Starring Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Arthur Byron, Edward Van Sloan
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
An archaeological expedition accidentally resurrects an ancient Egyptian mummy, who then plots to seize the reincarnation of his lost love with his tremendous hypnotic powers.
The first of the many Mummy movies, and the best, in which Karloff stars in one of his greatest roles, abetted by closeups of the actor's face in which the lighting is manipulated to make his eyes seem to glow. Freund, who served as the cinematographer on Dracula, directs this time, but oversees many effective panning camera movements that set up scenes and transition to new locales. A largely unsung contribution to the film is an uncredited musical score that adds color to the Egyptian backgrounds and supports the menace within Karloff's performance. This ranks in my mind as one of the all-time Universal Pictures horror classics, and one of my favorite films.
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