The Mummy Thread! Contains pics:viewer discretion is advised

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From IMDB

The Mummy (1932)

Henry Victor appears in the credits of the film as "Saxon Warrior," yet he never actually appears in the movie. The Saxon Warrior was part of a long flashback sequence showing all the heroine's past lives from ancient Egypt to the present. The sequence was cut from the final film.


'Ardath Bey' (the name Imhotep assumes after his exhumation) is an anagram of 'Death by Ra' (Ra is the Egyptian sun-god).


Boris Karloff mummy makeup is based on the appearance of Ramses III; makeup artist 'Jack P. Pierce' spent eight hours applying Karloff's makeup.


The ring Boris Karloff uses has been in the possession of Forrest J Ackerman for many decades (he wears it).


A lengthy and complicated re-incarnation scene, so important to the plot, never made it into the film because such scenes were banned from the screen by the Hays Office. This upset many people, including the film's leading actress, Zita Johann, who was a firm believer in re-incarnation.


The film's poster holds the record for the most money paid for a movie poster at auction: more than $453,500.


This was the first assignment in the director's chair for the noted German cinematographer Karl Freund. He was given this opportunity only two years after arriving in the United States.


Boris Karloff was virtually unknown when he appeared as the creature in Frankenstein (1931). He created such a sensation that when this was made, only a year later, Universal only had to advertise "KARLOFF....'The Mummy'."


This is the only Universal monster of the time without a fictional antecedent. Large segments of the movie are scene-by-scene parallels of the movie Dracula (1931). An ankh symbol (the ancient Egyptian glyph for "life") is substituted for the crucifix of the earlier movie.


The script for this movie was originally called "Cagliostro", based on the famous French "prophet"/charlatan who claimed that he had lived for several centuries. It was then rewritten to profit from the love of all things Egyptian since the finding of King Tut's tomb, re-titled "Im-Ho-Tep", and only became "The Mummy" just before general release.


The flashback scenes in ancient Egypt were designed to resemble a silent film, with no dialog, exaggerated make-up and gestures, and a faster camera speed, to suggest the great antiquity of the events portrayed.


The movie's poster was as #15 of "The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever" by Premiere.


Boris Karloff to make-up artist (and designer of the mummy bandage costume) Jack Pierce: "Well, you've done a wonderful job, but you forgot to give me a fly!"


So many layers of cotton were glued to Boris Karloff's face to create the wrinkled visage of Imhotep as a mummy that Karloff was unable to move his facial muscles enough even to speak.

The Mummy ('99)

During the scene where the people are chanting, the supporting artists began to change what they were chanting from the correct Egyptian phrase, to "Ohwhatanarseyouare" during rehearsals. Before long, they were all chanting it, and did so on the final take. Nobody on the crew noticed during filming, and it therefore remains in the film.


Brendan Fraser passed out while filming because the noose around his neck was too tight.


The fort in Cairo is called Fort Brydon. In The Jungle Book (1994) also directed by 'Stephen Sommers (I)' , Sam Neill played Colonel Brydon.


Blixa Bargeld, of the German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten, is credited as having provided the "spirit voices".


"Imhotep" was actually the name of the architect who developed the first pyramids in ancient Egypt, most notably the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara around 2600 BC. His ability was such that he was later said to have descended from the gods. His name means "one who comes in peace"


With the exception of a loin cloth and a few pieces of jewelry, Patricia Velasquez's costume consists entirely of body paint which took 14 hours to apply.


Ardeth Bey is the name of a sworn protector of mankind from the mummy Imhotep. However, in The Mummy (1932), Ardeth Bey is the alter-ego of the mummy Imhotep (played by Boris Karloff) when he attempts to pass for a modern Egyptian.


When Beni is translating Imhotep's words, he mistranslates one word as "forever" and is corrected by Evelyn, who says, "For all eternity, idiot!" A similar mistranslation is made on the hieroglyphs in Stargate (1994), where Dr. Daniel Jackson crosses out "forever and ever" on the blackboard and corrects it to read "for all time".


An Egyptologist was brought in to phonetically render what Ancient Egyptian might have sounded like for the dialogue.


The prison scene was shot entirely at an apartment complex in Marrakech.


The library disaster was done in one take. It would have taken an entire day to re-shoot if a mistake had been made.


'Clive Barker' , Joe Dante and George A. Romero were each attached to direct at different points.


According to director Stephen Sommers, Universal phoned him the morning after this movie was released and said, "We need another one."


It was originally planned to open the film with the old black and white Universal logo that had been used at the beginning of the 1932 version which would dissolve into the blazing desert sun.


