The Mummy (1932) Movie Script
1
Trying to teach me a lesson in patience,
Sir Joseph?
Method is everything in archeology,
my boy.
We always deal with our
finds of the day in order.
Well, it seems to me that
that box we dug up today,
with the very peculiar gentleman,
over there,
is the only find we've made
in the past two months
that'll bring this expedition any medals
from the British Museum.
We didn't come to dig
in Egypt for medals.
Much more is learned from studying bits
of broken pottery
than from all the sensational finds.
Our job is to increase the sum
of human knowledge of the past,
not to satisfy our own curiosity.
That's all very true, Sir Joseph,
but after all, we're human.
And a find like this...
Well, how can you wait?
This is your first trip.
l've been out here 10 years,
and I'm more curious about
that mummy than you are,
and even more about that box.
Whemple.
Yes?
The viscera were not removed.
The usual scar made by
the embalmer's knife is not there.
I guessed as much, Muller.
I had a good look at him
when I photographed him.
Never saw a mummy like that.
Neither, I imagine, has anyone else.
Looks as though he died in some
sensationally unpleasant manner.
The contorted muscles show
that he struggled in the bandages.
Buried alive.
"Imhotep,
"High Priest of the Temple
of the Sun at Karnak."
Poor old fellow.
Now, what could you have done
to make them treat you like that?
An execution for treason,
I suppose.
Sacrilege, more likely.
Look.
The sacred spells which protect the soul in
its journey to the underworld
have been chipped off
of the coffin.
So Imhotep was sentenced to death
not only in this world, but in the next.
Maybe he got too gay
with the vestal virgins in the temple.
Possibly.
The priestesses of the Temple of Karnak
were the daughters of the reigning pharaohs.
They were the sacred virgins of Isis.
Maybe the answer's in that box
we found buried with him.
I see I shall get no more work
out of you until after it's open.
Come on. Let's have the box up there.
The wood's so rotten,
it'll fall apart at a touch.
Whatever it is, it's terribly heavy.
Metal.
Looks like copper.
It's gold.
I say! Look here.
The unbroken seals
of the Pharaoh Amenophis.
Some temple treasure.
"Death, eternal punishment
"for anyone
"who opens this casket,
"in the name of Amon-Ra,
"the King of the Gods."
Good heavens!
What a terrible curse!
Well, let's see what's inside.
Wait!
You have read the curse.
We recognize your mastery
of the occult sciences, Muller,
but I can't permit your beliefs to
interfere with my work.
Then why did you send for me
this afternoon?
As a friend and an expert.
Because I saw this find was unique,
and I wanted your opinion on it.
It is providential
that you did.
Come, Dr. Muller.
Surely a few thousand years in the earth
would take the mumbo-jumbo off
any old curse.
I cannot speak before a boy.
Come out under the stars of Egypt.
Do not touch that casket.
Go on with your cataloging.
We'll open it later.
You needn't think you can persuade me
not to examine
the most wonderful find
of my whole experience out here.
If you're right about the legend,
then this casket may
contain the Scroll of Thoth
from the holy of holies in the temple.
And I can hardly wait
to get back to find out.
The gods of Egypt still live in these hills,
in their ruined temples.
The ancient spells are weaker,
but some of them are still potent,
and I believe that you have in your hut
the Scroll of Thoth itself,
which contains the great spell
by which Isis raised Osiris from the dead.
Put it back.
Bury it where you found it.
You have read the curse.
You dare defy it?
In the interest of science,
even if I believed in the curse,
I'd go on with my work for the museum.
Come back with me,
and we'll examine this great find together.
I cannot condone an act of sacrilege
with my presence.
What's the matter, man?
For heaven's sake, what is it?
He... He went for a little walk.
You should have seen his face.
Here's something to break the monotony.
There's a visitor coming
up the trail from the Nile.
Color? Nationality?
How could I see in that glare?
Well, Whemple, back we go to London.
And what fools we look.
Money wasted.
Hole after hole dug in this blasted desert.
A few beads, a few broken pots.
A man needs more than hard work
for this game.
He needs flair.
He needs luck, like your father.
In the days when he used to come out here,
there wasn't so much competition.
When he did, he found things.
And once, 10 years ago,
he found too much.
Was it 10 years ago?
Queer story, that young Oxford chap
he had with him going mad.
You know what I think it was?
No. What?
I think he went crazy,
bored beyond human endurance,
messing around in this sand
and these rocks.
He was laughing when your father
found him.
He died laughing, in a straitjacket.
Your father never explained.
But when the best excavator
England has turned out,
a man who loved Egypt,
said he'd never come back here,
that meant something.
Come in.
You break your season's camp,
Professor Pearson?
Your colleagues have returned to London?
Yes. Whemple and I
stayed behind to clear up.
Your expedition has not been a success.
Scarcely.
Here are the season's finds.
Permit me to present you with the most
sensational find since that of Tutankhamen.
This is very sporting of you.
May I ask why?
We Egyptians are not permitted
to dig up our ancient dead.
Only foreign museums.
Well, what's this?
Part of the funerary equipment of the
Princess Anck-es-en-Amon,
daughter of Amenophis the Magnificent.
Yes. It's her name.
I found that not 100 yards
from where we are.
You mean,
you think her tomb is there?
I will show you where to dig.
I'm sure it's very good of you, Mr...
I didn't catch your name.
Ardeth Bay.
Circumstantial evidence.
Not very strong, perhaps,
but if we put that gang of diggers
from Kerna on the job,
we can tell in two days
if there's anything here.
In one day, Professor.
It's a step!
He was right.
Anyhow, we found something.
The name of Anck-es-en-Amon.
We will cable your father in London.
He must be here when we examine
this great find.
The seal of
the seven jackals.
And it's unbroken.
No one has entered this door since the priests
of the royal necropolis sealed it.
3,700 years ago.
Is there a view like this
in all the world, Helen?
The real Egypt.
Are we really in this
dreadful, modern Cairo?
Your thoughts are far away from the dance
and these nice English boys, my dear.
Not really.
I'm having a lovely time.
I'm so grateful.
But why?
For your keeping me here
with you, of course.
So I don't have to go up to Father
in that beastly hot Sudan.
It's I who am grateful,
my most interesting patient.
Know who that is?
