The Eyes of the Mummy (1918) User Reviews

Odd eyes

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 27 April 2020]

Actually am feeling bad about giving 'Eyes of the Mummy' a low rating and below average review. Considering that it has people involved that are usually held in high regard by me. Ernst Lubitsch was to me one of the great directors of the 30s and 40s, and his early work is not as good but still interesting. Emil Jannings was always watchable and more (when it comes to silent films to me he's one of the greats), especially in villain and authority figure roles and his role here sounded perfect on paper.

'Eyes of the Mummy' sadly was to me a seriously odd film. Not awful, but Lubitsch and Pola Negri are not well served and although Jannings is one of the redeeming merits he has also been better. Like others have said, don't be fooled by the title. Which indicates that it is a horror film. It isn't. 'Eyes of the Mummy' is more a melodrama and it unfortunately does not do that aspect particularly well at all. Worth a look for curiosity and completest sake, but not much else.

Jannings comes off reasonably well compared to everything else going on. His performance is not at all a subtle one, he does try too hard, but he gives it absolutely everything and is a formidable and sinister presence throughout his screen time. Some of the set design is quite elaborate.

The last 15-20 minutes are effective, the part that held my attention the most (shame that it took too much time to get there) and it was well staged and lump to the throat worthy. Jannings appearing in a mirror did give me the creeps too, the one part that resembled anything close to being horror.

On the other hand, 'Eyes of the Mummy' doesn't work everywhere else. Even for this very early stage of his career, this did not feel like a Lubitsch film. He tried to adopt a change of pace here and is well and truly out of his depth here, as can be evidenced by the stiff and uninvolving direction. The story never really came to life apart from the climactic moments, before that it is very turgidly paced and emotionally dreary melodrama that one finds very difficult to connect with. Especially considering that it revolves around characters that are not easy at all to get behind, due to them not being at all interesting.

Mostly, 'Eyes of the Mummy' looks cheap. Some elaborate set design aside. Otherwise, it looks very static and unfocused and like it was made in a rush. Negri overacts to an embarrassing degree, some of the worst silent film acting there's been in my view, and the dancing in general is far from exotic and is unintentionally funny today. The music also does not fit in tone, orchestration or use, it was like it was written for a completely different film and it was disconcerting.

In summary, watch it once but not interesting or well done enough to warrant repeat viewings. A very odd experience indeed, a contender for Lubitsch's strangest. 4/10

Mildly Interesting Proto-'Hammer' Thriller

[Chance2000esl · 5/10 · 13 March 2008]

The title refers to Pola Negri's eyes. Captured by the evil Arab, Radu, (well played by Emil Jannings) Negri, as 'Queen Ma,' is forced to be his slave and trick tourists in an Egyptian pyramid by hiding within a sarcophagus with her live eyes showing through its eyeholes. A visiting painter, Albert Wendland, (Harry Liedke) supposedly the hero, falls in love with her and takes her back to Europe.

The film works as a kind of proto- 'Hammer Films' melodramatic thriller, as Radu follows her to Europe tracking her down and stalking her to seek his revenge on her having left him. Jannings is darkly made up, but we still get to see his menacing eyes and gestures that made him such a super star in the next decade after the film was made. (For some reason, it wasn't released in the United States until 1922.)

Pola Negri does a good job showing her gratitude, devotion and love to Wendland, as well as her alienation from her new European environment and hesitation to participate in it. It's only when she performs a 'native' dance at her coming out party that she relaxes and begins to mix and fit into her new culture (as a popular exotic dancer). Woo! But her dancing! You haven't seen anything this funny since the Babylonian dancers in 'Intolerance' (1916)! All jerky hootchie kootchie motions which briefly profile the curves of her cello shaped body (actually this type of female body was popular in films and soft core during the teens and twenties).

