The Mummy's Shroud
...reviewed October 5th
I’m not about to dispute the criticisms towards the Hammer Studios’ tendencies to leave their filmmakers with a rather unimpressive budget; tightening the screws on those needing to bring to life whole other eras and worlds set sometime in the past can make itself aware on screen. Like the opening narrative of The Mummy’s Shroud talking about an Egyptian Prince who was screwed out of his rightful place as king by a jealous brother who considered him in the way (this brother even murders his own father to ascend the throne through the power of an army devoted to him). The costumes, props, and sets are quite subpar and unconvincing. The plot further explains that the prince is taken off into the desert by a loyal slave to his father, and as the few remaining slaves behind them trek into the sun-baked lands outside of their home, death awaits them all. So the prince is buried in a sacred hidden chamber, a specific death shroud over his body, covered in a type of sand that preserves his remains.
The loyal slave’s mummified corpse is in its open sarcophagus in a museum in the city near where the desert led to the burial chamber of the prince. When an archeologist, Sir Basil Walden (André Morell), and his crew, Claire (Maggie Kimberly; language expert,), Harry (Tim Barrett; photographer), and Basil’s assistant, Paul (David Buck; Basil’s assistant, his wealthy father provided major funding for the expedition) find the tomb of the prince, removing his remains and the burial shroud from their proper place, placing them in the museum against the wishes of a “protector of the tomb” (played by the well cast Roger Delgado), the mummy of the slave will be unleashed on them all. Anyone who entered the tomb is subject to the mummy. That includes Paul’s demanding, self-absorbed, and polarizing fat-cat father, Stanley (John Phillips) and his put-upon, always-mistreated press agent, Longbarrow (Michael Ripper; this was during a career high for the character actor; this wasn’t Plague of the Zombies, but Ripper did well with his nervy, always-wiping-the-sweat-from-his-brow yes man). Anyone associated with the entrance of that tomb are in deep shit.
I’m not about to dispute the criticisms towards the Hammer Studios’ tendencies to leave their filmmakers with a rather unimpressive budget; tightening the screws on those needing to bring to life whole other eras and worlds set sometime in the past can make itself aware on screen. Like the opening narrative of The Mummy’s Shroud talking about an Egyptian Prince who was screwed out of his rightful place as king by a jealous brother who considered him in the way (this brother even murders his own father to ascend the throne through the power of an army devoted to him). The costumes, props, and sets are quite subpar and unconvincing. The plot further explains that the prince is taken off into the desert by a loyal slave to his father, and as the few remaining slaves behind them trek into the sun-baked lands outside of their home, death awaits them all. So the prince is buried in a sacred hidden chamber, a specific death shroud over his body, covered in a type of sand that preserves his remains. 
The loyal slave’s mummified corpse is in its open sarcophagus in a museum in the city near where the desert led to the burial chamber of the prince. When an archeologist, Sir Basil Walden (André Morell), and his crew, Claire (Maggie Kimberly; language expert,), Harry (Tim Barrett; photographer), and Basil’s assistant, Paul (David Buck; Basil’s assistant, his wealthy father provided major funding for the expedition) find the tomb of the prince, removing his remains and the burial shroud from their proper place, placing them in the museum against the wishes of a “protector of the tomb” (played by the well cast Roger Delgado), the mummy of the slave will be unleashed on them all. Anyone who entered the tomb is subject to the mummy. That includes Paul’s demanding, self-absorbed, and polarizing fat-cat father, Stanley (John Phillips) and his put-upon, always-mistreated press agent, Longbarrow (Michael Ripper; this was during a career high for the character actor; this wasn’t Plague of the Zombies, but Ripper did well with his nervy, always-wiping-the-sweat-from-his-brow yes man). Anyone associated with the entrance of that tomb are in deep shit.
Delgado’s vengeful Hasmid and his clairvoyant mom, Haiti (Catherine Lacey; she has a marvelous wrinkled face and expressive eyes, not to mention a demented cackle, that perfectly convey relish in the vicious murders her son carries out through reading the text of the shroud and leading the mummy to those “desecrators of the tomb”) and some potent violence do help, along with the solid performances of a cast that are tasked with rising above a budget and plot that does them little favors. The “vengeance of the desecration” plot had been done previously, only this time it is a sacred shroud instead of sacred scroll read from by an Egyptian out to show those tomb raiding whites they must pay for disrupting the graves of their ancestors. The plot is recycling clichés. That said, the mummy of slave Prem is tall and alarming (well photographed in close up, with his arm reaching forward to potential victims) and those who fatefully encounter him are accosted by quite an imposing menace. The slasher aspect of the plot goes back to the Universal Kharis series in that the mummy is commanded by an Egyptian to kill those involved in the expeditions that remove kings from their burial chambers and one-by-one people are killed off, normally through strangulation. What I like about the Hammer mummies is that they aren’t shambling and slow-moving. The Hammer mummies appear and kill; they are the very essence of the masters of surprise. The murders in The Mummy’s Shroud are not just garden-variety one handed strangulations, but one head is hinted to have been crushed, one victim is wrapped in a curtain and tossed out his rented room window, and the nastiest concerns acid splashing from a broken bottle (crushed in the hands of the mummy; for whatever reason, I thought this was cool) onto a victim with his photograph room soon going up in flames. For some reason, the vision of the Prem mummy wielding an ax as he moves towards Paul was awesome.
The film features yet another authoritative financial figure as the real villain in Stanley; per usual, he is only concerned primarily with himself and his well being, including however he can benefit from others labor and reap the spoils from the efforts of those hired under him. When the mummy grabs him from behind (he was trying to get out of the city through a night boat trip, leaving behind his wife and son; nice guy, this Stanley), and rings his neck, I can imagine it was celebration time. Elizabeth Sellars has a role that requires her to constantly show contempt for a man she’s been married to forever (for whatever reason, besides his money), reminding him of his frailties as a human being. So the cast of characters try to make do with the rather mediocre story and budget, and I think they accomplish a lot besides the limitations that befall them.
The film features yet another authoritative financial figure as the real villain in Stanley; per usual, he is only concerned primarily with himself and his well being, including however he can benefit from others labor and reap the spoils from the efforts of those hired under him. When the mummy grabs him from behind (he was trying to get out of the city through a night boat trip, leaving behind his wife and son; nice guy, this Stanley), and rings his neck, I can imagine it was celebration time. Elizabeth Sellars has a role that requires her to constantly show contempt for a man she’s been married to forever (for whatever reason, besides his money), reminding him of his frailties as a human being. So the cast of characters try to make do with the rather mediocre story and budget, and I think they accomplish a lot besides the limitations that befall them.
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