Muller of Vienna.
Really?
Always spends his winters here.
Authority on the Egyptian occult.
Yes, but the girl.
Helen Grosvenor.
Her father's Governor of the Sudan.
English, of course.
Her mother, Egyptian.
Some old family with a tree a mile long.
She's staying here with
Dr. and Mrs. Muller.
Pardon me, sir.
Our closing bell has rung.
I did not notice the time.
I am addressing Sir Joseph Whemple?
Yes.
I am Ardeth Bay.
Indeed!!
Why, we have you to thank
that we have this exhibit here at all.
The museum should be kept open all night
in your honor.
Won't you come down to my office?
I'm working here late.
Your pardon.
I dislike to be touched.
An Eastern prejudice.
Won't you sit down?
You know my son.
Ardeth Bay. Where did you disappear to
when we opened the tomb?
I returned to Cairo.
But... But now
I must not detain you.
But I must see you again.
You... You must come to my house.
I regret I am too occupied to
accept invitations.
He's a strange one.
But you might at least
have thanked the man.
He was responsible for
finding the princess.
Yes. I rather wish he hadn't been.
I think it's a dirty trick,
this Cairo Museum keeping everything we've found.
That was the contract.
The British Museum works
for the cause of science, not for loot.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
Is anything the matter?
Anck-es-en-Amon.
Where do you
want to go, miss?
Le Muse des Antiquits.
Imhotep.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
Imhotep.
Imhotep.
I must get in.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
I must.
It's closed for the night.
Everybody's gone home.
I must get in.
Imhotep.
Imhotep.
Imhotep.
What's she saying?
What language is that?
The language of Ancient Egypt,
not heard on this earth for 2,000 years.
And the name of a man unspoken
since before the siege of Troy.
Is your master at home?
Yes, efendi.
Tell him Dr. Muller
wishes to see him, urgently.
How did I get here?
We brought you here.
Father and I.
You fainted.
But how did you guess she was here?
I discovered that she took
a taxi from the hotel to the museum.
I went there.
The watchman said she had left in your car.
Before you take her away,I must talk to you
about something she said just now.
Oh, Dr. Muller.
So, here you are, my dear.
I suppose you introduced yourself.
No?
Miss Helen Grosvenor, my old friend
Sir Joseph Whemple, Frank Whemple.
This seems so formal
under these peculiar circumstances.
And now, if you're all right again,
back we go to the hotel.
I... I think she ought to rest
a few minutes.
Frank, will you make yourself agreeable?
Well...
Where was I when I fainted, Mr. Whemple?
Oh, outside the museum.
What was I doing there?
Well, I wouldn't know that, would I?
No, I don't suppose you would.
I wish I did.
You see, I was waiting...
Let's not talk about it.
Oh, right.
You're partly Egyptian, aren't you?
Yes. How did you guess that?
Oh, I don't know.
Just something about you.
You know, I'd have liked Egypt
better if I'd met you there, but no such luck.
Stuck in the desert for two months,
and was it hot!
That tomb!
What tomb?
Surely you read about the princess.
So you did that.
Yes.
The 14 steps down and the
unbroken seals were thrilling.
But when we came to handle all her clothes
and her jewels and her toilet things...
You know, they buried everything with them
that they used in life.
Well, when we came to
unwrap the girl herself...
How could you do that?
Had to. Science, you know.
Well, after we'd worked among her things,
I felt as if I'd known her.
And when we got the wrappings off,
and I saw her face...
You'll think me silly,
but I sort of fell in love with her.
Do you have to open graves
to find girls to fall in love with?
I say!
Now I know what it is about you.
There was something about her head...
I had never mentioned the name,
yet I heard Miss Grosvenor mutter,
in ancient Egyptian, something about Imhotep.
Imhotep?
What was this Ardeth doing in the museum?
Looking at the mummy, just at closing time.
Hello.
What?
Come.
A museum guard found dead
in the room of the princess.
So he died of shock.
We find this in
dead guard's hand, Sir Joseph.
Probably thief try to steal it.
Guard take it away, thief kill him.
The cause of death,
I not find nothing.
Looks like an attempted theft,
but nothing stolen here could be disposed of.
What is the document?
Let me put this here.
You'll be more comfortable.
Thanks.
You really want to know why I didn't
take you to the hospital?
Because when I held you
in my arms...
Hadn't you better not commit yourself?
What girl could fail to make a conquest
who collapsed at a man's feet in the moonlight?
Oh, I know it seems absurd
when we've known each other such a short time,
but I'm serious.
Don't you think
I've had enough excitement for one evening,
without the additional thrill
of a strange man making love to me?
But l've never been serious about this
sort of thing before.
Now, look here.
You can tell me to go to the devil,
but you can't laugh at me.
The curse has struck her,
and now, through her, it will strike my son.
Quiet.
Frank, will you come
to your father's study?
Helen, I shall
take you home presently.
I'll be back in a minute.
Imhotep was alive
when that mummy in the museum
was a vestal virgin in the temple.
Thirty-seven hundred years ago!
What's that got to do with us, now?
Your assistant, who went insane and died,
as you might have done
if you'd seen what he saw,
made a transcription
of part of that scroll.
Yes. I have it still.
You seem to think this thing has all the
devils of Hell in it.
Why not burn it
and be done with it?
An excellent suggestion.
What became of the mummy of Imhotep?
Somebody stole it.
Look here, Dr. Muller.
What's the matter with Miss Grosvenor?
You still think that
that mummy was stolen, Sir Joseph?
Yes, I...
Oh, I don't know.
A thousand pardons.
I am Ardeth Bay.
I'm Helen Grosvenor.
I called to see Sir Joseph.
He's in the study.
A conference?
If I might perhaps wait.
Yes. Of course.
Have we not met before, Miss Grosvenor?
No, I don't think so.
I don't think one would
forget meeting you, Ardeth Bay.
Then I am mistaken.
But you are of our blood.
As to that, I am not mistaken.
Yes.
My mother was Egyptian.
You must burn the Scroll of Thoth.
I tell you,
it's the museum's property, not mine.
Who's out there with Miss Grosvenor?
Ardeth Bay.
He's come for the scroll.
Ardeth Bay, Dr. Muller.
I accept your invitation, but I find
no solitary student with his books.
