Movie-A-Day #47: The Mummy (1932).

Egypt is still in the news today, just as it was back on Feb. 16, 1923, but for very different reasons. It was 88 years ago today that British archeologist Howard Carter first opened the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamum, launching a fantastic wave of Egypt mania in pop culture. In fact, good ol’ King Tut is still the only pharaoh most people can identify today, precisely because of Carter’s discovery. It also sparked a wave of mummy movies, the best of which was the first of Universal’s franchise, “The Mummy,” starring Boris Karloff and directed by Karl Freund. There have been a lot of mummies and mummy hunters over the years, including Lon Chaney Jr., Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Brendan Fraser. But Karloff is still the best.