The action really picks up as all the coincidences have Radu closing in on Ma. The whole movie is pretty well edited, but the last fifteen minutes are especially well done. While the hero tries to rush to Ma's rescue, Radu exerts his hypnotic Svengali power over her, kills her, and then, after kissing her, out of remorse, kills himself. The hero rushes in, but...too late! This is the kind of tight little thriller / tragedy that Hammer would do so well in the sixties.

The Alpha Video DVD I have features a continuous piano soundtrack by Rachel Guches that has some interesting dissonances, but also the pop tune 'My Reverie' (?).

Even though the silent miming is a little too much, the film tells an interesting story, moves along at a good clip, and features good acting by Pola Negri and Emil Jannings. I give it a five.

Where's the mummy?!?!

[Rich-99 · 6/10 · 13 May 1999]

This 1918 film directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch is alleged to be the first mummy horror film although there is a claim of a lost 1905 film. The only problem is that except for the title there is no mummy! The plot, well here goes. An art student in Egypt goes to an Egyptian tomb to find Ma who may possibly be Pola Negri. I say possibly because the player of the lead character is NOT identified in the credits. Ma is being held as a slave by an Arab (beautifully over acted by Emil Jannings) who is beaten up by the student who then liberates Ma and takes her back to Germany. The Arab nearly dies in the desert but is rescued by a German prince to whom he swears to serve for life. He, the Arab, is then also taken to Germany. Ma in the meantime wows them with a hootchie kootchie dance at a party and gets a theatrical contract to perform on stage. The exotic dance is a hoot. Meanwhile Ma's former Arab master comes across her and in a fit of revenge kills her. The end and all in 30 minutes and no mummy. The overacting in terms of gestures common to silent films of the period is quite present. Jannings, in semi black face, is quite effective as the villain. His repertoire of sinister facial expressions is quite large. All in all the film is an historical curiosity that I am sure Lubitsch and Negri tried to forget when they became more well known.

Not a "horror movie" at all

[Schlockmeister · 7 October 2002]

... but a tragedy... of sorts. The "Eyes Of The Mummy" refer to the eye-holes in a doorway with a face on it that Pola Negri looks out of to scare people out of the temple of Queen Ma. There is no mummy, there is no monster, there really is no horror. This is not a complaint, but this movie is often grouped in with monster movies merely because of it's title.

It's easy to laugh at a film almost 85 years old, your grand kids and great grand kids will laugh at what you currently enjoy as well. The dance that Pola does may look strange to our eyes, but the desired effect was to be exotic. The acting is typically broad and melodramatic, appropriate to it's time. With the deterioration of many silent movies, we can sometimes be thankful that the actors seemed to be overacting, we can still see their expressions even when their films are fading away.

Not Pola Negri's best work, or her worst. There must be a few different cuts of this film circulating. The one I saw was about an hour and ten minutes long, not the half-hour reported here or the forty-five minutes reported on the main page for this movie. I rather enjoyed the version I saw, maybe the shorter cuts leave too much out to fill the story out.

Recommended if you enjoy the genre and it's stars. If you are looking for Halloween fare, stick with Universal's later horror classics, including..yes, the "real" mummy movies.

Lubitsch's New Path

[Cineanalyst · 2/10 · 6 September 2006]

As others who've seen this film have mentioned, "The Eyes of the Mummy" is not a horror film involving any mummies; rather, it's an insipid melodramatic tragedy. It was the first of director Ernst Lubitsch's dramatic films, after having started as a comedic filmmaker. They tend to involve exotic places (this time, Egypt), which is poorly exploited here compared to other such pictures. Pola Negri, in her first appearance as Lubitsch's star, performs some exotic dancing, too.

"The Eyes of the Mummy" is a generally uninteresting relic. The acting, especially by stars Negri and Emil Jannings, is overdone. Lubitsch employs slight dolly movements to nice effect in the finale, but otherwise the direction is prosaic and theatrical--before he mastered continuity editing with "Madame DuBarry" (1919). From the sampling of Lubitsch's German films that I've seen, his dramatic pictures are generally less remarkable than his comedies. With these dramas, however, he received attention in the US--leading to his emigration to Hollywood.

