Mummy Time!

 

(IMDB)

THE MUMMY'S TOMB-1942-Stephan Banning (Dick Foran in old age makeup) relates his tale from 30 years before of the search for Egyptian princess Ananka (events told in the previous THE MUMMY'S HAND). Also present are his son John (John Hubbard), John's girlfriend Isobel (Elyse Knox) and her mother Mrs. Evans (Virginia Brissac). Banning takes satisfaction in knowing he destroyed the mummy, Kharis. 

However in Egypt Prof. Andoheb (George Zucco) did not die and neither did Kharis. Andoheb clues his new discipline Mehenet (Turhan Bey) in on to how to control the mummy with tana leaves. Mehenet and Kharis head to the US for revenge. The bandaged monster's first victim is Banning. The sheriff investigates because strange dust marks are found on his throat. Then Babe (Wallace Ford as an old man) arrives but Kharis comes back and kills Banning's elderly sister (Mary Gordon). Babe is the next victim. John finds a torn bandage and takes it to Prof. Norman (Frank Reicher) who confirms it comes from a mummy. Then John gets a draft notice and proposes to Isobel. Mehenet hangs around and clearly desires Isobel. He wants to make her his wife and commands Kharis to kidnap her. He's not happy about it but does it anyway. A posse is formed to find her. Mehenet plans to make himself and Isobel immortal. The posse confronts him and he's shot by the sheriff. Kharis and Isobel are trapped in the burning Banning house but John rescues her (and is almost strangled by Kharis). The poor mummy burns up again and John and Isobel get married.

TOMB is arguably the best of the Lon Chaney Mummy series but did they really have to kill off the characters from the previous entry? Director Harold Young had made THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL with Leslie Howard in 1934 but later on was mostly a B-movie director. In 1945 he worked with Chaney again on one of the “Inner Sanctum” series, THE FROZEN GHOST and made THE JUNGLE CAPTIVE, the last entry into the “Paula, the Ape Woman” series.

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