The Mummy's Tomb is better than its predecessor, without a doubt. Harold Young's direction is strong. It's not quite scary, but he's at least going for scary.
It's sort of like an episode of "Cheers;" it takes place in small town Massachusetts and there's a mummy roaming the streets. You can see the "Cheers" gang, having headed out of town for a weekend getaway, where there's a mummy terrorizing their weekend.
It's a sixty minute movie--which is some of the reason I watched it--I figured I could handle it. I didn't account for ten minutes being from The Mummy's Hand. The most interesting thing about the film is how it takes two of the first film's principals--Dick Foran, Wallace Ford--and puts them in old age makeup two years after the last film--just to kill them off.
The leading man, John Hubbard, gets third billing (but deserves sixth). Elyse Knox is a decent damsel in distress. Turhan Bey, who barely has anything to do as the bad guy, is at least amusing. His character replays Zucco's character from in the first film, only in New England instead of Egypt. There's this secret society of high priests who can get one a job as graveyard caretaker anywhere in the world.
Unfortunately, Lon Chaney Jr. isn't much of a mummy. Apparently, he didn't like the character, didn't like the makeup. It shows.
At least it's only sixty minutes and there is a great crane shot at the end.
CREDITS
Directed by Harold Young; screenplay by Griffin Jay and Henry Sucher, based on a story by Neil P. Varnick; director of photography, George Robinson; edited by Milton Carruth; released by Universal Pictures.
Starring Lon Chaney Jr. (Kharis, the Mummy), Dick Foran (Stephen Banning), John Hubbard (Dr. John Banning), Elyse Knox (Isobel Evans), George Zucco (Andoheb), Wallace Ford ('Babe' Hanson), Turhan Bey (Mehemet Bey), Virginia Brissac (Mrs. Ella Evans), Cliff Clark (Sheriff), Mary Gordon (Jane Banning), Paul E. Burns (Jim, the caretaker), Frank Reicher (Prof. Matthew Norman) and Emmett Vogan (Coroner).
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