Though categorized as horror, it really is not

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 7 February 2023]

In this effective German drama with exotic touches from director Ernst Lubitsch, Albert Wendland (Harry Liedtke) is a successful painter on holiday in Egypt when he finds lovely girl Ma (Pola Negri). She's been held captive by crazed local Radu (Emil Jannings), but Albert rescues her and takes her back to Europe with him, where her exotic dancing makes her a celebrity. Meanwhile, Radu is found dying in the desert by Prince Hohenfels (Max Laurence), who saves the Arab and takes him back to Europe, hiring him on as a servant. Radu remains obsessed with Ma, and will stop at nothing to take her back or keep her from living without him.

This was a recommendation on YouTube, and I watched it on a lark. I was surprised that it had such a pedigree, with Lubitsch directing and Negri and Jannings starring. They're both entertaining, with Negri's dancing a kitschy treat and Jannings mad-eyed mugging enlivening the proceedings. While this is listed as a horror film, it's not, although there's a bit about a cursed tomb in the beginning that goes nowhere. Still, I found this entertaining enough, and at just under an hour, not a great demand on my time.

THE EYES OF THE MUMMY (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918) **

[Bunuel1976 · 5/10 · 18 April 2006]

I never expected to see a horror film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and, while this has been touted as such and is even listed in genre-related books, it's nothing of the kind…and that makes it doubly disappointing for an all-round film-fan like myself! Actually, I've seen little of the director's work made in Germany (which includes only one major title, MADAME DUBARRY [1919], also starring Pola Negri and Emil Jannings) and none of his American Silents – which means that, to me, Lubitsch has always been a master of the Talkie medium, so, bear than in mind…

Anyway, the title is indeed incidental to the main plot which, once again, concerns the vicissitudes of a romantic triangle (Jannings, Negri and Harry Liedtke) which can only end in tragedy. Jannings and Negri are Egyptians involved in a scam milking tourists out of their money, by having the girl lend her eyes to the "mummy" from inside an empty sarcophagus! When a British lord and adventurer comes to visit, she falls in love and leaves with him to England. Needless to say, Jannings – who, naturally, has feelings for Negri himself – follows them (conveniently in the employ of another English aristocrat and friend to Liedtke) in order to exact his revenge. While the plot offers no surprises (except, maybe, the fact that Jannings has a Svengali-like hold on Negri), it's also rather ordinarily handled; indeed, here one finds scarcely any evidence of the much-renowned "Lubitsch" touch!

To be fair to the film, the famed Curse of King Tut's Tomb hadn't yet taken place (that was in 1921) – so, in all probability, the film was never intended as a horror film at all. Anyway, Jannings – who's always worth watching in a larger-than-life manner – is the best thing about the entire film…but the melodramatic acting of Negri, a great star of the period, has dated badly and, indeed, she seems to do little throughout but faint!! As a matter of fact, as a means of amusing myself to counter the tedium of the film itself, as I was watching I imagined the actress discussing the shooting schedule with her director:

Negri: "What's on the schedule for today, Ernst?" Lubitsch: "You faint!"

The next day.

Negri: "What's on the schedule for today, Ernst?" Lubitsch: "You faint!" Negri: "Oh…"

The next day.

Negri: "Er--Ernst, do I get to faint today as well, by any chance?" Lubitsch: "Er…I'm afraid so!"

"The eyes are alive!"

[Steffi_P · 7/10 · 9 January 2010]

In the late 1910s, while Hollywood was focusing mostly on serious contemporary drama, their soon-to-be significant rivals in Berlin were turning more towards adventuresome flights of fancy. Myth, fantasy, exotic lands and a touch of horror were the hallmarks of German cinema. Although better known for his unique comedies, director Ernst Lubitsch was nevertheless a capable and versatile craftsman, and at this stage was at the forefront of the Germanic style.

