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 enlarge | Director: Terence Fisher
Actors: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Furneaux, Eddie Byrne, Felix Aylmer
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy New: $4.22
You Save: $5.76 (58%)
New (34) Used (17) Collectible (1) from $4.22
Avg. Customer Rating:  46 reviews
Sales Rank: 12821
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 88
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.5 x 0.5
MPN: D22034D
ISBN: 0790764342
UPC: 085392203420
EAN: 9780790764344
ASIN: B00005NSXY
Theatrical Release Date: December 16, 1959
Release Date: October 9, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW Factory Sealed - Ready to be shipped within 24 hrs from California - Average 5 workdays delivery time - Excellent customer service - Buy with confidence!
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| Customer Reviews:
 Tomb raiders take note May 26, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
this was the first version of The Mummy legend that I ever saw, and until the last version with Brendan Fraser, it was the best. In fact, I would place it as a very close second. The newer version wins because of its outstanding special effects, but let's face it, it's really a spoof. Rather than an update of "The mummy", it's more like an update of "Abbot and Costello Meet the mummy".
The hammer "Mummy" is basically serious. Of course the whole Mummy legend is based on the bizzare death of Lord Carnavon after the opening of the tomb of Pharoah Tutankahmen. (a mosquito bite bcame infected and killed him)
It is well to remember that there are no big special effects in the Hammer film except for the mummy makeup and the simulated shotgun blasts that do not destroy Christopher Lee. The movie achieves true horror through the acting abilities of a truly outstanding cast of actors. Christopher Lee deserves special mention for his ability to express the complex feelings of Kharis even through heavy makeup.
There are some comments that the Egyptian scenes are stagy and unreal. Have you ever taken a good look at the surviving relics of Egyptian civilization? To the modern eye, they do seem stagy and unreal. That is part of our fascination with ancient Egypt.
This movie belongs in every collection of sixties melodrama as an example of what can be done with a simple plot, great actors, and a competent director.
The Mummy February 8, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Okay... bullets don't stop him, bogs don't drown him, and running a spear through him simply causes a handful of desiccated kidney dust to pour out of the exit site and, if those blazing brown eyes are any indication, get madder than he was to begin with. How do you stop Kharis (Christopher Lee), the Mummy, who has traveled from Egypt to the peaceful countryside of England to wreak havoc (aka, kill) the three English archeologists who desecrated the tomb of his beloved, Princess Ananka. Traveling with is his keeper, Mehemet Bey (George Pastell), who conveniently carries along with him, in a mini-mummy casket, a scroll of life which, when read, brings them back from the dead.
Man, what a thankless role Lee was stuck with in this one. His mummy makeup is as stiff as a plaster cast, he doesn't even get to growl, and the only emotion he's allowed to express in this one - save for an extended flashback scene where's he's the high priest preparing the Princess for burial - is through the eyes. Of course, Kharis had a forbidden, meddlesome love for the Princess, which helped accelerate his outraged congregation turning him into Dust-for-Guts, so I guess he had it coming to him. That forbidden love was a good thing for archeologist John Banning (Peter Cushing) though, who had the great good sense to marry Princess Ananka look-alike Isobel (Yvonne Furneaux.) If guns, bogs, and spears won't stop the Mummy (why didn't anyone think about a bucket of creosote and a lit match!? Sigh.) a squealed "Stop!" from Isobel/Ananka seems fairly effective.
THE MUMMY is one of those fun Hammer House films I haven't watched for a generation or so and delight in rediscovering. Cushing it at the top of his form, and Lee makes the most of his limited opportunities to generate sympathy for the monster. The Mummy is one of the hardest of the classic monsters to warm up to. Dracula is heartless but has a cold charm and more than enough style to hold our attention. Frankenstein's Monster is a pathetic creature in battle with his creator. The Wolfman's got that wolfbane curse that was a result of an accident totally beyond his control. The Mummy defies his gods by attempting to resurrect the Princess, and spends most movies trying to reunite with her. To their credit, Hammer's Mummy also has Mehemet Bey, who preys upon the residual guilt of the English for robbing Egypt of her sacred treasures. So this Mummy has a two-track, lost love/revenge theme going. Good fun, THE MUMMY is about as family-safe film as you'll find. There's no nudity, extremely minimal gore, and there's more talk than scare. Interesting talk, too, especially the third act guilt-trip Mehemet Bey tries to lay on Banning. Solid recommendation.
