- Accidental Innuendo: Imhotep describes how the guard walked in on him doing "something unholy".
- Adaptation Displacement: Remake Displacement in this case. More people seem to be more aware of the film's 1999 remake and 2017 remake than of the 1932 original.
- Alternate Character Interpretation:
- What exactly is the motivation behind Imhotep's rather bizarre determination to kill Helen (whose body is already inhabited by Anck-Su-Namun) just so he can immediately resurrect her as an undead mummy? Does he fear that Helen's personality could otherwise reassert itself; does he have a twisted desire to make Anck-Su-Namun "his" in such a way that she'll have no choice but to be his bride forever; has he undergone a genuine Sanity Slippage?
- Is Helen the reincarnation of Anck-Su-Namun, or do they have separate selves and souls, with Anck-Su-Namun's spirit possessing her descendant? Different lines of dialogue within the movie itself suggest different readings. If one takes the view that they are genuinely different people, then Anck-Su-Namun's final appeal to Isis constitutes a Heroic Sacrifice in which she gives up her second chance at life to return Helen to life and to her loved ones; whereas if they are understood as one and the same, it is merely Helen/Anck-Su-Namun choosing to live as Helen rather than revert to her former incarnation.
- Common Knowledge: Many assume that the character of Imhotep is an example of Historical Villain Upgrade; in this case, of the famous polymath
. But any documentary about the film will tell you that they're not the same person; the name was taken from the historical figure, meaning the character is merely named after (or at most partly inspired by) the architect. Just in case you missed the fact that this Imhotep lived in a completely different time period from and served a completely different pharaoh than that Imhotep. - Draco in Leather Pants. Imhotep in a nutshell. While, yes, he is supposed to be sympathetic to a degree; many viewers outright excuse him murdering innocent people, his plan to turn Anck-Su-Namun into a mummy against her protests solely because he believes the pain he's suffered entitles him to control her, and killing Helen's dog for no reason, solely because of his tragedy.
- Fair for Its Day: While the movie uses alot of common tropes to "other" and Orientalize Egypt, the fact it still goes out of its way to show Egyptians as normal people, with a dignified culture worth respecting was fairly progressive. The fact that the villain is defeated by the invoked power of Isis - a female pagan deity - and not the Christian God, is also rather extraordinary in a time when Hollywood was dominated by Catholic Moral Guardian, and the Hay's Code was about to be put in effect.
- Fandom Rivalry: Many fans of the original Mummy are tired that their film is constantly overshadowed by the 1999 remake and believe it deserves more respect since the Mummy franchise would not exist had it not been for the 1932 original.
- Fan-Preferred Cut Content: A lengthy sequence showing Helen's other past lives and reincarnations throughout history was filmed - such as her at the Roman Colosseum, during medieval England, part of a Viking raid and in France during the Ancien Régime. It would have been interesting to see, and Zita Johann herself was disappointed it was cut.
- Fans Prefer the New Her: Imhotep dresses Helen in Anck-Su-Namun's clothes and wig as part of his plan to pull a Kill and Replace, and she ultimately begs Isis for help to stop it. It however does not stop Zita Johann from looking absolutely stunning in the costume.
- Inferred Holocaust: It's not actually said whether Helen's soul was called back to reclaim control of her body or Anck-Su-Namun is now taken over, or whether it'll be the two souls fighting over control. We can just assume it was Helen's. Alternatively, if it was a case of reincarnation, she might just be one person with two lifetimes worth of memories.
- Magnificent Bastard: Imhotep, the ancient Mummy, loved Princess Anck-Su-Namum in defiance of all tradition. When he sought to breach the barriers between life and death to recover her soul, he was damned and condemned until rising again. Taking on the elegant demeanor of pleasant Ardeth Bay, he manipulates the British into excavating tombs so he might find a way to restore his love, even if he must sacrifice a living woman to do so.
- "Seinfeld" Is Unfunny: The movie, along with the rest of Universal Horror, was deeply influential on the formation of horror as a movie genre. While still an enjoyable movie, many find that the horror aspects don’t pack as much of a punch over eight decades later as they did when the movie first came out.
- Signature Scene:
- Whemple's foolish assistant reading the translation of The Scroll of Thoth while the Mummy slowly wakes up.
- The recurring faceshot of Imhotep looking directly into the camera with glowing eyes.
- The whole Flashback, where they show Imhotep's tragic backstory. Particularly when he's Buried Alive; which is one of the most horrifying things to come out of the pre-code era.
- Strangled by the Red String: Helen and Frank fall in Love at First Sight, and after one meeting, their love is said to be strong enough to help her fight off Imhotep's influence.
- Values Dissonance:
- With all the controversy in later years about Britain looting the world's heritage, it can be pretty off-putting how the movie expects us to sympathize with Frank's frustrations at Egypt not letting him have the artifacts he just dug up. Your mileage may vary on this though as Sir Joseph Whemple admonishes Frank for this, says they aren't looters, and is sympathetic towards the Egyptian viewpoint.
- To a modern viewpoint unfamiliar with 1930s social etiquette, Frank's wooing of Helen comes across as pushy and not taking no for an answer. However, in the context of the time, a respectable young woman would be expected to put up several token 'protests' when a man made advances on her, even if she was interested. Helen makes it very clear in her tone and body language that she is into Frank, even if it sounds like she's rebuffing him with her words.
- The Nubian servant is treated with such indifference, and the film itself treats him like a Living Prop. The sympathetic British characters are also outright dismissive towards any of the brown characters.
- Values Resonance: On the other hand, the film is remarkably ahead of its time in featuring its supposed Damsel in Distress actually saving her own self, with the men showing up after she's already taken care of everything. The fact she also saves herself by invoking Isis - a pagan, female fertility God - is also quite a progressive thing to add in the Christian dominated Hollywood.
- Visual Effects of Awesome:
- Boris Karloff's mummy is probably the most awesome version of the mummy to date. It's very easy to believe that you're actually seeing a walking, talking corpse. More specifically, it's all thanks to the wizardry of legendary special effects artist Jack Pierce; who went through a painstaking process to transform Boris; giving his visible skin a detailed makeup seat that makes his gnarled skin alive in sand particles, and have an occasional tiny spot were you can still see the remnants of the indentations were he was wrapped up in papyrus. Even though you only get to see it for a split-second, his actual mummy outfit when he's still in his wrappings is also fantastic. On a non Jack Pierce note; the subtle but still luminous effect they applied to Imhotep's eyes and Death Glare were very impressive for the time.
- The camera work in Imhotep's defeat can really help trick a viewer into believing that the statue of Isis fired something to burn the scroll, and the deterioration effect of Imhotep until he crumbles to the floor, and relying on the cuts to the reactions of David Manner (Frank) and Edward Van Sloan (Muller) to sell the effects.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/TheMummy1932
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