The approach to these pictures was all about space, and for Lubitsch the most important aspect of space appears to be depth. A lot of the movement in Die Augen der Mumie Ma is towards or away from the camera. Of course, Griffith and many others in the US had been doing this for years, but Lubitsch actually shuns horizontal movement, and his pictures seem designed to accommodate movement in depth. Often there is a large empty space behind the actors, or a doorway at the back of the set leading to another room. The bric-a-brac of Kurt Richter's elaborate set design tends to be concentrated at the sides of the frame, creating a kind of tunnel effect in some scenes.

What is the point of all this? Well, I think first and foremost it was probably just a style that appealed aesthetically to Lubitsch and Richter, and there is no shame in that. Nevertheless it is one that they could use to great effect. Emil Jannings often appears to be advancing eerily upon us, while good guys Harry Liedtke and Pola Negri disappear worryingly away from us. In the few shots where the actors are backed up against a wall with no space behind them, for example in the flashback where Jannings first brings Negri to the tomb, the sudden change is palpable, in a nastily claustrophobic way. And depth plays a part in all the most chilling moments, such as Jannings appearing in a mirror at the far end of the room. We simultaneously see him in the distance yet are aware he is actually behind the camera, and thus behind "us". These are all moves towards a more interactive cinema, in which the audience are not merely external observers, but feel they are enveloped in the film's world.

Die Augen der Mumie Ma is also notable for early performances by two giant figures of German cinema, the aforementioned Emil Jannings and Pola Negri. Like Lubitsch, Jannings's area of expertise was comedy, and his Radu is a hammy caricature. But Jannings's hamming was of a good sort, and just as his excessive mannerisms could make us laugh in pictures like The Merry Jail or Faust, here they come across as grimly macabre. Negri too is a little hysterical at times, but in fact far less so than many leading ladies of German cinema, and most of her performance is refreshingly restrained, comprised of slow, delicate movements.

If there is anything significantly wrong with this picture, it is its naïve silliness. For example, Jannings is taken to Europe to become Hohenfels's manservant, and yet still potters about the prince's palace in his native garb, clutching his dagger and muttering about getting revenge on the woman who wronged him, whereupon the prince pats him amiably on the shoulder as if to say "There, there old chap". Mind you, it would probably have looked equally ridiculous had the murderous Radu been given a haircut and shoehorned into a butler's uniform. Such moments are an unintentional source of humour for me, so I don't regard them as so much of a bad thing. It goes without saying that screenwriter Hans Kraly was another collaborator on this picture whose main field was comedy, and he was most adept at creating romantic fables for fast-paced farces, a genre that doesn't exactly demand logic and cohesion. And yet, in the hands of Lubitsch, Jannings and Negri, Die Augen der Mumie Ma becomes an atmospheric and reasonably entertaining short horror adventure.

A really BIG disappointment!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 22 October 2008]

Considering that this film was directed by the famed German director, Ernst Lubitsch, starred the great Emil Jannings AND it's title talks about Mummies, I was certain that I would love this film--especially since I love silent films. However, in this dreary film, you see none of the famed "Lubitsch touch", Jannings is just okay, the film is NOT about mummies at all and the print from Alpha Video was so fuzzy that it was a chore to watch the thing! The film is set in Egypt, though you really don't see any mummies. Instead, it's an odd tale about a weirdo (Jannings) who has kidnapped a lady (Pola Negri) and has kept her locked inside a temple. When she's rescued by a Brit, he's smitten with her and takes her back to the UK to live with him. She is worried, though, that the crazed Jannings will follow her and exact revenge. No mummies, no curse and not a whole lot of action or excitement.

I wonder. With a different title and different people responsible for the film, I would have had lower expectations and therefore liked the movie more. But, as it was, it was a HUGE disappointment in practically every way.

PS--I've seen quite a few films from Alpha Video. While some of their offerings are rare and hard to find, their DVDs are rather consistently of dubious quality and are rarely, if ever, restored. They are inexpensive, but they're also no bargain thanks to fuzzy or scratchy prints. If you can find other brands, you may want to try them first.

