The Mummy's Hand
1940***
| 67 MINS | BW |
SYNOPSIS
Egyptian Andoheb travels to the Hill of the Seven Jackals after being summoned there by the High Priest of Karnak. The dying priest
explains the story of Kharis: Kharis stole the sacred tana leaves in the hope of restoring life to the dead Princess Ananka.
Upon being discovered his tongue was severed and he was buried alive with the tana leaves. The leaves are the secret to Kharis' continued
existence. The mummy of Kharis can be revived or mollified by the simple act of burning a handful of tanna leaves.
Meanwhile, down on their luck archaeologists Steve Banning and Babe Jenson persuade a magician, Solvani the Great, to finance an expedition to search for Ananka's sarcophagus. His daughter Marta is not so easily swayed, thanks to a prior visit from Andoheb, who brands the two young archeologists as frauds.
The expedition departs in search of the Hill of the Seven Jackals. They stumble upon the tomb of Kharis, finding the mummy along with
the tana leaves, but find nothing to indicate the existence of Ananka's tomb.
Andoheb appears to Dr Petrie in the mummy's cave and has the scientist feel the creature's pulse. After administering the tana fluid, Kharis quickly kills Petrie and escapes with Andoheb, through a secret passageway, to a temple on the other side of the mountain.
Kharis continues his marauding about the camp, killing a native, attacking Solvani and abducting Marta. Banning and Jenson set out to track Kharis down.
Andoheb, enthralled by Marta's beauty, plans to inject Marta and himself with tana fluid, making them both immortal.
Jenson arrives just in time, shooting Andoheb outside the temple, while Banning tries to rescue the
girl. Kharis appears, but Banning's bullets have no effect. Marta tells Banning and Jenson that Kharis must not be allowed to drink any
more of the tana fluid. When Kharis raises the tana fluid to his lips, Jenson shoots the container from his hands. Dropping to the floor,
Kharis attempts to ingest the spilled fluid. Banning overturns a brazier, engulfing Kharis in flames.
The members of the expedition head back to the United States with the mummy of Ananka, and the belongings of her tomb.
REVIEWS
Classic-Horror.com: Titled The Mummy’s Hand, the film is a less suspenseful reworking of the deliberately slow-paced psychological thriller that served as the framework for the original Mummy, opting instead for an over-the-top action and adventure flick with bits of supernatural elements tossed in to maintain a swift — and oftentimes erratic — pacing.
Classic-Monsters.com: The Mummy's Hand is without doubt the best of the Kharis series, and indeed the only one to imbue the character with a truly fearful evil, rather than the lumbering brutishness of the later Chaney pictures.
AllMovie.com: The Mummy's Hand is still fine pulp fiction acted by a stock company that had done this sort of thing many times before.
QUOTE
From trailer: Out of the forbidden past...rises an ancient curse...to destroy all who dare to learn...
