Stubs - The Mummy's Hand

The Mummy’s Hand (1940) starring Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Wallace Ford, Cecil Kellaway Directed by Christy Cabanne. Screenplay by Griffin Jay, Maxwell Shane. Produced by Ben Pivar Run time: 67 minutes. Black and White. USA Horror

When is a film the second in a series, but not a sequel and doesn’t tell a story related to the original? See The Mummy’s Hand, released by Universal in 1940, eight years after the original. Following the success of Son of Frankenstein, which revived the Frankenstein franchise, and The Invisible Man Returns, which revived that franchise, the studio decided to try that with The Mummy. Only this time there was no Boris Karloff, and no James Whale involved.

Rather, the film was produced by Ben Pivar, who director Reginald LeBorg described as the epitome artless, noncreative studio executive who was often crude and occasionally seemed illiterate. The director, Christy Cabanne, a former silent film actor, had a reputation for efficiency and for being able to make films very quickly.

Budgeted at $80,000, the film started filming in late May 1940. Cost cutting measures included using stock shots taken from The Mummy, leftover sets from James Whale's film Green Hell, and musical scores almost entirely lifted from Son of Frankenstein. Production continued into mid-June, which led to overtime hours for everyone. According to Peggy Moran, the female lead, she had to be on set at 6am to do hair and makeup and filming began at 8am and would occasionally work as late as 4am the next day. Over budget by $4000, editing was done by the end of June. The film opened on September 20, 1940.

Andoheb (George Zucco) arrives at the ancient temple.

The story opens in Egypt, Andoheb (George Zucco) arrives by train and then travels by camel to the Hill of the Seven Jackals. He has come after being summoned by The High Priest of Karnak (Eduardo Ciannelli), who is elderly and dying.

Kharis (Boris Karloff, in archive footage) is caught red-handed.

He explains to Andoheb the story of Kharis when, over three thousand years ago, Prince Kharis (Boris Karloff, in archive footage) had secretly loved Princess Ananka (Zita Johann, in archive footage), but she died. Kharis stole sacred, life-giving tana leaves, but he was caught before he could use them to restore life to the dead Princess. He’s caught and Kharis's penalty was to be buried alive, after his tongue was removed. The tana leaves were buried with him.

The High Priest of Karnak (Eduardo Ciannelli), shows Andoheb the right tana leaf formula.

Kharis was buried in the desert, but the slaves who dug his grave were killed to keep the location a secret. However, priests recovered his body and kept him alive as protector of Ananka's tomb. During the cycle of the full moon, the fluid from the brew of three tana leaves must be administered to the creature to keep him alive. Should despoilers enter the tomb of the Princess, a fluid of nine leaves will restore movement to the monster so he can protect it from defilers. Any more than nine will make him an uncontrollable monster.

With this knowledge passed on, the High Priest passes on the amulet of leadership and dies.

Steve Banning (Dick Foran) shows Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford) a vase that holds the secrets to Princess Ananka's tomb.

Meanwhile, back in Cairo, a down on his luck archaeologist, Steve Banning (Dick Foran), and his sidekick, Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford), discover the remnants of a broken vase in a bazaar. Banning, who was recently fired, is convinced it is an authentic ancient Egyptian relic, and his interpretation of the hieroglyphs on the piece leads him to believe it contains clues to the location of Princess Ananka's tomb. Rather than working their way back to the US aboard a ship, Banning decides they’ll stay. He spends $75 of the pair’s last $83 to buy the vase.

Banning shows his discovery to the eminent Dr. Petrie (Charles Trowbridge) of the Cairo Museum, who is convinced the finding is genuine. However, Andoheb, who is a professor of Egyptology at the museum, tells them that the vase is a phony and drops and breaks it on purpose. However, Dr. Petrie still believes it’s real and agrees to go with Banning if he gets funding.

