MovieChat Forums > The Mummy (1959) Discussion > Importance of lighting

Importance of lighting

posted 14 years ago by hipdadiddy
10 replies | jump to latest

If you have any doubt about how important lighting is in establishing the proper mood for a movie, compare Boris Karloff's "The Mummy" to this one! In fairness, the black and white Karloff version was directed by one of the great cinematographers of all time, Karl Freund, and the practice at the time of Lee's "Mummy" was to light the sets as brightly as possible (otherwise it was thought the colors would turn murky), but still…wow! Everything in this film is lit up like the inside of a supermarket--even the interior of the Princess's tomb! As a consequence, the sequence of the mummy lurching out of his sarcophagus is about as scary as watching a checker at Safeway coming out of the break room. If you'd like to see the difference a master cinematographer can make in creating an atmosphere of horror, watch the trailer on the Karloff "Mummy" page.

[–] MrBook_ 13 years ago

Hah, that Safeway breakroom analogy was wonderfully specific. Usually I think Hammer films are able to work up some tremendous atmosphere even with the sitcom lighting, but I agree that it hurts this one. I think in others they tend to mix it up a bit more, but yeah, this one is very flatly lit almost from beginning to end. And of course it really is impossible to not compare this Mummy with the Karl Freund one, in my estimation one of the best-shot movies of all time.

Get on up.

[–] ContinentalOp 12 years ago

This film is not in the expressionist style and thus is lit more realistically. I like German expressionism and derivatives, but things do not have to look unrealistically dark, asymmetric or shadowing to be scary. If the Mummy was true, our world wouldn't suddenly change to look all expressionist, it'll look the same as it always does but with a great big Mummy bursting through meshes!

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Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.

[–] dla_one 8 years ago

But... it's not lit realistically at all. That's the whole point: it's lit up like a supermarket, inside a tomb no-less!

[–] ChristianeK 10 years ago

I actually prefer beauty and atmosphere of these splendid fairy tale colors of Hammer.

[–] dla_one 9 years ago

Exactly what i was thinking when i was watching this. Why is the inside of the tomb so brightly lit up? It should at least be a bit dim, it's a tomb! Between that and the fact that theres just a handy door that opens right up to the tomb, there really was just no spooky atmosphere.

[–] filmklassik 8 years ago

Watching it now and just noticed this!

The interior of Ananka's tomb ought to have been pitch black when they first walked in. What the hell was the light source??

That being said, this is still a lush, great looking movie and one of my very favorite Hammers.

[–] jsk32870 8 years ago

^ Totally agree. Watched this last night and immediately thought the same thing...there was no light source that I can see, yet somehow the interior of the tomb was well lit....before they went in. So you can't even say 'well it was their lanterns.' No, they hadn't gone in yet.

[–] katinkavioleta 9 years ago

I like Universal´s film, but I prefer lush, beautiful color of Hammer. I think they created wonderful, otherwordly mood.

[–] McQualude (4231) 3 years ago

Not only brightly lit but the light sources are coming from all different directions, foreground, background, the bottom, the top.

[–] millsey72 (10898) 2 years ago

Yes, the tomb was very bright inside. Ancient Egypt though was very technological advanced in their time so it makes sense that they possibly could have discovered electricity and the light bulb to be able to light up the entire tomb. The discovery was lost when their empire fell and it wasn't till Thomas Edison that it became mainstream worldwide with light bulbs