The Mummy's Curse (1944)

Here we go again. All of a sudden we're in the swamps of Cajun country and a character gives some exposition about this being another 25 years after the Mummy last attacked. The writers are completely different on this one, so I'll attribute it to them not paying attention. This was released in the same year as The Mummy's Ghost, but was not filmed simultaneously from what I can tell. Did you think there could be a Mummy movie without a high priest going over the same ancient Egyptian clips with Karloff and Tyler? Of course not! This time Dr. Zandaab (Coe) explains the secret of the Arkan priests to Ragheb (Kosleck), yet he is not on his deathbed, so we have two priests who pledge themselves to return Kharis and Ananka to their ancestral sands. An irrigation project crew in Louisiana is doing a lot of digging. Dr. Zandaab and Dr. Halsey (Moore), who has no idea his Egyptian colleague has more sinister plans, wish to find the mummies for the sake of the museum. There is a saloon nearby with all its regulars too. The cast is filled with so many stereotypical bayou characters. I thought the art direction and camera work looked really good through most of the picture, especially in the scene where Ananka (Christine) rises again. Virginia Christine is another very beautiful woman playing the confused ancient princess in another body. She seems to be rejuvenated by the sun, but there are many things that are not made clear about how she survives looking glamorous, while Kharis looks as he does. The Mummy is a bit more sympathetic like Frankenstein's monster here. The two undercover Egyptian priests find Kharis fairly quickly, but it takes longer to chase down Ananka. The boss of the construction crew has a niece named Betty (Harding), who works as his secretary, and she falls in love with Dr. Halsey. Ragheb is the lustful priest, who tries to force Betty to become his bride for eternity. The relationships are a bit more complex, there is a bit more action and the effects are better in this picture. If you can forget the continuity problems between this and its prequels, it is an entertaining flick.