Funding comes from an unlikely source. While they’re at a bar, Jenson performs a card trick on the bartender, who no longer wants to play. Instead, he tires it on a man named Solvani (Cecil Kellaway), who, unbeknownst to Jenson, is an American stage magician, who outshines Jenson in every way, including helping him pay off the bet. Banning manages to convince Solvani, who is preparing to return to the states, to fund their quest in return for a share of the spoils of the tomb. But while they’re drinking, they are attacked by Andoheb's henchmen, managing to escape through a window.

Magician Solvani (Cecil Kellaway) tries to convince his daughter Marta (Peggy Moran) that he's not getting swindled.

Meanwhile Solvani's daughter Marta (Peggy Moran) is visited by Andoheb, who convinces her that her father is being frauded by Banning and Jenson. And to stop them, but fails.

Dr. Petrie (Charles Trowbridge) examines Kharis (Tom Tyler) while Banning observes.

The expedition departs in search of the Hill of the Seven Jackals, with the Solvanis tagging along. In their explorations, they stumble upon the tomb of Kharis. Before they go in, the workers, led by Ali (Leon Belasco), quit in fear. But Petrie leads the way and inside the tomb, they find the mummy and the tana leaves, but nothing to indicate the existence of Ananka's tomb. Kharis is removed from his sarcophagus and examined.

Andoheb shows Dr. Petrie that Kharis is still alive.

Andoheb surprises Dr. Petrie in the mummy's cave and has the scientist feel the creature's living pulse. Petrie is surprised there is a heartbeat. Andoheb convinces Petrie to administer the tana brew from nine leaves, and the mummy quickly comes to life and then, with one hand, strangles Petrie before escaping with Andoheb through a secret passageway to the temple on the other side of the mountain.

Andoheb has one of his followers, a beggar (Siegfried Arno), plant a tana leaf brew throughout the camp. The creature marauds about the camp, strangling the Egyptian overseer Ali and eventually attacking Solvani and kidnapping Marta and bringing her to the temple.

Banning and Jenson set out to track Kharis down, with Jenson going around the mountain and Banning attempting to find the secret passage they believe exists. Banning sits down and reads the hieroglyphics and determines it has to do with the mummy’s tomb, and he finally finds it by moving the sarcophagus.

Andoheb has plans of his own: enthralled by Marta's beauty, he plans to inject himself and her with tana fluid, making them both immortal.

Jenson arrives at the temple in the nick of time and is greeted by Andoheb, who tells him that Marta is some place he can’t see her. The two have a standoff and Jenson shoots Andoheb dead in self-defense.

Kharis easily overpowers Banning.

Meanwhile, Banning arrives and attempts to rescue Marta. However, Kharis appears. He wants the tana brew that Andoheb set up. Banning's bullets have no effect on the mummy. Marta had overheard Andoheb describe the secret of the tana fluid and tells Banning and Jenson that Kharis must not be allowed to drink any more of it.

Kharis is set ablaze, but the Mummy, like James Bond, will return.

When the mummy raises the tana fluid to his lips, Jenson manages to shoot the container from his grasp. Dropping to the floor, Kharis attempts to ingest the life-giving liquid. Banning seizes the opportunity to overturn a brazier onto the mummy, engulfing it in flames.

By the end of the film, Marta and Banning are a couple in the same Egyptian bazaar where he had found the first vase and the same vendor tries to sell him another vase, but Marta stops him. They’re to leave for the United States with not only the mummy of Ananka and the diamonds from her tomb, but a new job for Banning, as well as the head of the organization that had previously fired him.

I wasn’t able to find any available contemporary reviews. My usual go-to Bosley Crowthers at The New York Times did not appear to review the film. However, I don’t need to have him tell me the film isn’t very good.

To begin with, the film’s plot is rather thin and what there is of it is filled with coincidences. On the day Banning and Jenson are looking for funding, they happen upon an American magician loaded with money in a bar. Solvani must have been one of the most gregarious and gullible people to walk the face of the earth.

Andoheb and his followers are everywhere all at once. The beggar that I mentioned in the latter part of the story has been in the background since Banning buys the vase, as if they were watching it. But if they knew it led to their secret location, you think they would have bought it themselves or broken it accidentally on purpose.

