Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb ***½ (1971, Andrew Keir, Valerie Leon, James Villiers, James Villiers, Hugh Burden, George Coulouris) – Classic Movie Review 3298

Director Seth Holt’s 1971 British chiller is an imaginatively handled, intelligently written, menacing, above-average late Hammer horror movie, based by talented screen-writer Christopher Wicking on a lesser-known Bram Stoker novel, Jewel of the Seven Stars. The Seven Stars, aka the Big Dipper, is seen throughout the film, in crystal balls, ruby rings etc.

Andrew Kier gives a stalwart lead performance as Professor Fuchs, who leads an archaeological expedition to Egypt and makes the usual rookie error of bringing back to London the coffin of a mummified Egyptian queen with magical powers.

Luscious Valerie Leon does impressively too as both the evil queen Tera and Fuchs’s daughter Margaret, who is enchanted when dad puts Tera’s ring on her finger. Thus Fuchs reawakens the spirit of the mummified Egyptian queen and the mayhem starts.

If you make allowances for Hammer’s usual cost-cutting production and some camp performances, it is a very satisfying Mummy movie. As the title suggests, there is some violence and gore in the movie, with lacerations and a severed hand and a fairly high body count, but they are staged in a gothic rather than realist way. Léon displays much cleavage but there is no sex or nudity to speak of.

James Villiers is outstanding as unscrupulous scientist Corbeck. Mark Edwards plays a character called Tod Browning in homage to the horror director. Also in the cast are Hugh Burden as Dandridge, George Coulouris as Berrigan, Rosalie Crutchley as Helen Dickerson, Aubrey Morris as Doctor Putnum, David Markham as Doctor Burgess, James Cossins, Tamara Ustinov, Penelope Holt, Joan Young, David Jackson, Jonathan Burn and Graham James.

When Holt died of a heart attack at the start of the last week of shooting, the direction was completed by an uncredited Michael Carreras, who shot for five days, including the asylum scenes. Original star Peter Cushing quit after a day’s filming to care for his sick wife and was replaced by Andrew Keir.

It is the only Hammer Mummy film without Michael Ripper. Corbeck’s house has a to-let sign by Neame and Skeggs, the film’s production manager and production supervisor, Christopher Neame and Roy Skeggs. Weirdly, Ingmar Bergman had a VHS of this movie at his home on Faro Island. More weirdly, the BBFC cut a shot of George Coulouris being struck across the face by male nurse James Cossins due to public concern about the treatment of mental patients.

It was remade in 1980 as The Awakening, starring Charlton Heston as Corbeck. Ahmed Osman (Priest) appeared in both versions.

Andrew Keir starred in a number of Hammer Films, including Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) and Quatermass and the Pit (1967).

Aubrey Morris died on July 15 2015, aged 89.

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© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3298

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