Insert (27" x 41") ;
Fine- Folded; Artwork by Joseph Smith
Universal , 1959

Legendary Hammer horror star Christopher Lee, known for his roles as Frankenstein's monster and Dracula, takes on the iconic character of Kharis, originally created by Boris Karloff, in this poster for the British Technicolor version released in 1959. This particular example is folded and unrestored, showing pinholes, five light horizontal folds, and wear along the borders with small areas of surface paper loss. Most of the paper loss occurs at the top of the left border, which has been touched up with blue ink and in the bottom border. Despite these imperfections, the colors remain vibrant, and the poster would be a perfect restoration candidate.

In 1895, a group of British archaeologists uncover and open the tomb of the Egyptian Princess Ananka, triggering a series of ominous events in "The Mummy," a British Technicolor horror film directed by Terence Fisher and featuring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in the lead roles. Although the title echoes Universal's 1932 film, "The Mummy," this film's plot and characters are primarily based on two 1940s Universal films, "The Mummy's Hand" and "The Mummy's Tomb," with the climax directly taken from "The Mummy's Ghost." Filming took place at Bray Studios in Berkshire. Initially, the scenes depicting Kharis's tongue being cut-out and his shotgun demise were more graphic, but they were toned down to meet British censorship requirements. Peter Cushing revealed that he proposed the scene where he drives a spear through the mummy, as he was inspired by the pre-release poster, which depicts the mummy with a shaft of light piercing through it.