The Mummy
Cinema is a screen onto which we can project our fears, torments and the monstrosities of the world. The screen protects us from what we see, but cinema has also permanently anchored our nightmares around a few powerful images (empty houses, hostile attics and basements, demonic masks, bloodcurdling grimaces, disturbing postures). Throughout the summer, the Cinémathèque québécoise will be presenting a series of films encompassing more than one hundred and twenty years of horror, reminding us that what scares us most is to make the deepest of our fears tangible and credible.
The Mummy marks the official American directorial debut of Karl Freund, who had served as cinematographer for Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Tod Browning's Dracula.
In 1921, during an field expedition in Egypt, a small group of scientists discovers the mummy of Imhotep, an ancient priest, who had been mommified alive for attempting to resurrect his forbidden lover, the princess Ank-Souh-Namun, with a scroll that supposedly has the power to awaken the dead. Brought accidentally back to life, Imhotep escapes, takes the scroll, and prowls Cairo seeking the modern reincarnation of his lover.
« The Mummy is essentially a love story, poetically related by ace cinematographer and first-time director Karl Freund. Jack Pierce's justly celebrated makeup skills offers us two Karloffs: the wizened Egyptologist and the flaking, rotting mummy, who though only seen for a few seconds remains in the memory long after the film's final image has faded. » (Hal Erickson)
The Mummy marks the official American directorial debut of Karl Freund, who had served as cinematographer for Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Tod Browning's Dracula.
Karl Freund
Karl W. Freund was a German Bohemian and American cinematographer and film director. He is best known for photographing Metropolis (1927), Dracula (1931), and television's I Love Lucy (1951–1957). Freund was an innovator in the field of cinematography, often noted for pioneering the unchained camera technique.