I fear my visit is inopportune.
On the contrary,
we were just talking about...
Me?
Your native Egypt.
You know Miss Grosvenor?
Ardeth Bay introduced himself.
Won't you be seated?
Sir Joseph was just wondering how you knew
where the tomb of the
Princess Anck-es-en-Amon was hidden.
Partly inference, partly chance.
Sir Joseph, you seem disturbed.
Yes. A tragedy at the museum after you left.
Tragedy?
When I was there?
When you were there, Miss Grosvenor?
Yes. They told me I went there
and tried to get in after it was closed.
I don't remember, but...
Helen, it is very late.
Frank, will you please see
Helen back to the hotel?
Certainly, if Miss Grosvenor will let me.
But I don't want to go.
After what happened,
you need rest badly.
But I don't.
I was tired, but I...
Why, I've never felt
so alive before.
Then as your doctor,
I must order you to go.
I'm not a child.
Yes. Please, come.
Then, Ardeth Bay, au revoir.
But we must see each other again.
I shall be honored.
An unusual crime.
A guard killed by a man
who left a gift to the museum.
A gift?
A scroll.
Part of which was transcribed when
it was first found.
Here is the transcription.
I cannot read the writing
of a period so remote.
But you read the name of Anck-es-en-Amon
on that piece of pottery.
That was of the 18th Dynasty.
These are Predynastic ideographs.
The scroll from which this was copied was
stolen 10 years ago,
together with the mummy
of the High Priest Imhotep.
Most interesting.
May I see that scroll, Sir Joseph?
We left it at the museum.
So.
I have something else
to show you. A photograph.
Why do you show all this to me?
Do you think it conceivable
that the mummy was not stolen,
but restored to a semblance
of life by the spell from the Scroll of...
That scroll is my property.
I bought it from a dealer.
It is here in this house.
I presume in that room.
We had foreseen this.
The scroll is in safe hands,
and will be destroyed the minute
it is known that harm has come to us.
You have studied our ancient arts,
and you know that you cannot harm me.
You also know that you must return that
scroll to me or die.
Now tell that weak fool
to get that scroll, wherever it is,
and hand it to his Nubian servant.
The Nubian!
The ancient blood.
So you have made him your slave.
If I could get my hands on you,
I'd break your dried flesh to pieces.
But your power is too strong.
This is the evil force that has
been attacking her.
Burn the scroll, man.
Burn it!
It was through you
this horror came into existence.
It's true.
It's true.
Your father destroyed the scroll,
knowing that it would cost him his life.
What's that?
Isis, the Egyptian symbol of life.
I meant it for your father.
What good could
that old charm have done him?
I tell you, the doctors say
it's a plain case of heart failure.
The Nubian is missing.
He's an old servant.
He was frightened, but he'll be back.
Don't try and make me believe
that this Ardeth fellow is a mummy come to life.
It was that idea and the horror of it
that killed my father.
The museum guard died
of natural causes, too.
Frank, I need your help.
I saw your attraction
to my patient last night, and hers to you.
Hers to me?
Do you really think so?
And I welcomed it.
But do you think I have a chance?
'Cause I think she's the most...
But this is terrible at a time like this.
Frank, I'm afraid.
Will you go with me to her now?
Yes.
Then telephone her first
not to leave the hotel.
9-5-9-0.
No, I'm not going out.
Yes, I promise to wait
until you get here.
Goodbye.
And I'm so dreadfully sorry.
You know...
What were you doing, Doctor?
Your father did not burn the Scroll of Thoth.
That creature has it now.
But the ashes in the fireplace.
They were newspaper.
The scroll is papyrus.
Then it was murder.
The Nubian.
Wear this around your neck.
Why?
When we fight this creature,
we must ask protection
from the forces of old that it defied.
I'll give it to Helen.
She's the one that needs protection.
No. Her life is not in danger.
It is her soul.
Should love for you come to her,
he will try to destroy you.
That amulet, the Egyptians believe,
was a charm against evil sendings
such as struck down your father.
Your dog is frightened.
My servant will see to him.
Sit down, Miss Grosvenor.
Ancient Egypt.
Nothing modern.
What a strange incense.
Is it not familiar to you?
No.
Our forefathers used it.
Yours and mine.
You will not remember
what I show you now,
and yet I shall awaken
memories of love
and crime and death.
I knelt by the bed of death.
Thy father's last farewell.
I knew the Scroll of Thoth
could bring thee back to life.
I dared the gods' anger and stole it.
I stole back to thy tomb
to bring thee back to life.
I murmured the spell
that raises the dead,
but they broke in upon me
and found me doing an unholy thing.
Thy father condemned me
to the nameless death.
The scroll he ordered buried with me,
that no such sacrilege
might disgrace Egypt again.
A nameless grave.
The slaves were killed
so that none should know.
The soldiers who killed them
were also slain,
so no friend could creep
to the desert with funeral offerings
for my condemned spirit.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
My love has lasted longer
than the temples of our gods.
No man ever suffered as I did for you.
But the rest you may not know.
Not until you are about to pass through
the great night of terror and triumph,
until you are ready to face moments of horror
for an eternity of love.
Until I send back your spirit
that has wandered through so many forms
and so many ages.
But before then, Bast must again
send forth death.
Death to that boy for whom love is
creeping into your heart.
Love that would keep
you from myself.
Love that might bring sickness
and even death to you.
Awake.
Have I been asleep?
I had strange dreams.
Dreams of Ancient Egypt, I think.
There was someone like you in them.
My pool is sometimes troubled.
One sees strange fantasies in the water,
but they pass like dreams.
My dog! Wolfram!
Wolfram!
Where is he?
Helen.
Helen, where have you been?
We've been so worried.
We've hunted everywhere.
In the museum again?
Yes.
Muller's down in the Arab quarter now.
Well, if I must give an explanation,
it was stuffy in here.
I can't be shut up all the time.
Besides, I don't like the feeling
that I'm always being watched.
I took the dog with me.
Well, where is the dog?
He's... He's dead.
But how?
I don't know.
Where?
I don't remember.
But I can see it now,
standing on poor Wolfram's back, a white cat.
A white cat?
The cat goddess, Bast.
Yes, there was a statue of Bast.
The goddess of evil sendings!
Just what happened?
