Adieu, Aubrey

The purring, sinister, wonderfully eccentric Aubrey Morris is dead. He lived for 89 years, and was acting up until a few months ago. Here he is as an utterly bonkers psychiatrist Dr. Putnum in Hammer's 'Blood From The Mummy's Tomb'. Adieu, Aubrey.

Hammer 101

Half Bone, Half Bandage

Another cool and slightly forgotten Hammer film, 'The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb' is a smart little b movie that re-uses props and elements of the storylines of 'The Mummy', yet still ploughs its own slightly bonkers furrow, not least because it looks different to most Hammer's of the period, being filmed at Elstree rather than Bray, and has some unfamiliar actors alongside Michael Ripper (playing an Arab with a cockney accent).

Terence Morgan plays the purring villain Adam Beauchamp, and Leslie Howard's lookalike son Ronald plays the slightly ineffectual hero. French actress Jeanne Roland provides the mutual love interest, a heaving chest and lots of dialogue mangled by her rather thick accent. It's great. 

The Curse Of The Mummy's Tomb

Beware The Beat

'The Mummy's Shroud' was the third of Hammer's four Mummy themed films and, although it's a bit cheap looking (The Mummy is basically wearing a romper suit) and is obviously supporting feature material, it zips along okay and has some good moments, and that's more than alright with me. 

The storyline is fairly typical - British archaeologists desecrate tomb, get nastily knocked off one by one by reanimated Egyptian corpse - but what's particularly good about it is that Hammer stalwart Michael Ripper gets a proper role - lots of lines, a character, everything - and he does brilliantly with it, creating a memorable and sympathetic person who we feel really sorry for when the Mummy gets hold of him (and chucks him through a window and into a trough in the street).

Perhaps the best bit, however, is the ending, in which the 'Spell of Life' that brought the Mummy back is countermanded by the 'Spell of Death' and the Mummy, on command, literally crushes itself into a dirty pile of nothingness. Cool.

The Mummy's Shroud

Nerve Shattering Shock

Hammer's 'The Mummy' had its genesis in the huge success of both 'The Curse Of Frankenstein' and 'Dracula' - previously sniffy about the use of 'their' characters, Universal Studios suddenly saw the light (and the royalties) and gave Hammer carte blanche to remake whatever they wanted from their portfolio of classic horror films.

'The Mummy' isn't a straight remake of the 1932 Boris Karloff film, instead recycling bits and pieces from its sequels, as well as adding colour, extra violence and moving most of the action to Britain. The familiar themes of love across the centuries, reincarnation and ancient curses are naturally present, with The Mummy wreaking deadly vengeance on the archaeologists who discovered / desecrated Princess Ananka's final resting place. Christopher Lee has a dual role: as Kharis, the High Priest in love with Ananka who is sentenced to a living death for his blasphemy in trying to bring her back to life, and as The Mummy itself - an unstoppable tool of revenge, impervious to bullets, incredibly dessicated and scuzzy looking - but, four thousand years on, still in love with his Princess and Peter Cushing's wife who just so happens to look just like her.

A massive box office success, 'The Mummy' eventually spawned three semi sequels (there is no relation between them apart from the Egyptian theme), including the supremely daft 'Blood From The Mummy's Tomb'. Good stuff.    

The Mummy

Dr. Who: Pyramids of Mars

When it comes to 'Dr. Who', I'm a Pertwee man, I always have been. But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate how good Tom Baker was in the role, or the different direction the show went in under producer Philip Hinchcliffe and script editor Robert Holmes. The enterprising duo steered the series into gothic horror, shortening the story runs to a brisk four episodes and pitting the still new Doctor against all manner of dark new foes - prompting record numbers of viewer complaints about how grown up and violent the show had become.

'Pyramids Of Mars' is a classic, one that I can remember watching avidly back in 1975. The menacing Mummies turned out to be robots controlled from another dimension by an exiled alien despot called Sutekh The Destroyer rather than dessicated corpses, but that only made them scarier. There's something chilling about mindless, lumbering creatures, isn't there? That's why I hate going to Asda.

Dedicated to the late Elisabeth Sladen, who eased a painful transition from Doctor to Doctor for this particular six year old. RIP, SJS.

The Awful Power Of An Ancient God

The way trailers used to be: no symphony orchestras, no fast editing, no running, no explosions. Basic details, time and date, job done.

Valerie Leon, Yummy Mummy

Man About To Fall Off A Moped

An Open Grave

'Blood From The Mummys Tomb' doesn't have a particularly good reputation, or a very happy history. Director Seth Holt died on set a week before the film was finished, and Peter Cushing managed only one day's work before withdrawing because of his wife's (ultimately fatal) illness. 

To add insult to injury, I tried to watch this film three times before finally managing it, thwarted again and again by falling asleep about twenty minutes in. So, no, not a great film by any means, but very useful for insomniacs.

The abiding feature of the film is Island of Terror firm favourite Valerie Leon's astonishing chest, which becomes a character in its own right. It's a wondrous sight. Is that sexist? I don't mean it to be. I think men and women can both get something out of it, and that's rather wonderful when you think about it.

Blood From The Mummy's Tomb

You Thought You'd Seen It All

'Secrets Of Sex' is an amazing film, there's nothing quite like it. Director Anthony Balch had made early shorts about William Burroughs, but was equally at home in exploitation, importing arty horror films and re-titling them, and, in the case of 'Secrets Of Sex' (aka 'Bizarre') making a sneakily subversive film that just happened to feature lots of tits and bums.

Narrated by a reanimated Mummy, the film runs through genres and styles at speed, although the over arching theme is the perenial battle between the sexes. A lot of it doesn't make sense, some of it is poorly acted but, on form, it's fantastically entertaining and probably features more mottled, dimpled flesh than any other non-pornographic British film of the era. A box office sensation, it ran for six months at one West End cinema, but no data exists on how many of the audience were wearing macs. The good news: it's on DVD! 

You'll be wanting a clip, no doubt...here's one of the episodes, 'Strange Young Man' which amply demonstrates the odd, disjointed quality of this film as well as featuring some knockers.  

Secrets of Sex