Neck and neck with Dracula ? October 15, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
While watching this, for the first time just now, I kept telling myself that it was better than Hammer's first Dracula. I think this was because the supporting actors were much better and better-known; because the script was better-written; because the Egyptology was excellent; and because Yvonne Furneaux was dazzlingly beautiful. However, Dracula is still more powerful, and packs a greater punch. Also, its climactic ending is more dramatic: somehow, although the ending of The Mummy had potential as written, it didn't seem to close the story out as effectively as it might have done. So it's a photo-finish. The Egyptian scenes, given the budget, and with attendant artwork and hokey rituals, were really good. Jimmy Sangster, or the Art Director, had done quite bit of homework in this area. Part of what makes these Hammer frolics so impressive is the meticulous attention to the background detail, and the care lavished on settings and costumes. It's all so lush. The dialogue in this tale was also very interesting: the argument between the Egyptian devotee, and the rational infidel, Cushing, rang several bells. Yvonne's reincarnation from Egyptian princess to Mrs Banning was pure Rider Haggard, of course, but none the worse for that. I think she would have made a better Ayesha than Ursula Andress. All more entertaining than I'd expected, since the film isn't half as well known as Dracula.
Make supple the limbs... January 26, 2006
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
In the world of horror, the mummy sits right next to vampires and werewolves -- creepy supernatural things that can rip you to bits.
And they are rarely scarier than they are in "The Mummy," a classic horror movie with no blood, no gore, not even any curses. Yet this is creepier -- and more frightening -- than any dozen fright flicks from Hollywood now. Of course, having Christopher Lee lurching through locked doors helps.
A pair of archaeologists uncover the tomb of Egyptian Princess Ananka, but once inside, Stephen Banning (Felix Aylmer) collapses into gibbering madness. Three years later, a mysterious box arrives in England, at the same time that Banning tells his son John (Peter Cushing) that something is coming to kill him. He's found strangled in a padded cell.
It turns out that Stephen was murdered by a "living mummy," a disgraced priest who was buried alive in Ananka's tomb to protect his beloved. Now a zealot has brought the mummy to England, and is using it to kill off anyone who dared go into the tomb. Now John must stop them both, using his wife's resemble to Ananka...
"The Mummy" got a big-budget, low-talent remake in the late 90s, which shares a few things with this movie, but the Hammer Horror version is probably the most memorable and well-made. Partly that is due to the hulking, silent, menacing mummy, and partly due to solid scripting and some very good acting.
Okay, the Egyptian sets are hokey, and the Hammer people had little knowledge of ancient Egypt ("Karnak" is a place, not a god). But the film blossoms as it gets back to England, full of misty bogs and dark country mansions. It's an unlikely spot for a 4000-year-old Egyptian to wreak havoc, but it works surprisingly well.
The script injects a poignancy to the mummy's story, since he suffered a fate worse than death for love, and even now gets all mushy over a woman who looks like Ananka. At the same time, he's also a ruthless killer who strangles his victims without batting an eye.
Cushing plays the role, again, of a man who battles the forces of evil, no matter how bizarre or out-there they may be. And he does a solid job. Lee is outstanding, especially considering that his head is covered in papier-mache. The change of expression whenever he sees Isobel, a dead ringer for Ananka, is magnificently poignant.
"The Mummy" remains one of Hammer Horror's best films, with its solid acting and taut direction. Still creepy after all these years.
Maybe Hammer's finest hour May 19, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
The Mummy has always been the Rodney Dangerfield of classic monsters: it doesn't matter the year or the studio, he just doesn't get any respect. But Hammer's 1959 version, starring the incomparable team of Peter Cushing (as the hero) and Christopher Lee (as the monster), might be the best treatment of the ancient Egyptian living dead on film, as well as Hammer's best film. At any rate, the best looking (and sounding) to come from the tiny English studio. Jimmy Sangster's script scrambles up themes (and even character names) from several Universal Mummy films of the 1930s and 40s, but in the process he comes up with the most literate and historically accurate treatment of theme on record. Particularly clever is the decision to make the hero, Cushing, an agile adversary with a bum leg, turning upside-down the convention from the old Universal Kharis films which presented a lame, shuffling mummy who still managed to catch up with his furiously running victims (though for the record, some have claimed that Cushing was really injured at the time of filming, and his limp merely incorporated into the story). The direction of Terence Fisher is atmospherically assured as usual without being obtrusive, but Jack Asher's photography is really something to behold: in particular, the scenes of ancient Egypt are stunningly beautiful. The supporting cast is one of Hammer's best, with Sir Felix Aylmer and Raymond Huntley joining such studio regulars as the great Michael Ripper and George Pastell, but the acting honors go without question to Christopher Lee, who excells in a role that has defeated lesser actors -- the silent, bandaged mummy -- and makes it not only frightening, but heart-wrenchingly tragic, simply through body language and his expressive eyes. If you're into mummy films, this one is a must.
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