Try to remember, Helen.
I don't want to remember.
Besides, I don't see
that it's any affair of yours.
Oh, but it is.
We know that you were with Ardeth Bay.
Oh, Helen.
Helen, I love you.
I'm trying to help you and protect you.
We all are.
Don't let me go again.
I'll try to get away, but you mustn't let me,
no matter what I do or what I say.
There's death there for me,
and life for something else inside me that isn't me.
But it's alive, too,
and fighting for life.
Save me from it, Frank.
Save me.
Oh, everything's going to be all right.
Now that you've asked for help,
I'll never leave you alone.
I'll get Mrs. Muller down here with you,
and I'll stay here till the doctor comes.
And then, we'll take you to my house.
Oh, Helen, it's been such torture.
I love you so.
I don't like that doctor.
Please go in there and find out what
he's saying about me.
I will, my dear.
He'll know just what's the matter
with you, and cure you.
Now, don't worry.
Now, Miss Sparling,
help me to get dressed and get out of here.
It's come over you again, Miss Grosvenor.
I must escape. I'm being held here.
You must help me.
But you told me when
these fits came on, I wasn't to listen.
I have a friend.
He's rich. He'll give you money.
Now you just lie down again.
You know you mustn't get up.
Well, if you don't want money,
what do you want most?
He'll give you anything,
if only you'll help me to go to him.
You want me to call Dr. Muller?
No. I hate him.
Mr. Whemple, then?
I'll die if I don't get away from him.
Now, Miss Grosvenor...
It's killing me.
Do you hear? Please, please!
Now, Helen, you must not do this again.
You're always so exhausted afterwards.
She's too weak to be removed,
except to a hospital.
I insist on keeping her here
under our direct observation.
But Dr. LeBarron, you haven't told us
what to do for her.
She's getting weaker every day.
You know that negligee
I bought in Paris?
Help me to put it on,
and bring me my toilet things.
I want some color.
I want to look well.
But you can't do that, my dear.
They'd never allow it. The nurse would be...
I know.
We'll get rid of her.
This is a plot, just between us.
I want to look the way I did.
Just a surprise, for Frank.
And I want you to bring him to me.
You understand?
In short, I have failed
to make a diagnosis.
Medical science is helpless in
a case like this.
Frank.
Go to her, and
don't be angry with me.
I couldn't resist her.
Oh, but Helen,
you shouldn't have done this.
They shouldn't have let you.
Just this once.
Perhaps the last time.
But you're going to get well.
Then I know I can
make you love me.
I know I can make you happy.
I do love you, Frank.
And I'm trying to prove it,
because I'd rather die
than live and lose you.
But you're going to live.
We're not going to lose each other.
So, my dear...
Don't scold me.
Just feminine vanity.
I wanted to look my best again.
So you know more than
I realized you knew.
What do you mean?
These impulses to go to him.
The pull is too strong
to withstand and live.
I'm so glad you understand.
Helen knows.
She knows the moment
she stops struggling,
he will give her back
her strength to come to him.
But I don't want to lose my own mind
and be someone else, someone I hate.
My dear, while you were growing worse,
we tried to find him and failed.
The next time the call comes,
go to him.
Muller, what can we do now?
We can do no more.
Ardeth has beaten me.
The next time he draws her to him,
we must follow her.
And then?
We will destroy him.
l've given her some bromide.
She's asleep now. I'll go to bed.
All right.
I'll wait here till Dr. Muller comes.
Good night.
Good night.
Where are we?
This is my bed, but this is not the temple
nor my father's palace.
Do not look, Anck-es-en-Amon.
Do not be afraid.
I was afraid.
When you were kneeling beside my bed,
a veil came over my eyes. Darkness.
Your last memory is of me
in the hour of your death
as I knelt by your bed, 3,700 years ago.
No man has ever suffered for woman
as you suffered for me.
And now that the gods
have forgiven us...
No, no, not yet.
Your soul is in
a mortal body,
renewed many times since we loved
in Thebes of old.
But that love is not
for us again until the great change.
I do not understand.
Look.
Look and wonder.
Figure of myself.
It is my coffin,
made by my father against my death.
What mummy has usurped my eternal
resting place?
It is thy dead shell.
I tried then to raise this body.
I could raise it now.
But it would be a mere thing
that moved at my will, without a soul.
It was not only this body that I loved.
It was thy soul.
I destroy this lifeless thing.
Thou shalt take its place
but for a few moments,
and then rise again,
even as I have risen.
Come.
Imhotep, this is the place of embalmment.
It is not lawful for me, a priestess of Isis,
to see or touch an unclean thing.
Come to the altar of Anubis,
the guide of the dead.
The time has come for the final prayers.
What have I to do with Anubis?
The ancient rites
must be performed over thy body.
Then I will read the great spell
with which Isis brought Osiris back
from the grave.
And thou shalt rise again.
No.
No, I'm alive!
I'm young! I won't die!
I loved you once, but now you belong
with the dead.
I am Anck-es-en-Amon,
but I...
I'm somebody else, too.
I want to live, even in
this strange new world.
For thy sake I was buried alive.
I ask of thee only a moment of agony.
Only so can we be united.
The bath of natron.
You shall not plunge
my body into that!
Let the deed be done.
Let me go!
Let me go!
Don't kill me!
I'm a priestess of Isis!
Save me from that mummy!
It's dead! Save me!
I no longer fear you.
Do with me what you will.
Frank!
She's gone to him.
They must be in the museum.
Now I know his horrible plan.
He's going to kill her
and make her a living mummy, like himself.
The gods will receive into
the underworld the spirit of Anck-es-en-Amon.
But not for long.
Osiris will release thy soul.
You shall rest from life,
like the setting sun
in the West.
But you shall dawn anew in the East
as the first rays of
Amon-Ra dispel the shadows.
Look! What's that?
Come on!
Frank! Frank!
Helen!
Helen!
Oh, Isis! Holy Maiden!
I was thy consecrated vestal.
I broke my vows. Save me now!
Teach me the ancient summons,
the holy spells I've forgotten.
I call upon thee as of old!
Helen.
Call her.
He has dragged her back to Ancient Egypt.
Call her!
Her love for you may bridge the centuries.
Helen. Helen!
Come back.
It's Frank.
