Thirty years after Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and Babe Jenson/Hanson (Wallace Ford) found the tomb of Ananka, the cult sends a new priest to the United States, with the mummy Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr.), to kill Hanson, Banning, and his family.
The time line of the four film Kharis series (The Mummy’s Hand, The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy’s Ghost, and The Mummy’s Curse) is odd. Since this one takes place in 1942 (WWII is mentioned), and it is about thirty years since the previous picture, that places The Mummy’s Hand in 1910. But The Mummy’s Hand looked like it took place 1940, which would make this one in 1970. Hmmmm.
The Mummy’s Tomb is The Mummy’s Hand set in the U.S. (since that makes for a cheaper setting than Egyptian sand), which is a horrible idea for two reasons: they’ve already done it, and a mummy slowly dragging itself through the streets of New England is funny, not scary or exciting. Once again, the cultists do their tana leaf brewing and Kharis (a much broader mummy with Chaney wasted under the bandages) kills. The priest, like his predecessor, falls for a girl he’s barely seen and it all ends in another burning scene. The next two films are nearly exact copies of this one.
To fill out its short running time, a substantial portion of The Mummy’s Hand is shown as Banning tells what happened long ago. I suppose this made sense at the time. It’s not like audiences in 1942 had access to tapes or DVDs of the previous flick, so a reminder wouldn’t hurt. Now, it’s annoying.
Banning’s doctor-son is supposed to be the one heroically fighting off the Mummy and his fiancée is the girl to be rescued, but I barely remember either of them. All of the new characters are bland and avoid being forgettable by never being noticed in the first place.
The only surprise in the film involves Steve Banning and Babe Hanson, the leads in the previous film and now old men. I’m not referring to the switch in Babe’s name from Jenson. Sorry, you’ll have to watch it to see what happens.
If you want to see a Mummy kill some folks, and tie up some loose ends, this will do.
Oh, and there is no tomb.