Thirty years have gone by since the supposed destruction of the mummy in "The Mummy's Hand", and after a lengthy flashback to at least a reel of the first film, we get the news that George Zucco's Andoheb has survived his being shot and falling down a huge flight of cement pyramid steps and has been keeping the slightly burnt mummy in hiding for further revenge. Peggy Moran's character, seen in the flashbacks, has passed away (from natural causes we are supposed to believe), and her widower (Dick Foran) has told the story of what happened all those years ago to his sister (Mary Gordon), son (John Hubbard) and fiancee (Elyse Knox). But at that very moment, Zucco passes the mummy torch onto the sexy Turhan Bey who brings along the mummy to nearby where Foran, Gordon and Hubbard now live. Taking a job as a caretaker of a nearby mansion, Bey sets out to complete his task of killing off the remaining desecraters of Kharis's tomb, and that includes Foran's old friend (Wallace Ford), still wise-cracking, who happens to pay a visit to his old pal. Bey makes the mistake of forgetting Zucco's warning of not being distracted by anything by becoming obsessed with making Knox his wife and forcing her, along with himself, to take a potion made of the tana leaves so they can live together forever and be immortal.O.K., so thirty years has gone by, but nothing in society has apparently changed, so if this is supposed to be in the future, you wouldn't know it. Had this simply been a completely different film with different characters, it could have been so much better, because the story is fine. But in continuing the story from the previous film is where the writers make their mistake because that increases the number of plot holes. Foran and Gordon, supposed to be brother and sister, seem nothing alike, and Lon Chaney Jr., taking over for Tom Tyler in the mummy bandages, does nothing but skulk around and attack his victims, no recognition even with his eyes that it is Chaney. The fact that major characters from the first film become victims of the mummy here was an interesting choice, but the conclusion, where villagers storm the mansion where Bey is residing, seems straight out of a "Frankenstein" movie. It's silly fun, once again instantly forgettable, and proof that too much of a good thing can make that good thing not so good afterall.

My hopes were not high for this barely one hour film after it spent a full 12 minutes recapping the events of "The Mummy's Hand" in excruciating detail with liberal use of clips from that film. However, it picks up rapidly after 20 minutes or so and becomes a very entertaining Universal Monsters film. Lon Chaney, Jr. is quite intimidating as the Mummy but not to the same extent as he was as the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster. Dick Foran and Wallace Ford are much better as Stephen Banning and Babe Hanson (formerly Jenson) respectively than in the previous film even though they both have far less screen time. However, John Hubbard and Elyse Knox don't make much impression as the leads. (Incidentally, Knox was the mother of "NCIS" star Mark Harmon and you can certainly see the family resemblance.) The strongest performers are George Zucco in his brief cameo as Andoheb - he actually appears more in the clips from the previous film than in this one - and the 20-year-old, baby faced Turhan Bey as Mehemet Bey.

Harold Young directed this sequel to "The Mummy's Hand", now starring Lon Chaney Jr. as Kharis the mummy, who is still alive and on his way to America with a young priest(played by Turhan Bey) who are pledged to kill off the survivors of the Banning expedition that brought Princess Ananka home to the Scripps museum. George Zucco also returns as Andoheb, who survived being shot in the earlier film, and sent them on their mission of revenge. Dick Foran and Wallace Ford reprise their roles as Banning and Babe. Strange and misconceived sequel picks up the story thirty years later(!) Why the long wait? No idea, no explanation is given. To see key characters killed by Kharis is surprising, but also bizarre. Largely ineffectual film has little credibility or atmosphere; mostly good for camp value.

Forget the plot, which is just an excuse to activate Egypt's favorite 1940's export.Kharis (Chaney) is all wrapped up like a tattered 3,000-year old package from heck. No antiseptic bandages here. No sir, those ribbons look like they've been gathering mold for at least that long. And catch that ugly deadpan mug—if Chaney's under all the plaster, I couldn't spot him. This is one scary mummy, even if he does move with all the dispatch of a turtle stumbling through molasses.But it's not just outstanding make-up, Universal's set decoration and art department shine too. Gloom hangs heavier over the land than smog over LA; plus, there's an eye-catching series of nightmare sets for the living dead to clump around in. And I really like the final jets of flame shooting in every direction that I don't think house insurance is going to cover. In my book, this little programmer delivers the horror goods in fine, unexpected fashion, a real treat for the eye for those of us who think Technicolor took the dreaming away from horror movies.Okay, not everything is original. Universal cannibalized their previous mummy movie for the story set-up, and also to get Dick Foran's name on the marquee instead of the very un-charismatic John Hubbard. But I really like Turhan Bey as the mumbo-jumbo high priest. Unlike Zucco, Atwill, and the rest of the aging sinister types, Bey looks like he could slide into a Valentino role any time. He's an inspired departure from the stereotype. All in all, this little programmer's a lot niftier than expected, a full 60-minutes of horror fun.(In passing— According to IMDb, it looks like Bey and the lovely Elyse Knox are still with us as of 2011. Good deal. Maybe it's the Tannus leaves.)