Come back.
Trying to teach me a lesson in patience,
Sir Joseph?
Method is everything in archeology,
my boy.
We always deal with our
finds of the day in order.
Well, it seems to me that
that box we dug up today,
with the very peculiar gentleman,
over there,
is the only find we've made
in the past two months
that'll bring this expedition any medals
from the British Museum.
We didn't come to dig
in Egypt for medals.
Much more is learned from studying bits
of broken pottery
than from all the sensational finds.
Our job is to increase the sum
of human knowledge of the past,
not to satisfy our own curiosity.
That's all very true, Sir Joseph,
but after all, we're human.
And a find like this...
Well, how can you wait?
This is your first trip.
l've been out here 10 years,
and I'm more curious about
that mummy than you are,
and even more about that box.
Whemple.
Yes?
The viscera were not removed.
The usual scar made by
the embalmer's knife is not there.
I guessed as much, Muller.
I had a good look at him
when I photographed him.
Never saw a mummy like that.
Neither, I imagine, has anyone else.
Looks as though he died in some
sensationally unpleasant manner.
The contorted muscles show
that he struggled in the bandages.
Buried alive.
"Imhotep,
"High Priest of the Temple
of the Sun at Karnak."
Poor old fellow.
Now, what could you have done
to make them treat you like that?
An execution for treason,
I suppose.
Sacrilege, more likely.
Look.
The sacred spells which protect the soul in
its journey to the underworld
have been chipped off
of the coffin.
So Imhotep was sentenced to death
not only in this world, but in the next.
Maybe he got too gay
with the vestal virgins in the temple.
Possibly.
The priestesses of the Temple of Karnak
were the daughters of the reigning pharaohs.
They were the sacred virgins of Isis.
Maybe the answer's in that box
we found buried with him.
I see I shall get no more work
out of you until after it's open.
Come on. Let's have the box up there.
The wood's so rotten,
it'll fall apart at a touch.
Whatever it is, it's terribly heavy.
Metal.
Looks like copper.
It's gold.
I say! Look here.
The unbroken seals
of the Pharaoh Amenophis.
Some temple treasure.
"Death, eternal punishment
"for anyone
"who opens this casket,
"in the name of Amon-Ra,
"the King of the Gods."
Good heavens!
What a terrible curse!
Well, let's see what's inside.
Wait!
You have read the curse.
We recognize your mastery
of the occult sciences, Muller,
but I can't permit your beliefs to
interfere with my work.
Then why did you send for me
this afternoon?
As a friend and an expert.
Because I saw this find was unique,
and I wanted your opinion on it.
It is providential
that you did.
Come, Dr. Muller.
Surely a few thousand years in the earth
would take the mumbo-jumbo off
any old curse.
I cannot speak before a boy.
Come out under the stars of Egypt.
Do not touch that casket.
Go on with your cataloging.
We'll open it later.
You needn't think you can persuade me
not to examine
the most wonderful find
of my whole experience out here.
If you're right about the legend,
then this casket may
contain the Scroll of Thoth
from the holy of holies in the temple.
And I can hardly wait
to get back to find out.
The gods of Egypt still live in these hills,
in their ruined temples.
The ancient spells are weaker,
but some of them are still potent,
and I believe that you have in your hut
the Scroll of Thoth itself,
which contains the great spell
by which Isis raised Osiris from the dead.
Put it back.
Bury it where you found it.
You have read the curse.
You dare defy it?
In the interest of science,
even if I believed in the curse,
I'd go on with my work for the museum.
Come back with me,
and we'll examine this great find together.
I cannot condone an act of sacrilege
with my presence.
What's the matter, man?
For heaven's sake, what is it?
He... He went for a little walk.
You should have seen his face.
Here's something to break the monotony.
There's a visitor coming
up the trail from the Nile.
Color? Nationality?
How could I see in that glare?
Well, Whemple, back we go to London.
And what fools we look.
Money wasted.
Hole after hole dug in this blasted desert.
A few beads, a few broken pots.
A man needs more than hard work
for this game.
He needs flair.
He needs luck, like your father.
In the days when he used to come out here,
there wasn't so much competition.
When he did, he found things.
And once, 10 years ago,
he found too much.
Was it 10 years ago?
Queer story, that young Oxford chap
he had with him going mad.
You know what I think it was?
No. What?
I think he went crazy,
bored beyond human endurance,
messing around in this sand
and these rocks.
He was laughing when your father
found him.
He died laughing, in a straitjacket.
Your father never explained.
But when the best excavator
England has turned out,
a man who loved Egypt,
said he'd never come back here,
that meant something.
Come in.
You break your season's camp,
Professor Pearson?
Your colleagues have returned to London?
Yes. Whemple and I
stayed behind to clear up.
Your expedition has not been a success.
Scarcely.
Here are the season's finds.
Permit me to present you with the most
sensational find since that of Tutankhamen.
This is very sporting of you.
May I ask why?
We Egyptians are not permitted
to dig up our ancient dead.
Only foreign museums.
Well, what's this?
Part of the funerary equipment of the
Princess Anck-es-en-Amon,
daughter of Amenophis the Magnificent.
Yes. It's her name.
I found that not 100 yards
from where we are.
You mean,
you think her tomb is there?
I will show you where to dig.
I'm sure it's very good of you, Mr...
I didn't catch your name.
Ardeth Bay.
Circumstantial evidence.
Not very strong, perhaps,
but if we put that gang of diggers
from Kerna on the job,
we can tell in two days
if there's anything here.
In one day, Professor.
It's a step!
He was right.
Anyhow, we found something.
The name of Anck-es-en-Amon.
We will cable your father in London.
He must be here when we examine
this great find.
The seal of
the seven jackals.
And it's unbroken.
No one has entered this door since the priests
of the royal necropolis sealed it.
3,700 years ago.
Is there a view like this
in all the world, Helen?
The real Egypt.
Are we really in this
dreadful, modern Cairo?
Your thoughts are far away from the dance
and these nice English boys, my dear.
Not really.
I'm having a lovely time.
I'm so grateful.
But why?
For your keeping me here
with you, of course.
So I don't have to go up to Father
in that beastly hot Sudan.
It's I who am grateful,
my most interesting patient.
Know who that is?
Muller of Vienna.
Really?