The white pajamas Evelyn wore when the ship was attacked became transparent when they got wet and had to be digitally painted white during post production.


The opening voice-over was originally intended to be read by Imhotep. Director Stephen Sommers later realized that Imhotep wouldn't be able to speak English, and gave the voice-over to Ardeth Bey instead.


When King Tutankhamen's tomb was found on November 4, 1922, the person in charge was George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon. Along with him was his daughter, Lady Evelyn Carnarvon. Rachel Weisz's character is named Evelyn Carnahan. Originally, her character was meant to be Evelyn Carnarvon. She and her brother were to be the children of the "cursed" Lord Carnarvon. The only evidence of this left in the film is in the line where Evelyn tells O'Connell that her father was a "very, very famous explorer". The Mummy novelization goes into a bit more detail on her back story.


This was the first theatrical film to be broadcast on the WB television network.


Although the characters of Rick and Evelyn had grown and matured in the second film, Director Stephen Sommers wanted it to be clear that Jonathan had learned absolutely nothing from his first adventure.

The character Ardeth Bey was originally scripted to die at the end of the film. This was changed by director Stephen Sommers .


The lever-triggered slowly settling stone megaliths with sand pouring out like water, from which the characters must escape or be entombed alive, are based upon Howard Hawks' Land of the Pharaohs (1955), where Pharaoh Cheops's tomb is constructed to be sealed in this manner after he is placed within. Historically no such sophisticated engineering technology was ever employed.

The Mummy Returns. (2001)


Additional cliffs had to be digitally added to the "Tidal Wave" scene in order to mask hundreds of spectators watching the production.


The building used for the outside of the British Museum is not the real British Museum; it's University College London. The Museum was unavailable as it was undergoing external reconstruction and was covered in scaffolding.


The interiors of the O'Connells' house were filmed in the Shepperton Studios offices used by Ridley Scott and Tony Scott.


This film was the first time London's Tower Bridge was ever closed for filming, for to do so is like closing the 405 freeway in Los Angeles. They were allowed to close it for 20 minutes at a time, but the resulting traffic jam after the first time brought threats of arrest from Scotland Yard and a reduced closing time of 10 minutes.


Alex knocks over the columns in the same way his mother knocked over the bookcases in The Mummy (1999).


When Alex (Freddie Boath) is reading from the Book of the Dead, he has trouble translating a hieroglyph of a stork. His Uncle Jonathan ('John Hannah' ) reminds Alex what the symbol means. In The Mummy (1999), Jonathan needed help from Evie translating the same symbol. The dialog is almost exactly the same as the first film, and in both movies, the person helping the translator with the last word, is fighting with Anck-su-namun while they speak (Evie in the first film, and Jonathan in the second).


Despite fighting his character (The Scorpion King) in the finale, at the time of release Brendan Fraser had not met The Rock 'Dwayne Johnson' .


The title does not appear at the beginning of this film. The title finally is given at the end of the picture, after the headlining credits but before main credits roll.


The character Izzy is named after director Stephen Sommers' dog.


The voice of the Scorpion King, at the end of the film, was dubbed by Brazilian rock singer Max Cavalera.


Director Cameo: [Stephen Sommers] Sitting in the bathtub at Izzy's place.


Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr) is the only person in the film who refers to Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) as "the Creature".


Rachel Weisz's character Nerfertiri was originally called Nefertiti but the producers felt that people would make "boob" jokes about the name so it was changed to that of another Egyptian queen.


The battle sequence in the O'Connell manor was originally supposed to be set in a casino owned by Jonathan, but budget constraints meant that a house was substituted.


Brendan Fraser wanted the O'Connell family to live in an apartment, but they ended up living in a house so that it could be used for the big battle scene (see above).


The house used as the O'Connells' mansion appeared as part of the library in the The Mummy (1999).


When Evelyn is first seen brushing off a wall, the figures on the wall behind her are of two females fighting with sais. This is a depiction of her as Nefertiri fighting Anck Su Namun in front of the Pharaoh.


The O'Connell's mansion was the same mansion used for filming in The Omen (1976)


Dwayne Johnson's only spoken lines are in Ancient Egyptian. Loosely translated, his line "Haku Machente" means "It's hot as hell."


In the scene where they enter the room full of gold, one of the statues in the back of the room is a life-sized Oscar statue that is partially obscured by other items.


This sequel was greenlit by Universal the morning after The Mummy (1999) opened in May 1999.


The designs on Anuk Su Namun's sleeves on her dress look exactly like her body paint in her previous life.


In the original script, when Rick asks Izzy, "Where's your airplane?" Izzy responds that he lost it in a poker game.


The two men guarding the Bracelet of Anubis in Evy's vision in the tomb are brothers in real life.


