The Mummy's Hand (1940)

The Mummy’s Hand: Directed by Christy Cabanne. With Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Wallace Ford, Eduardo Ciannelli. Archaeologists defile the tomb of mummified Kharis, who was buried alive for falling in love with an Egyptian princess.

“An Egyptian man is told by is father an account of a Priest named Kharis who was in love with a Princess Annanka, and wanted to bring her back from the dead by stealing Tana leaves. Thereu0026#39;s no indication that she was in love with him. He is caught, and his tongue cut out, and buried alive with Tana leaves. The Egyptian man in the current day made high priest and is given the responsibility of keeping Kharis semi-alive with doses of three liquefied Tana leaves. If the Princessu0026#39; tomb is going to be violated, then Kharis is to be revived with nine Tana leaves to destroy those responsible.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI found it odd that a man who was going to desecrate Annankau0026#39;s grave was given the responsibility of guarding it. Perhaps it was poetic justice, and he lacked the ability to want to try to bring her back to life again. Indeed, the mummy of Kharis lacks the ability to do much more than move and carry out orders, and desire Tana leaves almost like a junkie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTwo men from Brooklyn stumble across a vase with a clue as to the whereabouts of Annankau0026#39;s tomb. They see the opportunity to become rich and famous. They run it by the head of the Egyptian museum, who is the high priest, as it happens. He tries to dissuade them. His dual identity reminded me of Karloffu0026#39;s dual identity as mummy and scholar in The Mummy, to which this is only thematically a sequel.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe Brooklynites manage to get funding from a fellow Brooklynite and stage magician. After some trouble with his daughter, who was led to believe they were frauds, they go to find the tomb. (Oddly, one of her lines seems to have been dubbed in u0026quot;Iu0026#39;ll fix them with my trick revolver,u0026quot; to what purpose Iu0026#39;m not sure.) This of course means that a mummy is going to come to life! The mummy is given creepy jittery all-black eyes which was neat.”