Eyes of the Mummy (1918)

Ernst Lubitsch had been making short films in Germany for several years but Eyes of the Mummy (Die Augen der Mumie Ma) was the feature film that established him as a director to take note of. It was released in October 1918 so it was actually made during the First World War. It’s also significant in being his first movie starring Pola Negri. It gave him a taste of commercial success. Two months later he had his first major international hit, Carmen, again starring Pola Negri. Lubitsch had arrived.

It’s not that easy to classify Eyes of the Mummy. The title leads one to suspect a horror movie but the horror movie genre did not exist in 1918. At the time it would presumably have been regarded as an exotic melodrama. That’s how I’d describe it.

The next few years would see Lubitsch in wildly and intoxicatingly experimental mode. He accepted the existence of no rules. The only limits were imposed by the film-maker’s imagination and Lubitsch’s imagination at that time was boundless.

There is no actual mummy in Eyes of the Mummy but there is an ancient Egyptian tomb and there is a curse, and strange and inexplicable events have been linked to the tomb.

Two Europeans are in Egypt, separately, exploring the ruins and soaking up the exotic atmosphere. One is Prince Hohenfels (Max Laurence). The other is a painter, Albert Wendland (Harry Liedtke).

Wendland makes an amazing discovery in the tomb. There is a girl imprisoned there, and she’s very much alive. Her name is Ma (Pola Negri). That’s also the name of the Egyptian queen buried in the tomb. The girl had been kidnapped and enslaved by a scoundrel named Radu (Emil Jannings). Wendland rescues the girl and takes her back to Germany with him.

Meanwhile Prince Hohenfels has found the disconsolate Radu wandering in the desert. The Prince takes Radu back to Europe with him. This is likely to lead to trouble. Radu intends to reclaim his slave girl.

Wendland has installed Ma in his household, presumably as his mistress. They’re crazy about each other. Ma is a wild child, knowing nothing whatever of civilisation or the social rules, but she’s charming and adorable and very sexy.

Ma becomes quite a social success and gains acclaim as a dancer. A painting of her by Wendland makes her even more of a celebrity.

Unfortunately her growing celebrity also alerts Radu to the fact there she is here, in the same city. He has not given up his obsession with her. In his own perverse way he probably does truly love her.

Emil Jannings had a huge reputation as an actor in this period, something I’ve never quite understood. In this role he does certainly convey the idea of a man with a dangerous obsession.

This is however Pola Negri’s film. She was one of the great screen sex goddesses but interesting she generally did not play vamps or bad girls. Her specialty was playing wild crazy fiery passionate women. Sometimes they were a bit naughty, but in an endearing way. They were women who could drive a man crazy, but he’d enjoy it. Negri just had her own unique screen persona and it made her one of the most fascinating stars of the silent era.

The big danger here is to treat this as a horror movie, and then be disappointed that it doesn’t work as a horror movie. Lubitsch was not trying to make a horror movie. He was trying to make a romantic melodrama, and when you judge it in that light it does work. There are no overt supernatural elements but there are very subtle suggestions that influences slightly outside the range of normal experience could be at work. Ma has the same name as the long-dead Egyptian queen. Could Queen Ma be partly responsible for the hypnotic effect that the modern Ma exercises over men? Is there some vague occult connection between Ma and Radu? Perhaps.

Lubitsch was developing astonishingly quickly as a director. Within a year he would be making much more accomplished and much more ambitious movies. Eyes of the Mummy still has considerable interest as marking the beginnings of Lubitsch’s incredibly rich early German period. And Pola Negri is always worth watching. Recommended.

I’ve reviewed quite a few of these early Lubitsch films - The Oyster Princess (1919), The Doll (Die Puppe, 1919), Sumurun (1920) and the magnificent The Wildcat (1921).

The Spanish Dancer (1923)

The Spanish Dancer is a 1923 romantic melodrama made by Famous Players-Lassky (about to become Paramount Pictures). It’s a starring vehicle for Pola Negri. It was based on a hugely successful play.

The Spanish Dancer was one of two adaptations of the play made in Hollywood in 1923, the other being Rosita starring Mary Pickford.

The setting is Spain during the first half of the 17th century. Cardinal Richelieu is trying to negotiate a treaty with King Philip IV of Spain. There is strong opposition to this at the Spanish court and plots are being hatched to sabotage the treaty. Philip’s French-born queen will be manipulated in order to achieve this, either by having a courtier (the treacherous Don Salluste played by Adolphe Menjou) seduce the queen or by convincing the queen that the king is sharing another woman’s bed.

While this is happening a band of gypsies is in the neighbourhood. This band includes the beautiful dancer and fortune-teller Maritana (Pola Negri).

Maritana encounters Don Cesar de Bazan (Antonio Moreno), a rich nobleman who has run up debts he cannot pay. He is about to lose everything. He cannot however lose his pride or his good humour.

Maritana reads his fortune in the cards. The predictions come true, but in very unexpected ways.

It’s clear that Don Cesar’s fortune has been dissipated on wine, women and song and especially gambling. He is irresponsible and proud, which can be a dangerous combination. He’s also handsome, charming and dashing with an irrepressible lust for life and pleasure. He’s Maritana’s kind of man.

Maritana is fiery and passionate. She’s like a stick of dynamite in the shape of a woman. She’s Don Cesar’s kind of gal.

Unfortunately both Don Cesar and Maritana will get caught up, much against their will, in those court intrigues. They will both be used as pawns in a game they know nothing about.

Herbert Brenon was not the most inspired of directors but he was competent and in this film he has the advantage of having James Wong Howe as his cinematographer. Any movie photographed by Howe is going to look good, and the sumptuous sets help as well. This was a lavish production.

June Mathis (who had written hits for Rudolph Valentino) worked on the script which was originally intended as a star vehicle for Valentino. Valentino dropped out and the movie was retooled as a star vehicle for Pola Negri which meant that the focus would now be on Maritana rather than Don Cesar.

Pola Negri was so dynamic that she needed a leading man with enough charisma not to be totally overshadowed and Antonio Moreno fits the bill perfectly. Their chemistry is superb.

Pola Negri had been a huge star in Germany (making a series of extraordinary movies with Ernst Lubitsch). She then set out to conquer Hollywood, which she did, becoming one of the biggest stars of the 20s. She had her own unique style which this movie showcases nicely.

Surprisingly the movie at least makes an effort to capture the formality of the Spanish court and it’s quite successful in portraying the pride and sense of honour of the Spanish nobility.

This is pretty much straight romance, without the touches of swashbuckling adventure one might have expected. But that’s fine. It’s a great love story and it’s engrossing.

The source materials were in bad shape. The restoration had to be made by piecing together bits of the fur surviving very incomplete prints. The movie is now basically complete but there’s a lot of print damage in places. Given how many silent films have been lost we’re lucky this one has survived at all.

A great romance movie and a chance to see Pola Negri at the top of her game. Highly recommended. And it’s now available on Blu-Ray.