And the beggar is the one that leads the attack on Banning, Jenson and Solvani in the bar just after making their deal. And, of course, the bar is filled with Andoheb’s men, as I’m sure every bar in Egypt would be.

We’re shown just how remote the site is, but Andoheb manages to show up unexpectedly and no one notices the approach.

Also, tana leaves were introduced in this film for the first time, and were not in the original Mummy. They were no doubt created to give a reason how the Mummy had survived all these centuries and how come no one had found Anaka’s tomb. They reminded me of the introduction of midi-chlorians to explain how some people have stronger connections to the force in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace; the higher the M-count, the better. 3 tana leaves good, over 9 tana leaves monster.

Now all of these things are necessary to have a story to tell, but they’re gimmicks at the same time.

And many people have written about the ending of the film. In the course of the struggle, the tana fluid is spilled, leading to the unexpectedly upsetting sight of Kharis face-down upon the floor, lapping at the liquid, mind you without a tongue, like a dog, before he’s set afire by Banning. As James Lowder, who reviewed The Mummy's Hand in White Wolf Inphobia #53 (March, 1995), writes, “The mummy's defeat (actually, its apparent defeat, since it returns for The Mummy's Tomb) is one of the most pathetic endings for a monster film in history – set ablaze as it lies face-down on the floor, lapping up spilled tana tea. Very unsportsmanlike of Banning …”

As Lowder reveals, the Mummy is, of course, not dead, as you don’t kill off a series namesake, unless yours is James Bond, if you plan to put out more films. Universal was not through with the Mummy, releasing The Mummy's Tomb (1942), The Mummy's Ghost (1944) and The Mummy's Curse (1944), but with Lon Chaney Jr. as the namesake.

I’m not sure how I feel about Dick Foran as the hero in the film. Foran was an actor who played a variety of roles throughout his career, from a singing cowboy, Moonlight on the Prairie (1935); to dramas, The Petrified Forest (1936); to westerns, Winners of the West (1940); to comedy, My Little Chickadee (1940); and now horror. He certainly has the right build and looks to be cast as an adventurer, and he is fine in the part, but an actor is only as good as his material.

A Broadway actor, Wallace Ford had come to Hollywood with the coming of sound in 1929. He is known for playing wise-cracking characters, and here plays a rather buffoon character. We don’t really know anything about the background between Banning and Jenson, but it’s a little hard to imagine how they would become an inseparable pair. Still, Ford isn’t bad as the card-trick huckster.

Peggy Moran is one of those actresses that had a sort of flash career, from 1938 to 1943. Never really a star, she appeared in small parts. She’s okay as the love interest, though, as was typical at the time, she plays the damsel in distress. Even though her career was rather short, ending after marrying director Harry Koster, her image would appear in all of his films. Reportedly, a bust of Moran was featured in every picture her husband directed. His films also used "silhouettes, cameos, paintings, and even photographs" of Moran, as well.

Cecil Kellaway is an interesting actor. South African-born, he had a career in Australian movies before coming to Hollywood in 1938. He would appear mostly as a member of the supporting cast, but not as the star. He would, over his career, receive two Academy nominations for Best Supporting Actor for The Luck of the Irish (1948) and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). He’s usually good in his roles and he is here as well, though at some point, he disappears when the action comes to a head.

Tom Tyler had the unenviable role as Kharis, the mummy. Peggy Moran once stated that she never met Tyler without his makeup on, stating that he had to be at the studio at four in the morning and he couldn't talk with his make-up on. That’s not a great gig, as Boris Karloff could atest to himself. Tyler, who played superheroes in movie serials The Adventures of Captain Marvel and The Phantom, a well as acted in low-budget Westerns, does about as good a job as someone could do. However, the biggest strike against him is that he’s not Karloff.

And that could sum up The Mummy’s Hand. Without Karloff or James Whale, this film is more footnote than a sequel. The horror is mild at best. It’s a sort of pale version of the story that lacks whatever punch the original had.