Die Augen der Mumie Ma (1918)
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch

Film Review

With a string of successful comedy shorts under his belt, fledgling film director Ernst Lubitsch was keen to take on a more ambitious project and had his opportunity to do just that when UFA producer Paul Davidson agreed to back a lavish drama that required location filming in Egypt.  That film, Die Augen der Mumie Ma (originally released in the US as The Eyes of the Mummy) was the one that put Lubitsch on the map, an outright commercial success which marked the start of his fruitful collaboration with the Polish actress Pola Negri.  After this, Lubitsch and Negri worked together on several films, including the historical epic Madame Du Barry (1919), the film that brought them international renown and their ticket to Hollywood.  Other Lubitsch-Negri collaborations included: Sumurun (1920) and Die Bergkatze (1921).

By virtue of its title, Die Augen der Mumie Ma is often casually lumped in with German expressionist horror films of the 1920s, films such as Paul Wegener's Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920) and Murnau's Nosferatu (1922).  Whilst the film certainly has some horrific elements - notably the climactic confrontation between Ma and her Svengali-like tormenter Radu - it would be a mistake to classify it purely as a horror film.  With its fast-moving narrative, it aligns more with the episodic adventure films of the time - for example, Louis Feuillade's Tih-Minh (1918) and Fritz Lang's Die Spinnen (1919) - and has hardly any of the tropes we now associate with expressionistic horror or, for that matter, Lubitsch.

This important milestone in Ernst Lubitsch's career - the director's first full-length dramatic work - is almost completely overlooked today and easily derided for its obvious shortcomings.  The plot and characters appear to have been plucked haphazardly from a penny dreadful, but Pola Negri is as stunning as ever and Emil Jannings is delightfully over the top as the blacked-up villain with eyes resembling ping-pong balls.  Die Augen der Mumie Ma may look inconsequential compared with the masterpieces that Lubitsch would routinely serve up in later years but this over-seasoned feast of cheap escapist fun is worth at least one viewing.

Film Synopsis

During his sojourn in Egypt, a young painter named Wendland visits the ancient tomb of Queen Ma, a place that is reputed for driving anyone who enters it insane.   A local named Radu takes him into the tomb and shows him a coffin with eyes that suddenly come to life.  Having fought off his guide, Wendland opens the coffin and is surprised to find that it is the entrance to a hidden chamber in which a young girl, Ma, is being held captive.  The painter rescues Ma and takes her back to Europe, where he educates her, makes her his wife and allows her to begin a career as an exotic dancer.  As Ma slips from his grasp, Radu swears to have his revenge...