The Mummy Sequels -- 1940-1944 -- NR

The Legacy edition of the Mummy included its four sequels between 1940 and 1944, each more disappointing and ridiculous than the preceeding one. Rather than waste four posts on these moves, I'll just summarize them in one.

The Mummy's Hand -- 1940 -- This first sequel set the stage for the travesties that followed. We have clips from the Mummy's backstory rewritten and occasionally reshot to fit the new storyline. Now there's a cult that keep a Mummy named Kharis alive to protect the tomb of Ananka. This first film does make an effort to create a good picture, but instead of the intelligent whole dangerous man that Imhotep was, Kharis is just a Mummy with a limp and a bad arm. This cult is dedicated to keeping Kharis alive and killing anyone who gets at Anaka's tomb. As luck would have it, that's just what happened. It flows decently until the end when the characters suddenly all take stupid pills to increase the drama. The cult leader steals the girl (don't know why). The hero fires shots at the Mummy to stop him from getting at the magic leaf potion (instead of taking two steps to the right and kicking the stand over). This was the only good effort of the bunch.

The Mummy's Tomb -- 1942 -- We bring back the hero from the last movie to spend 10 minutes of this 60 minute film recapping the Mummy's Hand. Now a new cult leader brings Kharis to the USA to kill the hero's family, who are all so two-dimensional that it's impossible to care when anyone is killed. This movie tries really hard, but ultimately fails by throwing in a mob chase scene we had almost escaped from when we left the silent era. We wipe out the moster by bruning down the family mansion. Yeah, that was smart. And of course, the leader kidnaps the girl for no apparent reason, and most of the action occurs under the cover of the brightest full moon you'll ever see in your life that resembles the afternoon sun.

The Mummy's Ghost -- 1944 -- Now, we are quickly descending into modern monster sequels by bringing in the teenagers played by late twenty year olds (?). Now a new cult leader (blessed by the same cult leader that dies at the beginning of the last film) has to bring Kharis back to Egypt along with Ananka's body. The characters might possibly be one-dimensional (though a good effort was made to fill out the hero to almost two-dimensional...we're shooting for three), but at least they found a reason to kidnap the girl. The premise derails the continuity of the previous movies, and it ends in a ridiculous mob chase scene where the mob clairvoyantly finds where the Mummy and the cult leader are hanging out just after the Mummy betrays the cult leader. For further unexplained reasons, the girl ages until she dies of old age. What!? 

The Mummy's Curse -- 1944 -- Maybe there is an unwritten rule that states that all sequels must be worse than the last one, but this one succeeds on that point alone. EVERYTHING in this movie happens without explanation or apology. Mummy wanders around looking for Ananka. Ok. Chick who was Ananka reincarnated rises from ground and likes sunlight. Dunno why. There is no character development among any of the characters in this film, and we all got zinged with an obligatory romantic involvment between two characters that was hardly hinted at throughout the film. 

The real kicker if you get down to the dates of these films (and I love this):

The Mummy's Hand happens in 1940 (presumably).

The Mummy's Tomb is 30 years later, so 1970.

The Mummy's Ghost gives no dates at all, so we'll stick to the same year.

The Mummy's Curse is another 25 years later, but those are some seriously vintage cars for 1995.

The Shop Around The Corner -- 1940

I saw You've Got Mail when it came out in the theatres several years ago, and I knew it was based on an earlier film called The Shop Around The Corner (which is the name of the store in You've Got Mail). So I've been wanting to see the source material for awhile now, and having finally seen it, I was definitely not disappointed.

It falls under the romantic comedy genre in feel and construction, without a doubt, but it's a really well constructed film, despite its clear stage-play roots. It involves a guy who is a head clerk at a store, named Alfred who is played by Jimmy Stewart, and he runs into a woman, Klara, he does not get along with who eventually gets a job at the store. They enjoy a firm love-hate relationship from then on. At the same time, Alfred has this pen pal he has been exchanging letters with and he is falling for, even though they'd made a firm pact not to reveal any characteristics of each other. Come to find out (and this is no spoiler as it's in the film's own synopsis), that Alfred's pen pal is actually Klara, allowing usas the audience to enjoy their relationship in the store while knowing they secretly are in love with each other -- that being a secret to themselves.

The characters are very well drawn as can be expected in a play since the story was very dialogue driven. Not only do we get a sense of our two leads, but we get a firm understanding of the slew of supporting characters surrounding them. Sometimes, we get little more than a visual trait, but it's enough to make them amusing and endearing, even. The boss (who we remember from his role as the Wizard of Oz) "just wants an opinon" causing one of his clerks to immediately run off and hide. We have a enterprising young delivery boy, who wants to "move up to being a clerk," but who we learn can't handle the sheer power that being a clerk provides (yes, that's a joke, but it's how it is portrayed in his character).

The developing relationship between Alfred and Klara is the real centerpiece of the film, though, as we are placed in a superior position to let them both gush about their pen pals and then berate each other to no end at work (can you feel the sexual tension?). This relationship development is the film's primary plot and everything else that occurs serves to play into this little game of theirs.

This is one of the better films I've seen, especially of this genre. The tension provided by knowing something the characters don't really enhances the experience and makes it a lot more fun than it would be otherwise, so this would be one to recommend if you want a decent romcom that isn't run-of-the-mill.

The Philadelphia Story -- 1940

Not to be confused with the movie Philadelphia from the 90's about AIDS, this one is about a love triangle (square?) and ranks as one of film history's best. In top billing, we have Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart (in his one and only Oscar winning role), and Katherine Hepburn. Completing the list of three lovers for Miss Hepburn is a guy named John Howard. Let me tell you something suspicious about Mr. Howard: he looks just like Clark Gable in this movie! If you don't know better, you'd swear they got themselves a heck of a star lineup, but not so. I can only guess that they couldn't afford Clark after his Gone With The Wind stint, so they got a look alike to fill in. Click here for pictures from the movie see if he doesn't look like Gable. 

Anyway, the story involves a reporter and photographer invited to the wedding of a socialite by her ex-husband who wants her plastered all over the papers (the rag in question is similar to our Star or People magazines). The Ex claims they're friends of a friend of the family who couldn't come, but the family doesn't buy it for a minute. Through the course of the story and a lot of misadventures and misunderstandings, the girl is left to choose the ex, the reporter (who is really in love with the photographer), or the fiancee. Who will win? We shall see.

Now, the movie is based on a stage play, and as such, the characters are amazing. The plot is delivered via the dialogue, and I read it was even edited some to fit the code of the time. Each of the three primary leads (sorry, Gable look alike, you don't count) are perfect. Prior to this film, Katherine Hepburn was box office poison; no more after this. The film delivers laughs and emotion and finally, a satisfying ending.

Now, I will admit, it runs a bit slow here and there when you want it move along, but it's not that bad. The pacing keeps up for the most part from one scene to another, and it all makes sense.

So, we have a good movie in this one. Just confirming what I'd read and others have said. This film is worth watching, so turn off Scary Movie 2, for crying out loud, and watch it!