Badmovies.org Forum

Information Exchange => What Was That Film? => Topic started by: akiratubo on January 05, 2008, 08:18:28 AM



Title: Old Western with Aztec mummy? (not one of "the" Aztec Mummy movies)
Post by: akiratubo on January 05, 2008, 08:18:28 AM
I saw this on the Western movie show that used to come on a local station on Saturdays.  For the longest time, I thought it was a Lone Ranger movie but I can't find any info on it.  I then thought it might be one of the Aztec Mummy movies but it doesn't appear to be that, either.  What's made it stick in my memory is that it was really a monster movie played as a straight out B-Western.  You'd expect the mummy monster to turn out to be a thief in a costume but, no, it really was a reanimated mummy.

I remember this movie quite well except for the title or the names of any of the characters.  :bluesad:

The movie was black and white, probably made no later than the 50s.  It was a Western, set in your typical 50s Western movie frontier town.  There was a masked crime fighter with a sidekick.  His mask was like the Lone Ranger's or Zorro's; it covered his nose and eyes.  I'm pretty sure his sidekick was an Indian; I remember him wearing "Indian" clothes, anyway.

A traveling showman came to town with a collection of curios he put on display.  One of these was an Aztec mummy.  Shortly after this man came to town, people would get robbed at night.  One person woke up during a robbery and saw the showman's mummy robbing his house.  I can remember a scene of the sheriff questioning the showman and verifying that the mummy was, in fact, a mummy and not some sort of costume.

The crime fighter and his sidekick kept a watch on the showman's place and saw the mummy leaving it that night.  It went into town to rob someone and they took it on, thinking it to be a man in a costume.  It put up such a fight that the hero decided he had no choice but to shoot.  When the bullets had no effect was when the hero and his sidekick found out it really was a mummy.  In a pretty cool touch, they realized they couldn't stop it and rode off on horse to confront the showman before the mummy could shamble back to his place.  (That's another thing that made this movie stick in my mind.  I don't think I've ever seen another movie where the heroes actually exploit a shambling monster's slowness to their advantage.)

I can't recall if the showman had reanimated the mummy himself.  I think he'd just stolen it from someone because he had to control it with some sort of talisman.  Of course, so we could have the rampage scene, the hero shot the talisman out of the showman's hands right when the mummy got back.  It rampaged, killed the showman, and almost killed our heroes, too.  One of them set it on fire and it kept right on rampaging for quite some time.  (It was very impressive to see such a lengthy, full-body burn in a movie that old.)  All of the showman's curios went up in flames.  The hero said something about how it was a shame that all that old stuff was lost because of greed and then THE END.

(There was also a saloon scene with a dancing girl, the crusty bartender, a fight, etc.  It was just filler.)

I would love more than just about anything to find out the title of this movie.


Title: Re: Old Western with Aztec mummy? (not one of "the" Aztec Mummy movies)
Post by: 316zombie on January 05, 2008, 03:38:35 PM
i just read about this in a new book,i'll see if i can find it.might take a bit,i've just finished 3 new reference books..hopefully someone else will get it sooner!


Title: Re: Old Western with Aztec mummy? (not one of "the" Aztec Mummy movies)
Post by: RCMerchant on January 05, 2008, 04:51:10 PM
i just read about this in a new book,i'll see if i can find it.might take a bit,i've just finished 3 new reference books..hopefully someone else will get it sooner!

I hope so! I spent almost an hour looking through SINISTER cinema's western selections...and the only partial match was RAIDERS of the WHISTLING SKULL...(1935).


Title: Re: Old Western with Aztec mummy? (not one of "the" Aztec Mummy movies)
Post by: Andrew on January 06, 2008, 08:26:42 AM
A full body burn stunt would be very (extremely, amazingly) out of place for the type of film and period you describe.  It is possible that you are crossing two different films or even serial/TV show episodes?

I'm not going to be much help, but this page might be worth looking through:
http://www.kgordonmurray.com/monster.html


Title: Re: Old Western with Aztec mummy? (not one of "the" Aztec Mummy movies)
Post by: 316zombie on January 06, 2008, 03:38:42 PM
rc,that's the one i was thinking of..still searching reference books...andrew,cool site!


Title: Re: Old Western with Aztec mummy? (not one of "the" Aztec Mummy movies)
Post by: akiratubo on January 07, 2008, 07:08:45 AM
Andrew, you do have a very valid point about the full burn.  I'm sure the mummy was set on fire but maybe it was just its arm or its back and I've made it more impressive in my mind.