The mummy's last shuffle, rife with a lot of the conventional trappings we've come to love (loathe?) about this series: jumbled continuity, a recap of the mummy's life story aided with generous amounts of file footage, another woman in a white dress who can't help getting swept off her feet by Kharis, another nitwit priest of Karnak/Arkham trying to force himself on some bland American girl (aye carumba).
Having been magically transported to a Louisiana bayou, Kharis spends what seems like most of the picture going through the rigmarole of chasing after the apparently scatterbrained Princess Ananka, who's calling his name one minute then running from him the next (just like any normal bride I imagine). The scene that left me in awe during all of this is when Dr. Halsey and Betty Walsh--the typically dull romantic leads--spot Ananka passed out in the woods and carry her to the doc's car. Kharis is creeping up right behind them during this entire scene but somehow the two drips never happen to glance up & spot the over 6 foot tall, hulking lurch in the bandages. Those mummy wrappings must make for some darn good camouflage.
I've always felt that as far as classic Universal monsters went, there was the big three--Dracula, Wolf Man, The Monster--and then there was the rest, particularly the mummy. The Universal Studios of the 1940s apparently had the same opinion of Kharis, content to just churn out second-rate features to tack on at the bottom of a double-bill. But, taken for what they are, the Kharis films can be enjoyable B-movie fodder.
Besides, any film that contains such immortal dialogue as "The Devil's on the loose and he's dancin' with the Mummy" can't be all bad. :-]
Having been magically transported to a Louisiana bayou, Kharis spends what seems like most of the picture going through the rigmarole of chasing after the apparently scatterbrained Princess Ananka, who's calling his name one minute then running from him the next (just like any normal bride I imagine). The scene that left me in awe during all of this is when Dr. Halsey and Betty Walsh--the typically dull romantic leads--spot Ananka passed out in the woods and carry her to the doc's car. Kharis is creeping up right behind them during this entire scene but somehow the two drips never happen to glance up & spot the over 6 foot tall, hulking lurch in the bandages. Those mummy wrappings must make for some darn good camouflage.
I've always felt that as far as classic Universal monsters went, there was the big three--Dracula, Wolf Man, The Monster--and then there was the rest, particularly the mummy. The Universal Studios of the 1940s apparently had the same opinion of Kharis, content to just churn out second-rate features to tack on at the bottom of a double-bill. But, taken for what they are, the Kharis films can be enjoyable B-movie fodder.
Besides, any film that contains such immortal dialogue as "The Devil's on the loose and he's dancin' with the Mummy" can't be all bad. :-]