Silent German horror

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 7 November 2016]

I'm surprised that I'd never heard of THE EYES OF THE MUMMY before I sat down to watch it as it turns out to be a superior and decent little chiller. It must be one of the earliest 'mummy' films out there even though the villain of the piece isn't a bandage-wrapped fiend but rather a sinister Arab character whose love for the film's heroine sees him pursuing her across continents.

For a film made in 1918, THE EYES OF THE MUMMY feels surprisingly fresh and relevant. The lack of any real budget is quite obvious in the depictions of Egypt and the like, but the story packs plenty of incident into the running time and the characters are well drawn. Pola Negri is a good choice for female protagonist and convinces in her sympathetic part. Emil Jannings goes down the all-out pantomime route as the villain of the piece and is such a delight to watch. The climax goes down a surprisingly tragic route that more modern horror films would undoubtedly baulk at.

Alright

[skrstenansky · 5/10 · 9 December 2021]

A lot to like about this film and also a lot that is pretty bad. Let my first start by stating some of the good parts, the soundtrack is very will fit for the movie, the movie was a bit interesting, the visuals were nice and it felt pretty artistic. But the story was kind of a dissapointing let down that didnt have much meaning or either any good of a story, its still a fine watch though, not the best silent. 5/10.

see them at the beginning of fabulous careers

[mccrohan · 9/10 · 8 June 2006]

Here are Lubitsch, Pola Negri and Emil Jannings back in the year 1918 at the start and before they achieved their huge fame. Of course, this is a low budget movie. The Egyptian desert scenes were filmed in a Berlin quarry and the Egyptian tomb is of absurdly cheap quality. However we can see the evident skill of Lubitsch when working with his lead actors. The fascinating personality of Pola Negri shines . I certainly wish that we had more such real women in today,s modern movies. So please enjoy this nostalgic movie. Consider that if it was remade today with millions of dollars, special effects and huge publicity ,that it might be a box-office bonanza

Bad, Boring, and BLAH!

[yonko · 5/10 · 26 October 2003]

I really had high hopes for this one. UFA produced this one, and most ufa films I've seem have been great. And with Emil Jannings I expected much more. But what I got was a bore. I did a crossword puzzle while I watched it. The acting was bad. The story was boring. And the whole movie was just blah. And where was the mummy? I can't believe this movie is considered horror.

Egregious waste of talent

[borsch · 8 October 2002]

What an egregious waste of talent!! It's poorly acted, indifferently directed, and badly written; too bad THIS film survived when so many other more worthy silents didn't! It's hard to believe this was made in 1918--technically and artistically, it's more like 1909. This is the sort of film you should definitely NOT show to someone unfamiliar with silent film, as it confirms every awful stereotype about them--clownish makeup, hammy gestures, and cheesy plot--and, it's boring to boot. The great Emil Jannings looks more like Othello in search of Desdemona instead of an Egyptian in search of his captive, and this time his habitual overacting is annoying rather than bravura. And, you have to be a pretty maladroit filmaker to take Pola Negri, with her angular Gypsy beauty, and make her up to look like a pint-sized Little Egypt. Take it from a die-hard silents fan who will watch ANY silent film, simply because they are silent: skip this one.

Eyes Of The Mummy

[reg8g · 1/10 · 15 February 2006]

I agree the film was not restored well at all. The music did not go along with the visual images. It seemed as though whoever wrote the score was just not paying attention to the movie. The music sounded rather chipper for scenes that seemed dark and a plot that is haunting. A new version is coming out March 28,2006 with a new music score. Hopefully that one will be much better. I heard that the new score is all piano and that the composer also did the score for The Mechanical Man. Which is a very rare old silent film that was found. Looking forward to seeing it. Hopefully the next version of Eyes of The Mummy will be much more better.

A horrible restoration (if they did do anything at all with this film)

[finki · 1/10 · 23 October 2005]

If, as promised, this movie was restored then the results are simply horrible.

A company called National Film Museum gave this film to another company called Hypercube IIc, in New York to digitally restore the film.