Always spends his winters here.
Authority on the Egyptian occult.
Yes, but the girl.
Helen Grosvenor.
Her father's Governor of the Sudan.
English, of course.
Her mother, Egyptian.
Some old family with a tree a mile long.
She's staying here with
Dr. and Mrs. Muller.
Pardon me, sir.
Our closing bell has rung.
I did not notice the time.
I am addressing Sir Joseph Whemple?
Yes.
I am Ardeth Bay.
Indeed!!
Why, we have you to thank
that we have this exhibit here at all.
The museum should be kept open all night
in your honor.
Won't you come down to my office?
I'm working here late.
Your pardon.
I dislike to be touched.
An Eastern prejudice.
Won't you sit down?
You know my son.
Ardeth Bay. Where did you disappear to
when we opened the tomb?
I returned to Cairo.
But... But now
I must not detain you.
But I must see you again.
You... You must come to my house.
I regret I am too occupied to
accept invitations.
He's a strange one.
But you might at least
have thanked the man.
He was responsible for
finding the princess.
Yes. I rather wish he hadn't been.
I think it's a dirty trick,
this Cairo Museum keeping everything we've found.
That was the contract.
The British Museum works
for the cause of science, not for loot.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
Is anything the matter?
Anck-es-en-Amon.
Where do you
want to go, miss?
Le Muse des Antiquits.
Imhotep.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
Imhotep.
Imhotep.
I must get in.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
I must.
It's closed for the night.
Everybody's gone home.
I must get in.
Imhotep.
Imhotep.
Imhotep.
What's she saying?
What language is that?
The language of Ancient Egypt,
not heard on this earth for 2,000 years.
And the name of a man unspoken
since before the siege of Troy.
Is your master at home?
Yes, efendi.
Tell him Dr. Muller
wishes to see him, urgently.
How did I get here?
We brought you here.
Father and I.
You fainted.
But how did you guess she was here?
I discovered that she took
a taxi from the hotel to the museum.
I went there.
The watchman said she had left in your car.
Before you take her away,I must talk to you
about something she said just now.
Oh, Dr. Muller.
So, here you are, my dear.
I suppose you introduced yourself.
No?
Miss Helen Grosvenor, my old friend
Sir Joseph Whemple, Frank Whemple.
This seems so formal
under these peculiar circumstances.
And now, if you're all right again,
back we go to the hotel.
I... I think she ought to rest
a few minutes.
Frank, will you make yourself agreeable?
Well...
Where was I when I fainted, Mr. Whemple?
Oh, outside the museum.
What was I doing there?
Well, I wouldn't know that, would I?
No, I don't suppose you would.
I wish I did.
You see, I was waiting...
Let's not talk about it.
Oh, right.
You're partly Egyptian, aren't you?
Yes. How did you guess that?
Oh, I don't know.
Just something about you.
You know, I'd have liked Egypt
better if I'd met you there, but no such luck.
Stuck in the desert for two months,
and was it hot!
That tomb!
What tomb?
Surely you read about the princess.
So you did that.
Yes.
The 14 steps down and the
unbroken seals were thrilling.
But when we came to handle all her clothes
and her jewels and her toilet things...
You know, they buried everything with them
that they used in life.
Well, when we came to
unwrap the girl herself...
How could you do that?
Had to. Science, you know.
Well, after we'd worked among her things,
I felt as if I'd known her.
And when we got the wrappings off,
and I saw her face...
You'll think me silly,
but I sort of fell in love with her.
Do you have to open graves
to find girls to fall in love with?
I say!
Now I know what it is about you.
There was something about her head...
I had never mentioned the name,
yet I heard Miss Grosvenor mutter,
in ancient Egyptian, something about Imhotep.
Imhotep?
What was this Ardeth doing in the museum?
Looking at the mummy, just at closing time.
Hello.
What?
Come.
A museum guard found dead
in the room of the princess.
So he died of shock.
We find this in
dead guard's hand, Sir Joseph.
Probably thief try to steal it.
Guard take it away, thief kill him.
The cause of death,
I not find nothing.
Looks like an attempted theft,
but nothing stolen here could be disposed of.
What is the document?
Let me put this here.
You'll be more comfortable.
Thanks.
You really want to know why I didn't
take you to the hospital?
Because when I held you
in my arms...
Hadn't you better not commit yourself?
What girl could fail to make a conquest
who collapsed at a man's feet in the moonlight?
Oh, I know it seems absurd
when we've known each other such a short time,
but I'm serious.
Don't you think
I've had enough excitement for one evening,
without the additional thrill
of a strange man making love to me?
But l've never been serious about this
sort of thing before.
Now, look here.
You can tell me to go to the devil,
but you can't laugh at me.
The curse has struck her,
and now, through her, it will strike my son.
Quiet.
Frank, will you come
to your father's study?
Helen, I shall
take you home presently.
I'll be back in a minute.
Imhotep was alive
when that mummy in the museum
was a vestal virgin in the temple.
Thirty-seven hundred years ago!
What's that got to do with us, now?
Your assistant, who went insane and died,
as you might have done
if you'd seen what he saw,
made a transcription
of part of that scroll.
Yes. I have it still.
You seem to think this thing has all the
devils of Hell in it.
Why not burn it
and be done with it?
An excellent suggestion.
What became of the mummy of Imhotep?
Somebody stole it.
Look here, Dr. Muller.
What's the matter with Miss Grosvenor?
You still think that
that mummy was stolen, Sir Joseph?
Yes, I...
Oh, I don't know.
A thousand pardons.
I am Ardeth Bay.
I'm Helen Grosvenor.
I called to see Sir Joseph.
He's in the study.
A conference?
If I might perhaps wait.
Yes. Of course.
Have we not met before, Miss Grosvenor?
No, I don't think so.
I don't think one would
forget meeting you, Ardeth Bay.
Then I am mistaken.
But you are of our blood.
As to that, I am not mistaken.
Yes.
My mother was Egyptian.
You must burn the Scroll of Thoth.
I tell you,
it's the museum's property, not mine.
Who's out there with Miss Grosvenor?
Ardeth Bay.
He's come for the scroll.
Ardeth Bay, Dr. Muller.
I accept your invitation, but I find
no solitary student with his books.
I fear my visit is inopportune.
