THE EYES OF THE MUMMY (1918) B/W "silent" 55m dir: Ernst Lubitsch

w/Pola Negri, Harry Liedtke, Emil Jannings, Max Laurence

Terrific "silent" horror film directed by Ernst Lubitsch in Germany, before his 1921 emigration to Hollywood, where he had a long and successful career, which included classics such as THE MERRY WIDOW and NINOTCHKA. In this film, an artist rescues a young woman who's being held prisoner in an Egyptian tomb by a mummy; the mummy then follows her to London. Lubitsch uses his constantly moving camera to express the horror. Jannings, star of such later German classics as THE BLUE ANGEL, is wonderfully creepy as the mummy.

From Herman G. Weinberg's book about the director, The Lubitsch Touch: A Critical Study: "This was Pola Negri's first feature film with Lubitsch as director. Also, the first feature which the celebrated trio, Lubitsch-Negri-Jannings, did together. Finally, it was the first Lubitsch feature film to be shown in America, though, curiously, without his credit as director on the screen. Negri, who was to follow Lubitsch to America, was the important 'name' on this one in the U.S."