But, instead of a intelligent restoration what this people did was to tint every scene to red, probably with Photoshop, with disastrous results.

Douglas M. Protsik music is as unremarkable as the bad restoration. His accompaniment does not enhance the images at all.

In all, the available print shown on TCM is unwatchable and I had to turn off the TV set.

Bearable for its time, but not for today's standards

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 28 May 2016]

"Die Augen der Mumie Ma" or "The Eyes of the Mummy" is a German movie that runs approximately for an hour. It was made in 1918, so not too long anymore until its 100th anniversary. looking at the year when this was made, it is obvious that this is a black-and-white silent film and it is an early career effort by Ernst Lubitsch, a long time before his breakthrough in Hollywood and Oscar nominations. The cast includes actually a couple famous names, especially Pola Negri and Emil Jannings, who were great stars back in the day. And the most interesting aspect is probably the film's multiculturalism as it play in Egypt (and England) for the most part, not a surprise either if you look at the title. There is a touch of horror in here, a genre in which Germany was very prolific and successful back in the day, but it is certainly not the only genre. Supernatural aspects made this probably something fairly interesting to audiences back in the day. Unfortunately, I cannot say the plot or acting kept me too interested here, so this one is really only worth watching if you are a much bigger silent film enthusiast than myself. Otherwise, you should skip it.

The Eyes of the Mummy review

[JoeytheBrit · 5/10 · 20 April 2020]

A young woman saved from a life scamming tourists in Egypt by an Englishman is followed to the UK by the crook who has some kind of hypnotic hold over her. A blacked-up Emil Jannings glares dolefully at Pola Negri's shameless overacting in an early Lubitsch movie that sounds like a horror but is actually a dreary silent melodrama that never comes close to making us care for its characters.

This is the perfect Edward Gorey movie!

[PaulCurt · 8/10 · 7 October 2002]

As a piece of movie entertainment, Eyes of the Mummy is dated and unremarkable seen through current standards. There are a few nicely nightmarish moments (especially a scene when Ma sees Radu in the mirror while nobody else seems to notice) but overall, this is no Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

On the other hand, fans of cartoonist/writer Edward Gorey will be richly rewarded by a film that appears to have been designed and directed by the illustrator of "The Gilded Bat" and "The Blue Aspic." The effect is uncanny and curiously involving. It's not just the melodramatic subject matter...every detail has the Gorey touch. One almost imagines the hand-drawn texture lines. Any Gorey fan will find Eyes of the Mummy to be well worth the time spent.

There aren't a lot of mummies in this mummy movie

[cricketbat · 4/10 · 18 October 2023]

I decided to watch The Eyes of the Mummy because it was listed as the first surviving mummy film. To be honest, I expected a little more mumminess. I've watched many silent films before, even German silent films, but this one did not impress me. The story seems to consist of mostly filler, with extended party and dance sequences that don't really add anything to the plot. I also found the plot a little difficult to follow at times, which was confusing because this movie doesn't feel that complicated. It seems as if the curse of mummy films being too dry has been around since the beginning of cinema.

Desert Flower...

[azathothpwiggins · 20 October 2021]

First of all, in spite of its title, THE EYES OF THE MUMMY isn't a horror movie. At all. It's a silent drama about the life of an Egyptian woman named Ma (Pola Negri), who is abducted and held against her will by an unscrupulous man.

After being rescued, Ma is taken to Europe where she becomes a dance sensation. Ms. Negri is quite good and the dance sequences are excellent.

Alas, Ma's newfound fame is short-lived, since her former captor has tracked her down with eeevil intent.

This is a worthwhile film that holds the viewers interest throughout its running time. It's also notable for its downbeat ending...

