studios existed primarily as a distributor--until the low budget 1955 THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT suddenly put the studio on the map. Sensing an untapped market, Hammer began to develop similar titles and by the early 1960s developed a style that mixed Victorian sets and costumes with bouffant hairstyles, bared breasts, and lots of blood. The films were largely responsible for jolting the horror genre back to life on both sides of the Atlantic, as popular in the United States as they were in England.

Released in 1959, THE MUMMY was among Hammer's earliest color films and helped lay out the visual style that come to dominate "Hammer Horror" for more than a decade. Drawing from Universal's 1932 THE MUMMY and 1940 THE MUMMY'S HAND, it opens with a band of Victorian-era archaeologists in Egypt, where they discover the lost tomb of Princess Ananka--and in the process unleash a mummy cursed to guard her throughout eternity. It is a curse that follows the men back to England, where they are stalked to their deaths one by one.

Director Terence Fisher and cinematographer Jack Asher worked a number of Hammer films, including the earlier HORROR OF Dracula and REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Although some of the lighting may give you pause--judging from all the backlighting and colored filters it would seem the ancient Egyptians had mood lighting installed in their tombs--their efforts result in a series of truly arresting visuals; in their hands, bright color is no obstacle to moodiness. The cast plays it out extremely well, with the lovely Yvonne Furneaux a classic Hammer beauty, Peter Cushing as her archaeologist husband, and (yes, the posture and bearing really is unmistakable) Christopher Lee under wraps for the title role.

The DVD contains no extras beyond the original trailer, and although the transfer is not pristine it is nonetheless very good indeed. Hammer Horror may not save the world, but it is often a lot of fun--and THE MUMMY is easily among the studio's best. Recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

When Hammer started making horror movies in the 1950s that were inspired by some of the classic Universal movies of the 1930s they had to tread carefully. Universal threatened legal action if they copied the makeup of their Frankenstein's monster for example, which is the reason the Monster (played by Christopher Lee) looked quite different to Karloff's in Hammer's 'Curse Of Frankenstein'(1957). By the time they made 'The Mummy' two years later some kind of understanding had been entered into and this movie, though it isn't credited as such, and the characters names have been changed, is pretty much a remake of the 1932 Universal classic which starred Boris Karloff. Once again Lee plays the Karloff role, except a second character played by George Castell has been created for this version, so we don't get to see Lee without his bandages, apart from a brief flashback sequence. Peter Cushing plays the leading man role, an archaeologist who is initially sceptical but soon must accept the existence of the Mummy. Yvonne Furneaux plays Cushing's devoted wife who is also a dead ringer for Princess Ananka, the woman the Mummy loved centuries earlier. Furneaux is probably best remembered for playing Catherine Deneuve's sister in Polanski's classic 'Repulsion', and also appeared in another sixties art film classic Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita'. Cushing gives a terrific performance as usual. I've yet to see a Hammer movie where he didn't. Lee makes a menacing Mummy, even more powerful and threatening than Karloff's. Though I still love the original version of 'The Mummy' this one is almost as good. In fact it's very difficult to choose one over the other. Both come with my highest recommendations and wipe the floor with the recent tongue in cheek versions starring Brendan Fraser et al. It's a pity that Hammer didn't make more Mummy movies starring Cushing and Lee. I do however highly recommend Hammer's 'Blood From The Mummy's Tomb', even though it has no connection to 'The Mummy' and doesn't feature either actor.