DbcultAccessing Vault...
6.3/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.3/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Magic Mummy remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you love weird 1930s animation that feels like a fever dream, you should absolutely watch this today. Anyone who needs a logical plot or Disney-level polish will probably hate it within thirty seconds. 🎦
First, we need to talk about the other Tom and Jerry. No, not the famous cat and mouse duo.
These are two weirdly drawn human guys from the 1930s who looks like they are made of cooked spaghetti. They do not have bones, and they do not seem to have minds of their own either.
In this one, they are cops driving around and listening to jazz on their police radio. They hear about a stolen mummy and immediately stumble upon the thief carrying a coffin into a graveyard.
The whole thing feels like it was written in about twenty minutes. But that is exactly why it is so much fun to watch.
They follow the creepy guy through a secret door behind a tombstone. It turns out he runs an underground theater in the crypts.
And who is in the audience? Skeletons. Just rows and rows of grinning skeletons waiting for the show to start. 💀
The villain brings the mummy to life with some magic gestures, and surprise, she is a pretty lady who immediately starts singing opera. It is so incredibly random that you just have to laugh.
I love how the animation completely ignores physics. At one point, Tom's body just stretches like a rubber band when he is trying to hide behind a pillar.
It reminds me of those old avant-garde short films like Return to Reason, where the visuals matter way more than making any actual sense. Except this one has more singing dead people.
The chase scene at the end is pure chaos. Our cop heroes grab the mummy and run, and the skeletons start throwing their own bones at them like boomerangs.
One skeleton literally plays his own ribcage like a xylophone. Yes, it is a huge cliché for old cartoons, but it still made me smile.
The sound design is super scratchy. You can hear the heavy hiss of the old optical audio track under the music, which actually makes the graveyard scenes feel way creepier.
Is the ending satisfying? Not really.
It just sort of stops once they get away, almost like the animators ran out of paper or just got tired. But honestly, it is seven minutes of pure pre-code weirdness that you will not regret watching.
If you have ten minutes to spare, go find this online. It is a strange little time capsule from an era when cartoons did not have to explain themselves to anyone.
IMDb —
1920
Community
Log in to comment.