I kept waiting for themummies and they never appeared

[robert-temple-1 · 3/10 · 17 April 2023]

This German silent film is not about mummies, so the title is misleading. In German it is DIE AUGEN DER MUMIE MA, which translated is THE EYES OF THE MUMMY MA, Ma being the name of a girl who is alive and very much not a mummy. The story begins in Egypt early in the 20th century. An unscrupulous Egyptian rogue has kidnapped an Egyptian girl whom he saw fetching water from the Nile. His name is Radu and he is played by Emil Jannings. The girl is called Ma and is played by Pola Negri. The director of the film was Ernst Lubitsch. All three of them had been making films for four years and were highly experienced. So one might have thought with their talent and experience the film would be good, but it isn't. Jannings take Negri to live in the ruins of an Egyptian temple, where they are camping in a rudimentary fashion, which in fact ordinary people had been doing for thousands of years. Radu has discovered a trick he and Negri can play to get money out of tourists. There is a concealed door leading to an inner chamber, which has a face carved in it, with two eye holes. He gets Negri to stand behind it when he brings a tourist in, she looks through the eye holes and moves her eyes and he tells the tourist that those are 'the eyes of the mummy'; hence the film's title. I watched this film with German titles only, and as they were visible only briefly, just for seconds in fact, I did not manage to grasp all of the dialogue, but it was not really necessary, because the story is so obvious and, frankly, banal. There were two German men, one being Herr Wendtland, played by Harry Liedtke, who is bewitched by Pola Negri and manages to abduct and 'save' her, and takes her back to Germany with him. This is very unconvincing because Pola Negri in this film at least is very far from being bewitching, and in fact I cannot imagine anybody getting excited about her in any way, but then tastes change, and she was popular then. The other man is an older German named Prince Hohenfels, played by Max Laurence. Radu manages to make his way to Europe and there finds Negri and tries to take her back. It is only then that we realize he has had a hypnotic Svengali-like power over her. So the question arises, will his spell be strong enough to reclaim her, or will Wendtland be able to save her? This film is mediocre and does no credit to the reputations of Lubitsch, Negri, Jannings, or the others.

Lubitsch's worst film. Glad it's out of the way.

[davidmvining · 3/10 · 24 March 2023]

If there's one kind of film Ernst Lubitsch is known for it's...globe-trotting adventure stories? Okay, it's early in his career, well before he'd developed the Lubitsch touch much less made it his signature, but this is just so strikingly different from everything I know about him that it's quite a curiosity on its own. Unfortunately, that's about the end of the interest because the narrative limitations that Lubitsch had on display in the lightly amusing Shoe Palace Pinkus bite him harder here in a story that demands more plot-driven mechanics in order to deliver thrills.

Albert Wendland (Harry Liedtke) is a painter who goes to Egypt to explore like wealthy young men do. In the desert he sees a young woman getting water, Ma (Pola Negri), who runs away at the sight of him (this makes less sense in retrospect). While sitting at his hotel the next day, he hears tale of the mysterious tomb of the Mummy Ma from a guide to Prince Hofenfels (Max Laurence), warning him that anyone who goes to it goes mad. Naturally, Albert decides to go, and upon finding a guide, he meets Radu (Emil Jannings) who seems to live just outside the entrance to the tomb, happy to guide Albert in. This is shady stuff, but Albert goes and sees the mysterious sights within. He sees a mummy's face that opens its eyes! Truly the stuff to drive a man mad. Well, when Albert isn't driven mad, he ends up fighting Radu and discovering Ma behind the door where he hears her story about how she was kidnapped by Radu two years ago and cannot escape (so her presence at a well alone and running from another man who might have been able to save her feels...unsupported). Anyway, Albert steals her away with her permission back to England while Radu pursues, collapses in the desert, and gets picked up by Prince Hofenfels who decides that yes, he will bring this random Arab man into his household back in England. Because why not?

All of this is fine. It doesn't work very well, but it functions well enough to stand on its own as an opening. I get it. Nothing terribly exciting happens, but the set design of the temple may be cheap, but it still looks pretty good. There's some interesting lighting in there, and the desert scenes look pretty good as well. Nothing really exciting, but it's fine.