On the contrary,
we were just talking about...
Me?
Your native Egypt.
You know Miss Grosvenor?
Ardeth Bay introduced himself.
Won't you be seated?
Sir Joseph was just wondering how you knew
where the tomb of the
Princess Anck-es-en-Amon was hidden.
Partly inference, partly chance.
Sir Joseph, you seem disturbed.
Yes. A tragedy at the museum after you left.
Tragedy?
When I was there?
When you were there, Miss Grosvenor?
Yes. They told me I went there
and tried to get in after it was closed.
I don't remember, but...
Helen, it is very late.
Frank, will you please see
Helen back to the hotel?
Certainly, if Miss Grosvenor will let me.
But I don't want to go.
After what happened,
you need rest badly.
But I don't.
I was tired, but I...
Why, I've never felt
so alive before.
Then as your doctor,
I must order you to go.
I'm not a child.
Yes. Please, come.
Then, Ardeth Bay, au revoir.
But we must see each other again.
I shall be honored.
An unusual crime.
A guard killed by a man
who left a gift to the museum.
A gift?
A scroll.
Part of which was transcribed when
it was first found.
Here is the transcription.
I cannot read the writing
of a period so remote.
But you read the name of Anck-es-en-Amon
on that piece of pottery.
That was of the 18th Dynasty.
These are Predynastic ideographs.
The scroll from which this was copied was
stolen 10 years ago,
together with the mummy
of the High Priest Imhotep.
Most interesting.
May I see that scroll, Sir Joseph?
We left it at the museum.
So.
I have something else
to show you. A photograph.
Why do you show all this to me?
Do you think it conceivable
that the mummy was not stolen,
but restored to a semblance
of life by the spell from the Scroll of...
That scroll is my property.
I bought it from a dealer.
It is here in this house.
I presume in that room.
We had foreseen this.
The scroll is in safe hands,
and will be destroyed the minute
it is known that harm has come to us.
You have studied our ancient arts,
and you know that you cannot harm me.
You also know that you must return that
scroll to me or die.
Now tell that weak fool
to get that scroll, wherever it is,
and hand it to his Nubian servant.
The Nubian!
The ancient blood.
So you have made him your slave.
If I could get my hands on you,
I'd break your dried flesh to pieces.
But your power is too strong.
This is the evil force that has
been attacking her.
Burn the scroll, man.
Burn it!
It was through you
this horror came into existence.
It's true.
It's true.
Your father destroyed the scroll,
knowing that it would cost him his life.
What's that?
Isis, the Egyptian symbol of life.
I meant it for your father.
What good could
that old charm have done him?
I tell you, the doctors say
it's a plain case of heart failure.
The Nubian is missing.
He's an old servant.
He was frightened, but he'll be back.
Don't try and make me believe
that this Ardeth fellow is a mummy come to life.
It was that idea and the horror of it
that killed my father.
The museum guard died
of natural causes, too.
Frank, I need your help.
I saw your attraction
to my patient last night, and hers to you.
Hers to me?
Do you really think so?
And I welcomed it.
But do you think I have a chance?
'Cause I think she's the most...
But this is terrible at a time like this.
Frank, I'm afraid.
Will you go with me to her now?
Yes.
Then telephone her first
not to leave the hotel.
9-5-9-0.
No, I'm not going out.
Yes, I promise to wait
until you get here.
Goodbye.
And I'm so dreadfully sorry.
You know...
What were you doing, Doctor?
Your father did not burn the Scroll of Thoth.
That creature has it now.
But the ashes in the fireplace.
They were newspaper.
The scroll is papyrus.
Then it was murder.
The Nubian.
Wear this around your neck.
Why?
When we fight this creature,
we must ask protection
from the forces of old that it defied.
I'll give it to Helen.
She's the one that needs protection.
No. Her life is not in danger.
It is her soul.
Should love for you come to her,
he will try to destroy you.
That amulet, the Egyptians believe,
was a charm against evil sendings
such as struck down your father.
Your dog is frightened.
My servant will see to him.
Sit down, Miss Grosvenor.
Ancient Egypt.
Nothing modern.
What a strange incense.
Is it not familiar to you?
No.
Our forefathers used it.
Yours and mine.
You will not remember
what I show you now,
and yet I shall awaken
memories of love
and crime and death.
I knelt by the bed of death.
Thy father's last farewell.
I knew the Scroll of Thoth
could bring thee back to life.
I dared the gods' anger and stole it.
I stole back to thy tomb
to bring thee back to life.
I murmured the spell
that raises the dead,
but they broke in upon me
and found me doing an unholy thing.
Thy father condemned me
to the nameless death.
The scroll he ordered buried with me,
that no such sacrilege
might disgrace Egypt again.
A nameless grave.
The slaves were killed
so that none should know.
The soldiers who killed them
were also slain,
so no friend could creep
to the desert with funeral offerings
for my condemned spirit.
Anck-es-en-Amon.
My love has lasted longer
than the temples of our gods.
No man ever suffered as I did for you.
But the rest you may not know.
Not until you are about to pass through
the great night of terror and triumph,
until you are ready to face moments of horror
for an eternity of love.
Until I send back your spirit
that has wandered through so many forms
and so many ages.
But before then, Bast must again
send forth death.
Death to that boy for whom love is
creeping into your heart.
Love that would keep
you from myself.
Love that might bring sickness
and even death to you.
Awake.
Have I been asleep?
I had strange dreams.
Dreams of Ancient Egypt, I think.
There was someone like you in them.
My pool is sometimes troubled.
One sees strange fantasies in the water,
but they pass like dreams.
My dog! Wolfram!
Wolfram!
Where is he?
Helen.
Helen, where have you been?
We've been so worried.
We've hunted everywhere.
In the museum again?
Yes.
Muller's down in the Arab quarter now.
Well, if I must give an explanation,
it was stuffy in here.
I can't be shut up all the time.
Besides, I don't like the feeling
that I'm always being watched.
I took the dog with me.
Well, where is the dog?
He's... He's dead.
But how?
I don't know.
Where?
I don't remember.
But I can see it now,
standing on poor Wolfram's back, a white cat.
A white cat?
The cat goddess, Bast.
Yes, there was a statue of Bast.
The goddess of evil sendings!
Just what happened?
