The Mummy (1959)

Director: Terence Fisher
Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Furneaux

Synopsis:
When British archaeologists uncover the tomb of an Egyptian princess, a devotee of the god Karnak raises a mummy to exact revenge for the sacrilege.

Impressions:
The third of the Universal horror pictures to be remade by Hammer, it's admittedly inferior to The Curse of Frankenstein or The Horror of Dracula, but you honestly can't expect any mummy story to beat Frankenstein or Dracula. Except for a flashback, Christopher Lee is unvoiced as Kharis, which always seems like a terrible waste, but his physical presence serves quite well. Peter Cushing as John Banning wasn't terribly interesting (especially compared to his earlier portrayals of Victor Frankenstein and Abraham van Helsing) until a point late in the movie where he was baiting the man responsible for siccing Kharis on people. That was good stuff. This isn't a bad movie, and while I have mentioned that it falls short of the earlier two heavy-hitters, it's better than many of the later films to come from Hammer. Give it a watch.

Rating:
Watch It