Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) review

6. Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)

Directed by: Charles Lamont

Produced by: Howard Christie

Screenplay by: John Grant

Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marie Windsor, Michael Ansara, Peggy King, Richard Deacon, Mel Welles

By the mid 1950s, comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were into their twilight years, with both of them dealing with financial and health problems. Overexposure and the emergence of fledgling comedic duo Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis had made them less of a hot ticket than they were a decade ago; watching them meet Dracula, the Invisible Man and Dr. Jekyll wasn’t quite as fun anymore. 1955 saw the release of their last two films with Universal; the latter was “Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.” By this time, the “Mummy” franchise had been dormant for over 10 years, going out on a drab clunker with “The Mummy’s Curse.” And much like with that movie, I don’t really have a ton to say about this one; it gives you what you’d expect with Abbott and Costello in Egypt with deserts, mummies, high priests, thieves, etc., but it’s not too memorable in its execution.

Abbott and Costello play two Americans who are stranded in Egypt, looking for passage back to the United States. They overhear Dr. Gustav Zoomer (Kurt Katch) discussing his discovery of the Mummy Klaris (Eddie Parker)—yeah, it’s Klaris, not Kharis—who guards the treasured Tomb of Princess Ara. Klaris has a medallion that can help locate the treasure, which is coveted by businesswoman Madame Rontru (Marie Windsor); Klaris’s followers, led by high priest Semu (Richard Deacon), are enraged that Klaris has been taken, so while Abbott and Costello go to Zoomer’s house to apply for a position to accompany the Mummy to America, two of Semu’s men murder Zoomer and steal Klaris. However, the medallion falls into Abbott and Costello’s possession, so it becomes a three-way battle between Semu and his followers who want to preserve Klaris’s legend by any means necessary, Rontru and her men who resort to ruthless means to find the treasure, and Abbott and Costello who mostly just want to make a buck out of the whole deal.

So plot-wise, this is actually somewhat similar to “The Mummy’s Hand,” and it’s actually a pretty good setup, with an emphasis on adventure, exploration, and double-dealing scoundrels. Much like with the former, you can see this in an “Indiana Jones” movie, minus most of the comedic gags. One of my favorite aspects of the film is actually the staging, even if it’s immaterial to the story. There’s a slapstick stage show and a couple of dance routines with Semu’s followers that have really impressive choreography. But the movie has a cheap appearance too, especially with Klaris; this time, the Mummy costume is just a one-piece jumpsuit, a far cry from Jack Pierce’s iconic designs. The story itself has some pretty forced elements, like Abbott being accused of murdering Zoomer because of a misleading picture Costello takes—it ends up completely irrelevant anyway—and an extremely rushed ending where everyone just kind of cleans their hands and walk away with no consequence; the whole development about Abbott and Costello trying to get home is pretty much forgotten about.

As for the duo, I’m a little annoyed by how much the movie relies on the running gag of Costello seeing the walking Klaris and other horrors, but they always seem to disappear when he tries to show Abbott; they did the same thing in “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,” and I think it overstayed its welcome there too. But they have some funny bits, like when they learn the amulet is cursed, and they each try to slip it to each other, or the pick/shovel routine. Here’s a weird fact; in the end credits, it lists Abbott and Costello’s characters as Pete Patterson and Freddie Franklin, even though throughout the movie, they refer to themselves by their real names. Meanwhile, I think Richard Deacon is really miscast as Semu; I buy him as the fake archaeologist, but not an Egyptian high priest. On the other hand, there’s Marie Windsor as Rontru; a master of femme fatale roles, she’s perfect in her sniveling mannerisms and contemptuous smile.

Most of the action is repetitive and doesn’t carry much momentum; Klaris has almost nothing to do until the climax, which admittedly is pretty fun; there’s a lot of running around and falling through trap doors, multiple characters dressing up like mummies for deceptive switcheroos, and it leads to the reactions you’d expect. But that’s part of the problem of the movie; it’s not much more than what you’d expect. It doesn’t have the novelty of any of the original cast like “Meet Frankenstein” or any inherently laugh-out-loud situations like in “Meet the Invisible Man.” It settles into being a basic horror comedy, and stays there; hey, the first line of the film is a narration that goes, “A man’s best friend is his mummy.” If that doesn’t make you laugh, then you may not have a great time with “Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.” Take it for what is, and nothing more.

My rating: 5.5/10