Basil Glynn - The Mummy on Screen: Orientalism and Monstrosity in Horror Cinema

Many gifted scholars have shared their time and ideas with me while writing this book. Among them I would like to especially thank Eithne Quinn, Paul Grainge, Julian Stringer, Mark Jancovich and Judie Newman. I am indebted to the University of Nottingham for funding much of my research and also Middlesex University for being supportive while completing the manuscript. I am also very grateful to my Media Department colleagues, particularly Paul Kerr, Deborah Klika, Tom McGorrian and Paul Cobley, who have always been perfectly happy to talk about ancient corpses over sandwiches. The anonymous peer reviewers of this manuscript who gave their time and graciously offered advice and encouragement I thank too, for they remind me that even at a time when research and ideas are not always prioritized in many higher education institutions, countless scholars who review manuscripts for books and journals nevertheless steadfastly value them, even when they know they will remain nameless. I also want to express my gratitude to Madeleine Hamey-Thomas and Rebecca Barden for their help as editors and for their support throughout the period of writing this book, particularly in 2017 when I had to take a break from it after both my mother Kathleen and brother Vincent passed away and again in 2018 when my father, also called Vincent, had a stroke that left him with lasting brain injury. Sadly, none of them will ever get to read this book, which is now unreservedly dedicated to them.

I would also like to acknowledge the input of my brother Stephen, a fellow film fanatic, for his advice and for lending me a book or two, although inexplicably in spite of our conversations he still prefers pop music films to horror films. Clearly my brother Vincent, who lived for music, was a greater influence upon him than I.

Last, but by no means least, I would like to thank my wife Jeongmee (another wonderful scholar whose help with this book has been immeasurable) and my children, Austin and Mia, for sticking with me every step of the way despite my disquieting preoccupations with the Hill of the Seven Jackals, the Valley of the Kings, New England swamps and the bandaged residents of these parts. Im pretty sure theyre sick to death of Mummy movies (although theyve never actually confessed it), but they have nevertheless unwaveringly supported and encouraged and, yes, sometimes made fun of me, helping me to get through everything and finally finish the book. It exists through their efforts as much as mine.

And, of course, I cannot forget Imhotep, Kharis, Tera and the rest.

The director is provided in brackets for all films and programmes mentioned, followed by the country and year of release (d.u. is used when the director is unknown). In following this convention, I recognize it is far from ideal in regard to television in which the writers, producers or showrunners have often been in greater control of single episodes or series and that many different directors often contribute to different episodes. Occasionally, I have given a director as unknown when a director is provided on the IMDB. I have done this when I have been unable to corroborate this information from any other sources to which I have had access. This is not to say that IMDB is wrong in these instances, just that I have been unable to prove it is right.

For all films before 1930 I have additionally included information regarding who produced the films in parenthesis because many of the production companies mentioned no longer exist; their inclusion helps to better clarify the rapidity of Mummy film production across companies and countries in cinemas early years and helps distinguish between films which often had the same or similar title (there being two films called The Mummy in 1911, for example). I have been far more encyclopaedic in terms of the number of films discussed in Chapter 4 because the silent Mummy film has hitherto been something of a lost era of film production. Although, I have no doubt, much still waits to be uncovered, I have attempted to reconstruct the silent age of the Mummy as comprehensively as possible through searching a range of journals from the silent era. Sometimes the plot descriptions cited may appear a little old-fashioned because they are taken from written materials often over 100 years old.

Original language film titles are provided where possible. If a foreign language film has been released under an English title or its title has an existent English translation I have included it; otherwise I have provided only the original title. On a couple of occasions I have only been able to find an English language title rather than the original title.

I have capitalized the Mummy throughout, primarily to distinguish it as a character in literature and film, like the Monster from Frankenstein , and to differentiate it from its inanimate equivalent found in museums.

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