Try to remember, Helen.
I don't want to remember.
Besides, I don't see
that it's any affair of yours.
Oh, but it is.
We know that you were with Ardeth Bay.
Oh, Helen.
Helen, I love you.
I'm trying to help you and protect you.
We all are.
Don't let me go again.
I'll try to get away, but you mustn't let me,
no matter what I do or what I say.
There's death there for me,
and life for something else inside me that isn't me.
But it's alive, too,
and fighting for life.
Save me from it, Frank.
Save me.
Oh, everything's going to be all right.
Now that you've asked for help,
I'll never leave you alone.
I'll get Mrs. Muller down here with you,
and I'll stay here till the doctor comes.
And then, we'll take you to my house.
Oh, Helen, it's been such torture.
I love you so.
I don't like that doctor.
Please go in there and find out what
he's saying about me.
I will, my dear.
He'll know just what's the matter
with you, and cure you.
Now, don't worry.
Now, Miss Sparling,
help me to get dressed and get out of here.
It's come over you again, Miss Grosvenor.
I must escape. I'm being held here.
You must help me.
But you told me when
these fits came on, I wasn't to listen.
I have a friend.
He's rich. He'll give you money.
Now you just lie down again.
You know you mustn't get up.
Well, if you don't want money,
what do you want most?
He'll give you anything,
if only you'll help me to go to him.
You want me to call Dr. Muller?
No. I hate him.
Mr. Whemple, then?
I'll die if I don't get away from him.
Now, Miss Grosvenor...
It's killing me.
Do you hear? Please, please!
Now, Helen, you must not do this again.
You're always so exhausted afterwards.
She's too weak to be removed,
except to a hospital.
I insist on keeping her here
under our direct observation.
But Dr. LeBarron, you haven't told us
what to do for her.
She's getting weaker every day.
You know that negligee
I bought in Paris?
Help me to put it on,
and bring me my toilet things.
I want some color.
I want to look well.
But you can't do that, my dear.
They'd never allow it. The nurse would be...
I know.
We'll get rid of her.
This is a plot, just between us.
I want to look the way I did.
Just a surprise, for Frank.
And I want you to bring him to me.
You understand?
In short, I have failed
to make a diagnosis.
Medical science is helpless in
a case like this.
Frank.
Go to her, and
don't be angry with me.
I couldn't resist her.
Oh, but Helen,
you shouldn't have done this.
They shouldn't have let you.
Just this once.
Perhaps the last time.
But you're going to get well.
Then I know I can
make you love me.
I know I can make you happy.
I do love you, Frank.
And I'm trying to prove it,
because I'd rather die
than live and lose you.
But you're going to live.
We're not going to lose each other.
So, my dear...
Don't scold me.
Just feminine vanity.
I wanted to look my best again.
So you know more than
I realized you knew.
What do you mean?
These impulses to go to him.
The pull is too strong
to withstand and live.
I'm so glad you understand.
Helen knows.
She knows the moment
she stops struggling,
he will give her back
her strength to come to him.
But I don't want to lose my own mind
and be someone else, someone I hate.
My dear, while you were growing worse,
we tried to find him and failed.
The next time the call comes,
go to him.
Muller, what can we do now?
We can do no more.
Ardeth has beaten me.
The next time he draws her to him,
we must follow her.
And then?
We will destroy him.
l've given her some bromide.
She's asleep now. I'll go to bed.
All right.
I'll wait here till Dr. Muller comes.
Good night.
Good night.
Where are we?
This is my bed, but this is not the temple
nor my father's palace.
Do not look, Anck-es-en-Amon.
Do not be afraid.
I was afraid.
When you were kneeling beside my bed,
a veil came over my eyes. Darkness.
Your last memory is of me
in the hour of your death
as I knelt by your bed, 3,700 years ago.
No man has ever suffered for woman
as you suffered for me.
And now that the gods
have forgiven us...
No, no, not yet.
Your soul is in
a mortal body,
renewed many times since we loved
in Thebes of old.
But that love is not
for us again until the great change.
I do not understand.
Look.
Look and wonder.
Figure of myself.
It is my coffin,
made by my father against my death.
What mummy has usurped my eternal
resting place?
It is thy dead shell.
I tried then to raise this body.
I could raise it now.
But it would be a mere thing
that moved at my will, without a soul.
It was not only this body that I loved.
It was thy soul.
I destroy this lifeless thing.
Thou shalt take its place
but for a few moments,
and then rise again,
even as I have risen.
Come.
Imhotep, this is the place of embalmment.
It is not lawful for me, a priestess of Isis,
to see or touch an unclean thing.
Come to the altar of Anubis,
the guide of the dead.
The time has come for the final prayers.
What have I to do with Anubis?
The ancient rites
must be performed over thy body.
Then I will read the great spell
with which Isis brought Osiris back
from the grave.
And thou shalt rise again.
No.
No, I'm alive!
I'm young! I won't die!
I loved you once, but now you belong
with the dead.
I am Anck-es-en-Amon,
but I...
I'm somebody else, too.
I want to live, even in
this strange new world.
For thy sake I was buried alive.
I ask of thee only a moment of agony.
Only so can we be united.
The bath of natron.
You shall not plunge
my body into that!
Let the deed be done.
Let me go!
Let me go!
Don't kill me!
I'm a priestess of Isis!
Save me from that mummy!
It's dead! Save me!
I no longer fear you.
Do with me what you will.
Frank!
She's gone to him.
They must be in the museum.
Now I know his horrible plan.
He's going to kill her
and make her a living mummy, like himself.
The gods will receive into
the underworld the spirit of Anck-es-en-Amon.
But not for long.
Osiris will release thy soul.
You shall rest from life,
like the setting sun
in the West.
But you shall dawn anew in the East
as the first rays of
Amon-Ra dispel the shadows.
Look! What's that?
Come on!
Frank! Frank!
Helen!
Helen!
Oh, Isis! Holy Maiden!
I was thy consecrated vestal.
I broke my vows. Save me now!
Teach me the ancient summons,
the holy spells I've forgotten.
I call upon thee as of old!
Helen.
Call her.
He has dragged her back to Ancient Egypt.
Call her!
Her love for you may bridge the centuries.
Helen. Helen!
Come back.
It's Frank.
Come back.