fact number 2:fisher was working with 35mm film stock wich was then matted at 1:66 , the most popular format all over europe.

fact number 3:the north american standard for non-scope films was 1:85 witch is the full 35mm aspect ratio.

fact number 4:warner is not in the habit of taking inferior euro-transfers (4% too fast as a half-assed way of synchronising
celluloid with video)ex:the mummy on pal video is 85 mins insted of 88(correct running time for both celluloid & NTSC).

fact number 5:there is always a little more picture on the film stock then will ever be seen in theaters or video.otherwise the number of goofs reported would astronomical.

so in conclusion don't be alarmed by naysaywers bitching about aspect ratios , 9 times out of 10 they know less than you.


Make supple the limbs...   January 26, 2006
 4 out of 5 found this review helpful

In the world of horror, the mummy sits right next to vampires and werewolves -- creepy supernatural things that can rip you to bits.

And they are rarely scarier than they are in "The Mummy," a classic horror movie with no blood, no gore, not even any curses. Yet this is creepier -- and more frightening -- than any dozen fright flicks from Hollywood now. Of course, having Christopher Lee lurching through locked doors helps.

A pair of archaeologists uncover the tomb of Egyptian Princess Ananka, but once inside, Stephen Banning (Felix Aylmer) collapses into gibbering madness. Three years later, a mysterious box arrives in England, at the same time that Banning tells his son John (Peter Cushing) that something is coming to kill him. He's found strangled in a padded cell.

It turns out that Stephen was murdered by a "living mummy," a disgraced priest who was buried alive in Ananka's tomb to protect his beloved. Now a zealot has brought the mummy to England, and is using it to kill off anyone who dared go into the tomb. Now John must stop them both, using his wife's resemble to Ananka...

"The Mummy" got a big-budget, low-talent remake in the late 90s, which shares a few things with this movie, but the Hammer Horror version is probably the most memorable and well-made. Partly that is due to the hulking, silent, menacing mummy, and partly due to solid scripting and some very good acting.

Okay, the Egyptian sets are hokey, and the Hammer people had little knowledge of ancient Egypt ("Karnak" is a place, not a god). But the film blossoms as it gets back to England, full of misty bogs and dark country mansions. It's an unlikely spot for a 4000-year-old Egyptian to wreak havoc, but it works surprisingly well.

The script injects a poignancy to the mummy's story, since he suffered a fate worse than death for love, and even now gets all mushy over a woman who looks like Ananka. At the same time, he's also a ruthless killer who strangles his victims without batting an eye.

Cushing plays the role, again, of a man who battles the forces of evil, no matter how bizarre or out-there they may be. And he does a solid job. Lee is outstanding, especially considering that his head is covered in papier-mache. The change of expression whenever he sees Isobel, a dead ringer for Ananka, is magnificently poignant.

"The Mummy" remains one of Hammer Horror's best films, with its solid acting and taut direction. Still creepy after all these years.