Who's The Mummy? Boris Karloff as Ardath Bey and Imhotep
Mummy's Love? Zita Johann as Helen Grosvenor and Ankh-es-en-amon
Where? Egypt
How Long? 73 minutes
In the 1920s a British Museum expedition to Egypt unearths an unusual mummy, that of Imhotep seemingly mummified with his organs intact and buried alive, next to a 'cursed' casket containing a magical Scroll of Thoth.
An impetuous young member of the expedition tries to transcribe the scroll, awakening the mummy. The sight of the lumbering creature drives him insane and then the mummy disappears into the desert with the scroll.
A decade later, another British museum expedition is led to the burial site of priestess Ankh-es-en-amon, by mysterious - and slightly sinister - local businesman Ardath Bey (Boris Karloff).
Once Ankh-es-en-Amon is secure in the Cairo Museum, Ardath Bey (who is really Imhotep, the resurrected mummy, as if you couldn't guess) uses the Scroll of Thoth to try and bring his love back to life.
It is later revealed that pharaoh's son Imhotep was madly in love with the priestess back in the day and when she died of natural causes at a young age, he stole the magical scroll to try and resurrect her, but was discovered and sentenced - by Amenophis, his father - to be buried alive, along with the scroll, so that no one else could ever use that again.
However, it turns out that Ankh-es-en-Amon's soul has been through a constant cycle of rebirth and is currently residing in the body of Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann), who is staying in Cairo with the elderly Doctor Muller (Edward Van Sloan), and has caught the eye of walking plank Frank Whemple (David Manners), the son of the original archaeological expedition leader.
Using his Ancient Egyptian magic, Imhotep plans to ensnare Helen Grosvenor, kill her, and then bring her back to life using the scroll, so they can be together forever.
One of the more subtle of Universal's classic monster movies, the original Mummy film is moody and pacy; as with most genre movies of that era it doesn't hang around and gets on with its story quick sharp.
It's more psychological than out-and-out horror, playing on Lovecraftian themes of fear of the unknown, dark magics, loss of self-control etc
Karloff is, of course, magnificently memorable as Ardath Bey/Imhotep and Zita Johann impresses as the flighty socialite that shows she has backbone, while the lusty and overbearing Frank is held at bay by magical forces.
Despite our common perceptions of "the mummy" as a shambling bandaged member of the undead, that version of the creature is barely seen - just briefly after his initial, accidental, resurrection - but then for the bulk of the film, he is the towering, but well-spoken, figure of Ardath Bey.
Bey even has his own 'secret headquarters' in the backstreets of Cairo, decked out in Ancient Egyptian style, complete with a scrying pool, through which he is able to cast spells at unsuspecting targets.
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