Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
Encyclopedia
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb is a 1971 British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 film starring Andrew Keir
Andrew Keir
Andrew Keir was a Scottish actor, who rose to prominence featuring in a number of films from Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and particularly in the theatre, in a professional career that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s...

, Valerie Leon
Valerie Leon
Valerie Leon is an English actress who had roles in a number of high profile British film franchises, including the Carry On series.-Early life:...

, and James Villiers
James Villiers
James Michael Hyde Villiers was a British character actor and a familiar face on British television...

. This was director Seth Holt
Seth Holt
Seth Holt was a British film director, producer and editor.Originally a film editor, he worked on a number of Ealing comedies before directing a number of features for Hammer Studios...

's final film, and was adapted from Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...

's novel The Jewel of Seven Stars
The Jewel of Seven Stars
The Jewel of Seven Stars is a horror novel by Bram Stoker, first published in 1903. The story is about an archaeologist's plot to revive Queen Tera, an ancient Egyptian mummy.-Second edition:...

. The film was released as the support feature to Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde is a 1971 British film directed by Roy Ward Baker based on the short story Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The film was made by British studio Hammer Film Productions and was their second adaptation of the story after their 1960 film The...

.

Plot

The movie involves the evil legacy of an expedition led by Professor Fuchs (Keir) to find the cursed tomb of an evil Egyptian princess, whose body is found to be perfectly, unaturally preserved after two millenia. Fuchs becomes obsessed by Princess Tera's beauty and takes the body and sarcoughagus home to London, building a secret shrine in his basement. Not long after, his daughter Margeret (Leon), who bears an uncanny resemblance to the princess, starts to experience strange dreams. A sinister man, who only she seems to notice, watches her from the derelict house across the road. Margaret begins to wonder if she's going mad, and starts experiencing wild personality changes. Soon the evil will of Tera, reaching up through the house, begins to periodically take over Margaret's mind and body. The strange man is revealed as Corbeck (Villiers), one of the expedition members, who is working to restore to Tera to life and a new reign of terror, and with his help Margaret kills the other desecrators of Tera's tomb one by one. Corbeck, Margeret and her increasingly unhinged father start the ritual to waken the princess. Professor Fuchs finally sees sense and convinces her to stop the ritual; together they overpower and kill Corbeck. Tera awakes, and in the attempt to stop Tera, the Professor is killed. After a long struggle, Margaret stabs Tera in the heart and she dies. In the end, Magaret wakes up from unconsciousness and finds herself in the hospital. Her whole body is wrapped in bandages and she is trying to say something.

Production


Besides providing a rare leading role for Valerie Leon
Valerie Leon
Valerie Leon is an English actress who had roles in a number of high profile British film franchises, including the Carry On series.-Early life:...

, the film is particularly notable for its troubled production. Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...

 was cast in the film and completed one day's filming before leaving the production after his wife was diagnosed with emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...

. Cushing was replaced by Andrew Keir
Andrew Keir
Andrew Keir was a Scottish actor, who rose to prominence featuring in a number of films from Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and particularly in the theatre, in a professional career that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s...

. The R1
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...

 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 of the film released in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 by Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...

 contains still photographs of Cushing's day on the production. Director Seth Holt
Seth Holt
Seth Holt was a British film director, producer and editor.Originally a film editor, he worked on a number of Ealing comedies before directing a number of features for Hammer Studios...

 died of a heart attack five weeks into the six week shoot, collapsing into cast member Aubrey Morris's arms and dying on set. Michael Carreras
Michael Carreras
Michael Carreras was a British film producer and director. He was best known for his association with Hammer Studios, being the son of founder James Carreras, and taking an executive role in the company during its most successful years.As producer, he worked on The Curse of Frankenstein , Dracula ...

 directed the final week's filming.

According to the book Hammer, House of Horror: Behind the Screams by Howard Maxford, the budget for the film was £200,000.

The film was shot at Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios
"Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England, since film production begun in 1927.-Name:...

 in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

.

Cast

  • Andrew Keir
    Andrew Keir
    Andrew Keir was a Scottish actor, who rose to prominence featuring in a number of films from Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and particularly in the theatre, in a professional career that lasted from the 1940s to the 1990s...

     as Julian Fuchs
  • Valerie Leon
    Valerie Leon
    Valerie Leon is an English actress who had roles in a number of high profile British film franchises, including the Carry On series.-Early life:...

     as Margaret Fuchs/Queen Tera
  • James Villiers
    James Villiers
    James Michael Hyde Villiers was a British character actor and a familiar face on British television...

     as Corbeck
  • Hugh Burden
    Hugh Burden
    Hugh Burden was an English actor and playwright.He was the son of a colonial official and was educated at Beaumont College and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and RADA...

     as Geoffrey Dandridge
  • George Coulouris
    George Coulouris
    George Coulouris was a prominent English film and stage actor.-Early life:Coulouris was born in Manchester, England, the son of Abigail and Nicholas Coulouris, a merchant of Greek origin. He was brought up both in Manchester and nearby Urmston and was educated at Manchester Grammar School...

     as Berigan
  • Mark Edwards as Tod Browning
  • Rosalie Crutchley
    Rosalie Crutchley
    Rosalie Crutchley was an English actress. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music, Crutchley was best known for her television performances, but had a long and successful career in the theatre and in films, making her stage debut at least as early as 1932 and her screen debut in 1947...

     as Helen Dickerson
  • Aubrey Morris
    Aubrey Morris
    Aubrey Morris is a British actor perhaps best known for his appearances in the cult 1970s films A Clockwork Orange and The Wicker Man....

     as Doctor Putnam
  • David Markham
    David Markham
    David Markham was an English stage and film actor for over forty years.Markham was born Peter Basil Harrison in Wick, Worcestershire and died in Hartfield, East Sussex....

     as Doctor Burgess
  • Joan Young as Mrs. Caporal
  • James Cossins
    James Cossins
    James Cossins was an English character actor. Born in Beckenham, Kent, he became widely recognised as the abrupt, bewildered Mr. Walt in the Fawlty Towers episode "The Hotel Inspectors"...

    as Older Male Nurse

External links

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