The Mummy – 1959

A Hammer film production released by Universal Pictures
Copyright MCMLIX by Hammer Film Productions – All rights reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate
RCA Sound Recording
Produced at Bray Studios England
Eastmancolour processed by Technicolor 88 mins
Storyline
Egypt, 1895: An expedition led by archaeologist Stephen Banning unearths the last resting place of the ancient princess Ananka, but the old man is driven mad by something else hidden within the tomb. Three years later, a mysterious Egyptian, who has sworn vengeance on the members of the expedition for their act of desecration, arrives in rural England, bringing with him a large crate of “relics”. The crate is lost when it falls from a cart into a bog and sinks, but that night the Egyptian returns to the scene and, unrolling a papyrus, begins to intone the sacred words of the Scroll of Life…..
Watch the official trailer on YouTube
Crew
Function | Credited | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits |
Assistant Director | John Peverall | 28 | 1931 | 3 Oct 2009 | 78 | 21 |
Associate Producer | Anthony Nelson-Keys | 47 | 13 Nov 1911 | 19 Mar 1985 | 73 | 41 |
Camera Operator | Len Harris | 42 | 19 May 1916 | 21 Feb 1995 | 78 | 52 |
Continuity | Marjorie Lavelly | 37 | 12 Apr 1921 | 22 Sep 2006 | 85 | 8 |
Directed by | Terence Fisher | 54 | 23 Feb 1904 | 18 Jun 1980 | 76 | 31 |
Director of Photography | Jack Asher, BSc | 42 | 29 Mar 1916 | 1 Apr 1991 | 75 | 14 |
Editor | Alfred Cox | 1925 | 2005 | 80 | 21 | |
Hair Stylist | Henry Montsash | 53 | 17 Sep 1905 | 29 Sep 1974 | 69 | 16 |
Make-up Artist | Roy Ashton | 49 | 16 Apr 1909 | 10 Jan 1995 | 85 | 36 |
Music Composed by | Frank Reizenstein | 47 | 7 Jun 1911 | 15 Oct 1968 | 57 | 1 |
Musical Supervisor | John Hollingsworth | 42 | 20 Mar 1916 | 29 Dec 1963 | 47 | 36 |
Produced by | Michael Carreras | 31 | 21 Dec 1927 | 19 Apr 1994 | 66 | 82 |
Production Designer | Bernard Robinson | 46 | 28 Jul 1912 | 2 Mar 1970 | 57 | 46 |
Production Manager | Don Weeks | 54 | 15 Nov 1904 | 1 Mar 1988 | 83 | 30 |
Screenplay by | Jimmy Sangster | 31 | 2 Dec 1927 | 19 Aug 2011 | 83 | 65 |
Sound Editor | Roy Hyde | 38 | 15 Feb 1920 | 28 Jun 1985 | 65 | 30 |
Sound Recordist | Jock May | 54 | 1905 | 8 Jan 1991 | 86 | 30 |
Special Effects | Bill Warrington | 49 | 1910 | 11 Sep 1981 | 71 | 2 |
Supervising Editor | James Needs | 39 | 17 Oct 1919 | 2003 | 83 | 110 |
Technical Advisor | Andrew Low | 4 | ||||
Wardrobe Mistress | Molly Arbuthnot | 50 | 19 Dec 1908 | 31 Oct 2001 | 92 | 48 |
Cast
Character | Actor | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Appearances | |
Attendant | Stanley Meadows | 27 | 14 Jul 1931 | 90 | 1 | ||
Bill | Frank Sieman | 50 | 7 Aug 1908 | 9 Mar 1992 | 83 | 1 | |
Coroner | John Stuart | 60 | 18 Jul 1898 | 17 Oct 1979 | 81 | 7 | |
Dr Reilly | Willoughby Gray | 42 | 5 Nov 1916 | 13 Feb 1993 | 76 | 1 | |
Head Porter | Frank Singuineau | 45 | 8 Apr 1913 | 11 Sep 1992 | 79 | 1 | |
Inspector Mulrooney | Eddie Byrne | 47 | 31 Jan 1911 | 21 Aug 1981 | 70 | 2 | |
Irish Customer | Gerald Lawson | 61 | 30 Apr 1897 | 6 Dec 1973 | 76 | 2 | |
Isobel/Ananka | Yvonne Furneaux | 32 | 11 May 1926 | 95 | 1 | ||
John Banning | Peter Cushing | 45 | 26 May 1913 | 11 Aug 1994 | 81 | 24 | |
Joseph Whemple | Raymond Huntley | 54 | 23 Apr 1904 | 15 Jun 1990 | 86 | 3 | |
Mehemet Bey | George Pastell | 35 | 13 Mar 1923 | 4 Apr 1976 | 53 | 5 | |
Mike | Denis Shaw | 37 | 7 Apr 1921 | 28 Feb 1971 | 49 | 4 | |
Pat | Harold Goodwin | 41 | 22 Oct 1917 | 3 Jun 2004 | 86 | 5 | |
Poacher | Michael Ripper | 45 | 27 Jan 1913 | 28 Jun 2000 | 87 | 34 | |
Police Constable | George Woodbridge | 51 | 16 Feb 1907 | 31 Mar 1973 | 66 | 9 | |
Police Sergeant | David Browning | 36 | 10 Aug 1922 | 99 | 1 | ||
Stephen Banning | Felix Aylmer | 69 | 21 Feb 1889 | 2 Sep 1979 | 90 | 2 | |
The Mummy/Kharis | Christopher Lee | 36 | 27 May 1922 | 7 Jun 2015 | 93 | 22 |
Production
FILMING BEGAN | 23 February 1959 | |
UK RELEASE | 25 September 1959 | |
STUDIO | Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England | |
Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England | Princess Ananka's Funeral |
Footnotes
“The Mummy” had originally been made in 1932 from a screenplay by John L. Balderston, with Boris Karloff in the title role. Following the success of “Dracula” (1958), Universal were more than happy to hand over the script of their old classic to Hammer for similar treatment.
The scene in which Peter Cushing plunges a spear right through the body of the mummy was not in Jimmy Sangster’s original screenplay. It was added at Cushing’s suggestion after he had seen the artwork for the film’s poster, which showed a beam of light shining through a hole in the creature’s stomach.
Actor Eddie Byrne was no stranger to horror films. In 1958, he was in Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman’s “Jack the Ripper” and later made two movies for Tom Blakely’s Planet Films – “Devils of Darkness” (1964) and “Island of Terror” (1966, with Peter Cushing and directed by Terence Fisher).
Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection