Development , which served as the basis for what became
The Mummy. Inspired by the opening of
Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 and the alleged "
curse of the pharaohs", producer
Carl Laemmle Jr. commissioned story editor
Richard Schayer to find a novel to form a basis for an Egyptian-themed horror film, just as the novels
Dracula and
Frankenstein inspired their 1931 films
Dracula and
Frankenstein. Schayer found none, although the plot bears a strong resemblance to a short story by
Arthur Conan Doyle entitled "
The Ring of Thoth". Schayer and writer
Nina Wilcox Putnam learned about
Alessandro Cagliostro and wrote a nine-page treatment entitled
Cagliostro. The story, set in San Francisco, was about a 4,000-year-old magician who survives by injecting
nitrates. Pleased with the Cagliostro concept, Laemmle hired
John L. Balderston to write the script. Balderston had contributed to
Dracula and
Frankenstein, and had covered the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb for the
New York World when he was a journalist so he was more than familiar with the well publicised tomb unearthing. Balderston moved the story to Egypt, renaming the film to
The Mummy and its title character
Imhotep, after the historical architect. He also changed the story from one of revenge upon all the women who resembled the main character's ex-lover to one where the main character is determined to revive his old love by killing and mummifying her reincarnated self before resurrecting her with the spell of the Scroll of Thoth. Balderston invented the Scroll of Thoth, which gave an aura of authenticity to the story.
Thoth was the wisest of the Egyptian gods who, when
Osiris died, helped
Isis bring her love back from the dead. Thoth is believed to have authored
The Book of the Dead, which may have been the inspiration for Balderston's Scroll of Thoth. Another likely source of inspiration is the fictional
Book of Thoth that appeared in several ancient Egyptian stories. in a climactic scene from the movie.
Filming Karl Freund, the cinematographer on
Dracula, was hired to direct, making this his first film in the United States as a director. Freund cast
Zita Johann as 'Anck-es-en-Amon', named after the only wife of Pharaoh Tutankhamun
Ankhesenamun, whose body was missing from the pharaoh's tomb. Filming began in September 1932 and was scheduled for three weeks, with a budget of $196,000. Karloff's first day was spent shooting the Mummy's awakening from his
sarcophagus. Make-up artist
Jack Pierce had studied photos of
Seti I's mummy to design Imhotep. Pierce began transforming Karloff at 11 a.m., applying
cotton,
collodion and
spirit gum to his face;
clay to his hair; and wrapping him in
linen bandages treated with acid and burnt in an oven, finishing the job at 7 p.m. Karloff finished his scenes at 2 a.m., and another two hours were spent removing the make-up. Karloff found the removal of gum from his face painful, and overall found the day "the most trying ordeal I [had] ever endured." Although the images of Karloff wrapped in bandages are the most iconic taken from the film, Karloff appears on screen in this make-up only for the opening vignette; the rest of the film sees him wearing less elaborate make-up. A lengthy and detailed flashback sequence was longer than now exists. This sequence showed the various forms Anck-es-en-Amon was reincarnated in over the centuries:
Henry Victor is credited in the film as "Saxon Warrior", despite his performance having been deleted. Stills exist of those sequences, but the footage (save for Karloff's appearance and the sacrilegious events leading up to his mummification in ancient Egypt) is lost.
Music The piece of classical music heard during the opening credits, taken from the
Tchaikovsky ballet
Swan Lake, was previously also used (in the same arrangement) for the opening credits of Universal's
Dracula (1931) and
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932); it would be re-used as the title music of the same studio's
Secret of the Blue Room (1933). ==Historical accuracy==