The hand prints in the train's bathroom are from Director Stephen Sommers's hands.


In order to keep his smooth hairless look, Arnold Vosloo had his entire body shaved twice a day. Originally, he tried waxing but couldn't stand the pain.


When the O'Connells run out of the museum after Rick rescues Evie, there are four mummy guards chasing them. However, in the ensuing bus battle scene, only three are killed. According to the original script, the fourth was supposed to attack Alex after the bus had come to a stop. However, director Stephen Sommers decided to cut the scene, figuring that the audience had had enough of the mummy battle and wanted to get on with the story.


A log bridge falls into a ravine with several Pygmies on it. One Pygmie runs one way across the falling bridge to get off of it, and then runs back the other way. After realizing he can't escape, he straddles the log and waves his hand in the air like Major Kong (Slim Pickens) atop the bomb in Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).


Brendan Fraser tore a spinal disk, cracked a rib, and injured his knees during production. Dwayne Johnson suffered from food poisoning and sunstroke.

That's to bad Evelyn's P.J.s had to get painted over. Some Philistines would repaint the Sistine Chapel ceiling with a roller!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the 1932 version we only see the mummy's face once in close up. Which means Boris sat there for 8 (!) hours, only to see the result on the screen for a few moments. He opens one eyelid, moves one arm, then the movie cuts to the reaction of the young archeologist who goes into hysterical laughter.

So mummies can dance!! !!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB_OQpbP0oE[/youtube]

LOL! I love it when the mummy looses its head.

It's the Mummy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89sL4R50Z6E[/youtube]

Dance mummy, dance...

Wrapture of the mummy topic

When I was a kid in Grade 5 (1965) the mummies at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)Toronto, Canada, were not as protected in glass cases as they are now. There were no tops on the old cases, so that you could touch the mummies or the sarcophagi they were kept in (placed beside the mummy for display). There was also a natural mummy in a fetal position dressed in sheets, lying on its side in the open case. We were told the man had died and his body had been found in the desert and preserved by the heat and sand. I could smell the actual rot of this mummy and I could even imagine tasting the dust. The newer protective cases for these dead relics were not available until about 15 years ago.
I had major sensory issues even then. I did not like the feel of the mummy bandages, and to this day I still lose my appetite seeing these dead shriveled up pieces of meat that were once human beings.

I thought was a thread about Milfs

Scratch that last note on mummy saturation, there simply aren't enough!

This post is dedicated to AndersTheAspie.

From Wikipedia:

Grauballe Man:

Grauballe Man is one of the best preserved bog bodies in the world. He was found on April 26, 1952, in a bog near the village of Grauballe in Jutland, Denmark, by someone who was digging for peat. Carbon dating has determined him to be from around 290 BC.

Grauballe Man is very well preserved with nails and hair in evidence. Even his fingers were in good enough condition to obtain his fingerprints. While his hair and beard is well preserved, it has been discoloured by time, as is his skin. No clothing or jewelery have been found near him.

He died from having his throat cut, but he also had a fractured cranium and leg. Why he was killed is not known. As with several other bog bodies, it is assumed that either a sacrifice or execution as punishment for a crime was the cause of his injuries. Recent scans have reconstructed his face and revealed a lot of facts about him, such as the fact that he was beginning to develop gout. Other than that, he appears to have been a healthy male, about 30 years old.



The Grauballe Man is the inspiration for this poem, by Irish poet Seamus Heaney:

The Grauballe Man

As if he had been poured
in tar, he lies
on a pillow of turf
and seems to weep

the black river of himself.
The grain of his wrists
is like bog oak,
the ball of his heel

like a basalt egg.
His instep has shrunk
cold as a swan's foot
or a wet swamp root.

His hips are the ridge
and purse of a mussel,
his spine an eel arrested
under a glisten of mud.

The head lifts,
the chin is a visor
raised above the vent
of his slashed throat

that has tanned and toughened.
The cured wound
opens inwards to a dark
elderberry place.

Who will say 'corpse'
to his vivid cast?
Who will say 'body'
to his opaque repose?

And his rusted hair,
a mat unlikely
as a foetus's.
I first saw his twisted face

in a photograph,
a head and shoulder
out of the peat,
bruised like a forceps baby,

but now he lies
perfected in my memory,
down to the red horn
of his nails,

hung in the scales
with beauty and atrocity:
with the Dying Gaul
too strictly compassed

on his shield,
with the actual weight
of each hooded victim,
slashed and dumped.

What do you think of Ötzi?



Apparently, he was shot to death with an arrow in the back...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ötzi

I was just talking to a friend about Otzi! Thanks for posting.

What about the band, The Mummies?