Dan Curtis' Alternative to Leviathan

[Joeytrom]

Dan Curtis once said in an interview that he originally wanted to do a story about a mummy but decided against it.  He said all a mummy does is drag his leg and was not interesting.  The Leviathan story was the mummy's replacement.

[Raineypark]

And all a werewolf does is sprout hair and howl!!

Why such a narrow take on a part of his own genre?

He could have brought in a dashing young Egyptologist....or a beautiful young woman descended from a Pharaoh's line.  Think of it!...jewels, sarcophagi, hieroglyphs, ancient papyrus scrolls.....

Oh,wait.  That sort of stuff would have cost money.

I think I just answered my own question.

[onyx_treasure]

And all a werewolf does is sprout hair and howl!!

Why such a narrow take on a part of his own genre?

He could have brought in a dashing young Egyptologist....or a beautiful young woman descended from a Pharaoh's line.  Think of it!...jewels, sarcophagi, hieroglyphs, ancient papyrus scrolls.....

Oh,wait.  That sort of stuff would have cost money.

I think I just answered my own question.

     I think they could of done this on the cheap.  Gaudy jewelry was sold at every dime store in the country.  My grandmother had quite a bit of it.  The one thing in short supply was DC's imagination.

[MsCriseyde]

He said all a mummy does is drag his leg and was not interesting.

Hmm. Well, he certainly seemed willing to employ the leg dragging bit elsewhere.

We got to see it with Garth Blackwood, but I guess the chain made all the difference. 

We got to see it again from David Selby in NODS.

So it would seem to me that Dan Curtis does not have an aversion to dragging of the leg. 

[ProfStokes]

I think Curtis must have been describing the mummy Kharis.  Boris Karloff's Imhotep from the original Mummy film was highly crafty, insidious, and powerful, and he did not limp about.  If the writers had been able to develop a mummy character along this line, I think it would have made quite a formidable adversary.  A mummy storyline might also have led to a 1920's flashback, the time when many excavations occured.  Too bad it didn't happen...

ProfStokes 

[onyx_treasure]

I think Curtis must have been describing the mummy Kharis.  Boris Karloff's Imhotep from the original Mummy film was highly crafty, insidious, and powerful, and he did not limp about.  If the writers had been able to develop a mummy character along this line, I think it would have made quite a formidable adversary.  A mummy storyline might also have led to a 1920's flashback, the time when many excavations occured.  Too bad it didn't happen...

ProfStokes

     This would have been so good, Prof Stokes.  If you write fan fic about this, I would love to read it.  The 1920's would have been a perfect venue for Quentin.

[dom]

Great topic/thread. A storyline such as this would have also have afforded an oportunity to reintroduce Laura and Quentin into the storyline, seeing how they both spent time in Egypt.

[Raineypark]

Boris Karloff's Imhotep from the original Mummy film was highly crafty, insidious, and powerful, and he did not limp about.  If the writers had been able to develop a mummy character along this line, I think it would have made quite a formidable adversary.  A mummy storyline might also have led to a 1920's flashback, the time when many excavations occured.  ProfStokes

This is EXACTLY the example I was thinking of ProfStokes!!  I adore all those horror flicks from the early '30's and this one in particular.  And a 1920's flashback would have been visually stunning (the French Art Deco style of design was inspired by those very excavations) and very entertaining.  I think DC tossed aside a wonderful opportunity.

[Debra]

I think Curtis must have been describing the mummy Kharis.  Boris Karloff's Imhotep from the original Mummy film was highly crafty, insidious, and powerful, and he did not limp about.  If the writers had been able to develop a mummy character along this line, I think it would have made quite a formidable adversary.  A mummy storyline might also have led to a 1920's flashback, the time when many excavations occured.  Too bad it didn't happen...

ProfStokes

I would have loved to see this!  This is how the mummy should have been portrayed.  Where is ever written that a mummy is suppose to drag it's leg anyway?  Seems to be something they thought up as time went on.

Deb

[jennifer]

I think Curtis must have been describing the mummy Kharis.  Boris Karloff's Imhotep from the original Mummy film was highly crafty, insidious, and powerful, and he did not limp about.  If the writers had been able to develop a mummy character along this line, I think it would have made quite a formidable adversary.  A mummy storyline might also have led to a 1920's flashback, the time when many excavations occured.  Too bad it didn't happen...

ProfStokes

well put Prof Stokes and i think may have made a better
story than that that was in the box!???

jennifer

[Gothick]

References to the 1932 Karloff film The Mummy remind me that I recently screened the commercial Universal VHS of the film released several years ago.  Although I had heard that they had not struck a new print for the home video release, it was a definite improvement over my old video taped off the television.

I was struck while watching it at a certain resonance between how Boris Karloff moved and his facial expressions in this, and Jonathan Frid's performance as Barnabas on Dark Shadows.  Particularly in the original 1967 storyline and in the episodes on view now where Barnabas is evil again.  I'm not at all saying that Jonathan Frid was influenced by Karloff or modeling his performance upon Karloff's work; just that there's a certain resonance between the two.  I think the strength of Frid's work is very much in his non verbal moments, such as the cunning look he gets on his face when Julia rushes into his arms upon his return from 1795 to the Present.  He played those moments so beautifully.  If a remake of the original Mummy tale had been proposed in the early 70s, he would have been a brilliant choice to play Im-Ho-Tep/Ardath Bey, though, of course, he probably would have turned the role down.

Gothick

[sheenasma]

Count Chokula would have held my interest more than this Levithan crud

n

[ClaudeNorth]

I often wondered why DC and Company never went with a mummy storyline.  I can very easily imagine the plot dealing with Stokes doing research into ancient Egypt and inadvertently releasing a mummy from its tomb.

As for a flashback to the 1920s, that would have been TOO dreamy!  KLS and Nancy Barrett would have been great fun as flappers, and the Briscoe-licious one would have made a perfectly dashing archaeologist.

Of course, what would have been even more fun is if they decided to do a flashback to ancient Egypt!  Can you imagine Selby, Briscoe, et al, running around in Egyptian kilts, sandals, and eyeliner?  I suspect that straight faces would be few and far between on that set...

Regards,

John

[Julianka7]

onyx_treasure wrote:

This would have been so good, Prof Stokes.  If you write fan fic about this, I would love to read it.  The 1920's would have been a perfect venue for Quentin.

Hear, Hear! I agree! I think it would make an excellant read. Please do let us know if you
write a fan fic on this.
Julianka

[Gerard]

One of the Dark Shadows comic books did a mummy story; maybe the idea came from the rejected Dan Curtis plot.  I've got that comic book around here somewhere, but don't ask me where.

Anyway, when I was a kid, those mummy-movies (meaning the 1940's ones, where Kaopektate or whatever would barely amble along, and yet somehow he always caught Evelyn Ankers despite the fact that - even in high heels - she ran like Jesse Owens [well, OK, she did fall down alot]) always scared the jeepers outta me.  I'd have nightmares of that thing coming after me, and just before it would catch me (and, no, I wasn't wearing high-heels in the dream), I would wake up.

Gerard