In England, the movie pretty much just spins its wheels for about thirty minutes. Albert introduces Ma to English society...twice, and there are close calls between Ma and Radu where Radu almost finds out about her then does find out about her but can't do anything about it. There's a scene where Ma sees a vision of Radu in her bedroom and passes out. It seems like it's meant to just increase an overall sense of danger, but the characterization is so thin at this point and the storytelling so loose and poorly connected that it doesn't work.

There's a final confrontation built around a painting of Ma that Albert does that leads to a tragic ending, and nothing is felt because it's all kind of silly and not really built very well.

This really just wasn't Lubitsch's area. Maybe he could have developed more, but even at this very early stage in his career, it's obvious that he was more naturally inclined for light comic stuff rather than plot-driven thriller filmmaking. It's also funny to note that The Eyes of the Mummy could have been a title of the Mummy franchise from Universal a couple of decades later, especially since those mummies never had eyes of their own. It feels like a missed opportunity.

Lubitsch's Earliest Surviving Feature Film

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 12 September 2021]

Ernst Lubitsch was one of Hollywood's more prominent film directors during the early days of sound movies, specializing in comedies of manners. He established a pattern of sophisticated romantic comedies that earned his work the descriptive label "The Lubitsch Touch."

The German actor-turned-director Lubitsch concentrated his very early movies on light-hearted simple comedies. He branched out into the dramatic horror category in his fourth year of directorship by tackling dark themes for his earliest surviving feature film, which was also the first of his work to be shown in the United States, October 1918's "The Eyes of the Mummy." The director selected Polish actress Poli Negri to play the exotic heroine, which proved to be the first of many dramatic collaborations between the two. For her evil counterpart, veteran performer Emil Jannings, the first actor to earn a Best Actor Academy Award, was given the role of a Svengali-type abductor who imprisons Negri in an Egyptian desert lair, only to see her rescued by a wealthy painter.

Jannings follows her to Europe where she is performing on the vaudeville circuit. Towards the end, alone with Negri, Jannings is about to stab her when she passes out, falling down a short flight of stairs. The actress was scripted to stumble down the stairs before crumbling to the floor. To enliven the scene, Negri decided to take the tumble above the stairs, shaking up Lubitsch. Yelling at the actor whom he thought pushed her down, the director was told by Jannings "How was I to know what she was going to do? Did I ask you to hire this crazy Pole?"

Negri claimed she tripped over her long dress, but clearly the film does not support her. The success of "The Eyes of The Mummy" did motivate Lubitsch to direct more dramatic films in the future. But he never did relinquish his favorite themes presented in social comedies.

Around the same time he released "The Eyes of The Mummy," the director was working on a daring featurette comedy co-written by him, October 1918's "I Don't Want To Be A Man." Gender roles and frank sexuality are explored with actress Ossi Oswalda, whose tomboy character expresses herself desiring to be a male, a cross-dressing one at that.

Oswalda, pegged as the German Mary Pickford, thinks men have it made, both for the independence they're granted as well as possessing the permissive masculine behaviorial habits such as smoking and drinking. She attires herself in a male suit and attends a formal ball, only to meet a male doctor. Both get drunk and are attracted to one another, insofar as becoming quite intimate.

What's amazing is Lubitsch was able to work for UFA Studio, created in early 1917 under Germany's Supreme Army Command. The studio was originally intended to serve as a propaganda outlet for the country in the middle of World War One. But the heads of the consolidated companies merging to establish UFA disagreed with that approach. The studio's primary financier, Deutsche Bank, won the argument the large company was to be run as a business rather than an arm of the government. UFA would be completely privatized in 1921, releasing cinema's most influential movies on the international scene for the next decade.

Poor on every count

[arneblaze · 17 April 2002]

The more silent Lubitsch I see the more I think he's was a lousy silent director who managed to succeed only because he found his niche in sound and comedy. His ANNA BOLEYN, SUMURUN and EYES OF THE MUMMY are just plain awful. This is a very poor film technically and even the great Jannings is wasted as the villain. Negri is effective but overacts badly. Her dance is just plain silly. Only for dyed in the wool fans of the director and the two stars.