THE MUMMY’S SHROUD

A 2000 BC prologue tells of Egyptian pharaoh Mentar’s joy of new fatherhood which turned to grief when his wife died shortly after giving birth. Mentar then fixated on bringing up his child singlehandedly, so much so that his arch nemesis was able to storm the distracted Mentar’s palace and overpower him.

As Mentar was being slain, his prince son was smuggled into the desert by his faithful servants in a bid to channel him to safety. Alas, the harsh conditions proved too much for young prince Kah-to-bey and he died too – but not before passing on the ‘royal seal of the Pharaohs’ to chief servant Prem (Dickie Owen). Prem in turn decorated the prince’s corpse in his father’s hallowed shroud and set about making preparations for an appropriate burial …

Fast-forward to 1920, and an expedition to locate Kah-to-bey’s fabled tomb has been financed by "wealthy industrialist" Stanley (John Phillips). He’s gathered a small group together for the event, and charged famed archaeologist Basil (Andre Morell) with the task of leading them.

When the group, which also includes Basil’s pretty assistant Claire (Maggie Kimberly), Stanley’s son Paul (David Buck) and the dashing Harry (Tim Barrett) are announced as having gone missing – as have two search parties sent to find them! - Stanley ventures out to Egypt to find out what’s happened to them. He does, after all, have £12,000.00 invested in their venture …

He’s flanked by his wife Barbara (Elizabeth Sellars), and fussing personal assistant Longbarrow (Michael Ripper). As they prepare a troupe of guides to steer them into the desert in search of Stanley’s money – er, I mean, missing son etc – we cut to a tent several miles away.

Inside said tent, Basil and his small team shelter from the sandstorms outside. Once the weather improves, they forge ahead until they reach what looks like the opening of an ancient tomb. Entering, they’re confronted by raging Arab Hasmid (Roger Delgado). His family, he tells them, have protected Kah-to-bey’s resting place for centuries and are not about to let it be disturbed.

Not ones to be dissuaded by such frightfully inconvenient news, Basil’s team shrug Hasmid off and travel deeper into the catacombs … eventually stumbling upon the object of their desires. They even bump into Stanley’s search party in the process.

Unfortunately, their excavation brings about nothing but bad fortune … and the killings begin as the mummy is finally resurrected during the films latter half …

Following on from Terence Fisher’s hugely successful 1959 Hammer hit THE MUMMY and Michael Carreras’ less celebrated 1964 sequel THE CURSE OF THE MUMMY’S TOMB, SHROUD came in 1966 and employed the directorial skills of John Gilling. He’d made a couple of above-average horror films for the studio in the preceding months – THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES and THE REPTILE – but this was to prove to be his final film for them.

It’s an uneven film at that, veering between matinee fisticuffs and stiff-upper-lip Britishness abroad, and rather anaemic horror which doesn’t sit easily with the other Hammer films of its era. The pace is uneven too as a result – the film starts off briskly enough, following an overlong prologue, but then sags badly in the mid-section.

Colourful if cheap sets lend the action a naïve charm, while Gilling’s no-nonsense pulp script (based on Anthony Hinds’ story) doesn’t wish to wallow in subtext or multiple layers: this appears to have been conceived as a B-movie, and plays as one – aesthetically, thematically, technically – from beginning to end.

Phillips clearly enjoys playing such a caddish character. He’s a chauvinistic bully and coward, and it’s fun to watch this hoping for his comeuppance to be worthy. Everyone else is disappointingly neither-here-nor-there, aside from the wonderful Ripper who steals every scene he’s in (not enough). The possibly highpoint of the film is the moving, and yet funny, scene where his spectacles are smashed …

In terms of horror, the film is a little weak for a late-60s Hammer offering. There is minor gore here and there, and Don Banks’ melodramatic score does its best to ramp the tension up. But Gilling doesn’t have the same handle on this fare as he did with ZOMBIES or REPTILE. There is an atmosphere, perhaps an energy, that’s somewhat lacking. Even the finale, which can’t help but evoke the far superior Hammer production of DRACULA, is a bit of a let-down.

It’s not that THE MUMMY’S SHROUD is a bad film (on the contrary, it’s good Saturday afternoon fun) – it’s just not a patch on either Fisher’s THE MUMMY or the film that followed SHROUD in the series, 1971’s BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY’S TOMB.

But, for fans of the film, it’s now arrived on UK blu-ray.

THE MUMMY’S SHROUD comes preserved in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. The disc serves the film as an MPEG4-AVC file in full 1080p HD resolution.

Picture-wise, the film looks very good. Fine detail and strong contrast hold up well against accurate colour schemes and flesh tones, while a light grain layer retains a satisfyingly filmic feel to proceedings. The print used is unexpectedly clean.

The film’s original English mono soundtrack is remastered in a pleasing new Master HD mix, which does an excellent job of providing a clean and clear consistency of balance throughout. Optional English subtitles for the main feature are well-written and easy to read.

Studio Canal‘s disc opens to an animated main menu page. From there, pop-up menus include a scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 12 chapters.

Bonus features are, as has become the norm for this series of Hammer blu-rays, excellent. They’re just not as comprehensive as those proffered on the discs for, say, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT or THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES.

They commence with "The Beat Goes On", a 22-minute documentary which bills itself as a ‘Making Of’ but offers more of a contextual background. It’s no worse for it, with contributions from the likes of Egyptian mythology expert John Johnston, hammer author Jonathan Rigby and historian Marcus Hearn offering insight into both the themes of the film and how its troubled production evolved.

"Remembering David Buck" does what it says on the tin. Madeline Smith (a sometime Hammer star in her own right – FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL), Buck’s widow, pays a 5-minute tribute to the late actor who she met and fell in love with while they were filming an episode of the ITV drama "Crown Court". It’s a sincere and moving piece.

A 6-minute gallery offers a plethora of stills and poster art from around the Globe, all set to wonderful sound-bites from the main feature’s audio track.

We also get two original theatrical trailers for THE MUMMY’S SHROUD, a RASPUTIN THE MAD MONK preview, and three trailers for THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (including a black-and-white US trailer bearing the alternate title THE DEVIL’S BRIDE).

THE MUMMY’S SHROUD may seem like an odd choice for Studio Canal to release among their maiden wave of Hammer blu-ray titles. But it’s an entertaining film nevertheless, and sits as an interesting curiosity piece alongside the impressive HD sets of Gilling’s same-year efforts for the studio, THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES and THE REPTILE.

This review is for the blu-ray disc of THE MUMMY’S SHROUD, available as part of a 2-disc "double play" blu-ray and DVD combo pack.

Review by Stuart Willis