Lugosi and Karloff are forever linked, even when they’re not working together. To launch The Mummy, which is being franchised to this day, Universal had Dracula co-writer John L. Balderston rework many of the same story beats from Dracula. Only here, they have Karloff, who doesn’t coast on hammy charm but applies a compelling amount of menace by his mere presence. Instead of wrapping him in bandages, Karloff has a more interesting makeup design that makes him look like dried fruit, and frees him up to give a commanding performance. The 1999 version – the 2nd best Mummy film, which we will get to – is so full of action and effects it’s surprising to see this is the same story. Of course Hammer has a version too, and it’s easily 3rd best because most Mummy films jettison any rich cultural detail for mud and bandages.
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