The Mummy

The Mummy (1959), directed by Terence Fisher, original theatrical version, remastered, encoded in 10 bit HEVC with AAC sound, including original theatrical stereo and English subtitles.

IMDb : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053085/

Video encoded in two-pass 9 500 kbps x265 10bit with the veryslow preset for archive quality image.

Note : Another one of Hammer's films derived from their agreement to remake the classic Universal monster movies, this 1959 color production is quite good, bringing a lot more action and dynamism to the story. Christopher Lee is no Karloff, of course, and the mummy makeup is nowhere near as good, but it's fun to see the mummy's would-be victims actually try to fight back, and a young Peter Cushing actually makes for a reasonably convincing man of action. There's also a fair bit of apologia for colonialist plunder, and a fez-wearing, swarthy, untrustworthy foreigner, so, well, it's definitely of its time.

A team of three archaeologists, including a father and son, find and open the tomb of Princess Ananka in Egypt, against the warnings of Mehemet Bey, who despite having a Turkish name and wearing a fez is apparently Egyptian. While alone in the tomb, the elder Dr. Banning is attacked by something unseen, and is struck with catatonia. Three years later, in England, Banning comes out of his catatonia and calls for his son, whom he tells of reading from the Scroll of Life and unintentionally bringing a mummy back to life. The mummy is Kharis, former high priest of Karnak, who was mummified alive for trying to resurrect the princess with the Scroll of Life. Meanwhile, Bey arrives in England with the mummy in his cargo, set on punishing all those who desecrated the tomb. After a bit of comedy relief involving some drunken carters and a bog, the mummy indeed gets on with the punishing, starting with the elder Banning, and then Joseph Whemple, the third archaeologist, and Banning Jr. has to figure out what to do, all the while noticing that his wife bears a striking resemblance to princess Ananka.

I really like how this remaster looks. It's not pretending that the cinematography of the time was particularly sharp or detailed, but it's great in terms of contrast and color, which were the strong points of the Technicolor process, and grain is nicely managed. Sound is fine, but I would have liked a commentary track.

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