The Mummy (1932 film)

The Mummy is a 1932 horror film released by Universal Studios.
 * Directed by Karl Freund, written by John L. Balderston from a story by Nina Wilcox Putnam and Richard Schayer.

Imhotep

 * Anck-es-en-Amon, my love has lasted longer than the temples of our gods. No man ever suffered as I did for you. But the rest you may not know. Not until you are about to pass through the great night of terror and triumph. Until you are ready to face moments of horror for an eternity of love.


 * [to Helen Grosvenor dressed as his beloved Princess Anck-es-en-Amon] It was not only this body I loved, it was thy soul. I destroy this lifeless thing! Thou shall take its place but for a few moments and then... RISE again, even as I have risen!


 * You will not remember what I show you now, and yet I shall awaken memories of love... and crime... and death...

Helen Grosvenor

 * I loved you once, but now you belong with the dead. I am Anck-es-en-Amon, but I... I'm somebody else, too. I want to live, even in this strange new world.

Doctor Muller

 * Burn the scroll, man. Burn it! It was through you this horror came into existence.


 * If I could get my hands on you, I'd break your dried flesh to pieces!

Dialogue

 * Frank Whemple: Stuck in the desert for two months, and it was hot! That tomb...
 * Helen/The Princess: What tomb?
 * Frank Whemple: Surely you read about the princess?
 * Helen/The Princess: So you did that.
 * Frank Whemple: Yes. The fourteen steps down and the unbroken seals were thrilling. But when we came to handle all her clothes and her jewels and her toilet things - you know they buried everything with them that they used in life? - well, when we came to unwrap the girl herself...
 * Helen/The Princess: How could you do that?
 * Frank Whemple: Had to! Science, you know. Well after we'd worked among her things, I felt as if I'd known her. But when we got the wrappings off, and I saw her face... you'll think me silly, but I sort of fell in love with her.
 * Helen/The Princess: Do you have to open graves to find girls to fall in love with?


 * Frank Whemple: Oh, I know it seems absurd when we've known each other such a short time. But I'm serious.
 * Helen/The Princess: Don't you think I've had enough excitement for one evening, without the additional thrill of an strange man making love to me?


 * Dr. Muller: Look - the scared spells which protect the soul in its journey to the underworld have been chipped off the coffin. So Imhotep was sentenced to death not only in this world, but in the next.
 * Assistant: Maybe he got too gay with the vestal virgins in the temple.
 * Dr. Muller: Possibly.


 * Dr. Muller: Put it back. Bury it where you found it. You have read the curse. You dare deft it?
 * Sir Joseph Whemple: In the interest of science. Even if I believed in the curse, I'd go on with my work for the museum. Come back with me, and we'll examine this great find together.
 * Dr. Muller: I cannot condone an act of sacrilege with my presence.


 * Sir Joseph Whemple: [translating inscription on box] "Death... eternal punishment... for... anyone... who... opens... this... casket. In the name... of Amon-Ra... the king of gods". Good heavens, what a terrible curse!
 * Ralph Norton: [eagerly] Well, let's see what's inside!


 * Imhotep: Have we not met before, Miss Grosvenor?
 * Helen Grosvenor: No. I don't think so. I don't think one would forget meeting you, Ardath Bey.
 * Imhotep: Then I am mistaken.


 * Frank Whemple: He's a strange one.
 * Sir Joseph Whemple: But you might at least have thanked the man. He was responsible for finding the Princess.
 * Frank Whemple: Yes, I rather wish he hadn't been. I think it's a dirty trick, this Cairo Museum keeping everything we've found.
 * Sir Joseph Whemple: That was the contract. The British Museum works for the cause of science, not for loot.


 * Doctor Muller: Helen knows. She knows the moment she stops struggling he will give her back her strength to come to him.
 * Helen Grosvenor: But I don't want to lose my own mind, and be someone else, someone I hate!


 * [Norton laughs manically after seeing the Mummy leave the archaeologists' workshop with the sacred scroll]
 * Sir Joseph Whemple: What's the matter, man? For heaven's sake, what is it?
 * Ralph Norton: He went for a little walk! You should have seen his face!


 * Frank Whemple: You seem to think this thing has all the devils of hell in it. Why not burn it and be done with it?
 * Dr. Muller: An excellent suggestion...

About

 * I think with all the technology today, kids wouldn't buy [a mummy wrapped in bandages]. That's sort of one of the things about the first Mummy movies that always amazed me. Looking back on them now, why were people scared of the mummy? Surely, you could just run away from this guy that's walking around the neighborhood in pajamas and bandages. It'd be easy just to run away from him, so we have to hype it up a bit and create a whole new mummy.
 * Arnold Vosloo (Moviestar (German movie magazine) November/December issue 06/2001

Cast

 * Boris Karloff - Ardeth Bey / Imhotep / The Mummy
 * Zita Johann - Helen Grosvenor / Princess Ankh-esen-amun
 * David Manners - Frank Whemple
 * Arthur Byron - Sir Joseph Whemple
 * Edward Van Sloan - Dr. Muller
 * Bramwell Fletcher - Ralph Norton
 * Noble Johnson - The Nubian
 * Kathryn Byron - Frau Muller
 * Leonard Mudie - Professor Pearson
 * James Crane - Pharaoh Amenophis
 * Henry Victor - The Saxon Warrior