Kharis dusts off his wraps once again!
Lon Chaney, Jr. goes under the wraps for a second time in 1944’s The Mummy’s Ghost. A sequel to The Mummy’s Tomb (1942) and The Mummy’s Hand (1940), Ghost finds Chaney’s Kharis back on the hunt for tana leaves and the love of his life, Ananka.
In the film, students are being taught about Kharis, his murder of most of the Banning family, and his supposed death in a fire at the Banning home in Mapleton, MA by Professor Norman (Frank Reicher, reprising his role from the previous film). In Egypt, the thought-to-be-dead Andoheb (George Zucco, returning for a third time) has given his newest replacement, Yousef Bey (John Carradine), the duty of bringing Kharis and Ananka back to their final resting place.
One of Professor Norman’s students, Tom Hervey (Robert Lowery), happens to be dating a beautiful Egyptian student named Amina (Ramsay Ames), who drifts into daydreams whenever someone mentions Egypt around her. That evening, she becomes entranced and follows Kharis to Professor Norman’s home where he has unwittingly revived the mummy by brewing tana leaves.
Kharis murders the professor and Amina faints when she sees him leaving the Norman home. She is then found by the police and becomes the prime suspect in Professor Norman’s murder. Soon enough, Yousef Bey arrives in town and calls on Kharis to help him locate Ananka. When they find her tomb, however, they discover that her soul has been transferred into a new body. That body belongs to Amina!
Kharis kidnaps Amina and brings her to Yousef Bey. When Bey sees her, he becomes enamored with her and plans to give her eternal life and share an immortal love with her (just like Mehemet Bey and Andoheb in the prior films). Enraged, Kharis kills Yousef Bey and heads out on his own with a rapidly aging Amina in his arms.
As with most Universal horror films, a mob shows up just in time to witness Kharis kick poor Tom Hervey’s rear and then make a break for the nearby swamp. The mob, along with a recovering Tom, give chase to Kharis. As Kharis moves deeper and deeper into the swamp, it becomes more difficult for the mob to follow. Only Tom, Sheriff Elwood (Harry Shannon), and a few others are able to keep up with him.
When they finally do catch up to Kharis, he is sinking into the swamp water with Amina in his arms. She has aged dramatically and no longer looks like the beautiful young woman that she once was. The duo go beneath the water and Tom breaks down and cries.
The film is one of the lowest rated Universal Horror films according to a number of review websites. I’m not exactly sure why that is, though, as this film is pretty decent in my book. It definitely isn’t a great film, but it is enjoyable to watch. The actors all do very good jobs in their roles and the special effects are decent as well. The music is solid and the story, albeit brief, held my attention throughout.
Ramsay Ames has the honor of being one of the few female leads in a Universal Horror film that doesn’t survive. The other ladies that didn’t make it out of the film alive include Zaleska (Gloria Holden, Dracula’s Daughter), Aunt Martha (Sara Haden, She-Wolf of London), Sandra Mornay (Leonore Aubert, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein), and possibly the Bride (Elsa Lanchester, Bride of Frankenstein). I say possibly for the Bride because A) we never find out of she survived the fire like Frankenstein’s monster did and B) one could argue that she isn’t a lead actress because she has so little on screen time. Also, Ames’ Amina is technically a good person and not a villain like the others since Ananka transfers her soul into Amina’s body. One thing is for sure, however, and that is the fact that in my book, Ramsay Ames is definitely one of the most beautiful actresses to appear in a Universal Horror film.
Well, that’s all I have for now. Thank you for reading my post. I have plans to do a double feature this weekend and a brief review of the board game Horrified, based on Universal’s classic monsters. I also hope to blog about a few collectibles featuring the monsters as well.
See you all again real soon!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 