Notes: Hammer.
Starring Terence Morgan
Ronald Howard
Fred Clark
Annette DuBois: Jeanne Roland
Hashmi Bey: George Pastell
Jack Gwillim, John Paul, Dickie Owen

Produced and Directed: Michael Carreras
Associate Producer: Bill Hill
Screenplay: Henry Younger
Make-up: Roy Ashton.

Summary: "Egypt in the year 1900." Archaeologists Annette Dubois and John Gray await Annette's father, Professor DuBois, who has been killed and his hand severed. "The only [woman] my father would like would be mummified." His body is dumped, and Egyptian Hashmi forecasts doom. Their lack of vision will result in a curse of the tomb.

Crass bald American financial backer Alexander King, who invents Turkish Delight and calls people "baby" (in 1900?), will exploit the discovery of the tomb of Ra, the mummy, and the curse legend in a road show. Professor Giles resigns. A break-in results in a dead man and a missing list of the contents of the treasures of Ra.

Aboard ship, John acts like a mummy as a light joke in front of Annette. A washed-up Giles is attacked, but John knocks the assailant overboard. A Mr. Adam Beecham invites John and Annette to stay with him at Regents Park. Annette blabs the history: Ramses had twin sons, the intellectual Ra and the sensualist Be. The latter conspired against Ra and had him banished in the Sahara, where he became king of another tribe of nomads. He earned the sacred medallion with the words of life, which could revive the dead. Assassins from Be kill Ra and sever his hand, but leave the medallion. A cat statue oversees this. The medallion is lost now apparently.

The tomb is opened in preparation for the showings. John says, "I shall soon be as moribund as the mummy," in the context of a discussion of marriage. Daddy had given Annette a medallion, and it is stolen from John. Hashmi appeals to King to stop the exhibitionism, but King refuses. A press conference includes a slide show, dramatic narration about dust cloying in nostrils, playing up of the curse, and an opening of the tomb. But the mummy is gone.

King tells the police, "Of course I've got enemies; I'm in show business." When another character asks if he needs help: "Yeah if you want to wrap yourself up in some dirty bandages." John warns King of the legend about reviving the dead. King leaves for the night, gives a whore some money, and is killed by the mummy.

Giles is drunk and the mummy kills him too, despite gunshots. John and Hashmi talk and decide to work together, while Annette is sweet-talked by Adam. The mummy swipes Adam and comes up the stairs for Annette. Adam speaks to the mummy, but is not obeyed. The police arrive too late.

John and Hashim plot to be attacked, resulting in the netting of the mummy. But when Hashmi orates a curse upon himself, the mummy rips the ropes, crushes Hashmi's head underfoot, and leaves. We all wonder why the mummy attacked Adam.

Adam blabs to Annette about everlasting life being a curse. With her supposedly unwilling help in repeating phrases, he raises the mummy. Somehow, he and Annette "will be together" if the mummy kills her. Adam, it turns out, is Be, and must be killed by his brother Ra if he hopes to escape his grim view of the last three thousand years on earth. He kidnaps Annette and runs to the sewers, having his hand severed in a doorway. "Life without end is the only pain I cannot bear." He tells her, "Don't be afraid of death," and commands the mummy to "Kill her! Kill her!" When Adam/Be himself tries to, Ra drowns his brother. The mummy turns to go, and with a last look back, allows a cave-in to engulf him. The last vision is of his bandaged finger.

Commentary: The brandy-swilling in this film is astounding. Otherwise, it's interesting only that "Adam" is "Cain" and that even though behind this film is an awareness of various subtler themes (such as the real curse being eternal life, from Doyle's "The Ring of Thoth"), the film still fails to find a way to integrate them coherently or effectively.