The Mummy (1959)

Hammer horror films have a charm that is distinctly their own. Even the worst of their films (that I've seen), have a quality that make them worth watching. Even if this isn't a great film, or even the greatest version of The Mummy, it is still compulsively watchable. Part of that could be due to the presence of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee who never get old. Part of it could be the lush use of widescreen and saturated Technicolor to a genre that was typically black and white. The story is familiar, and probably more inspirational to the recent Brendan Fraser version, than was the Universal film with Karloff. It's not a great film, especially while watching it, but it's one that lives on in my mind, and that's kind of fun.