"The clear stand-out - and, my love for Freund notwithstanding, the reason that The Mummy still works so beautifully - is Karloff, whose bandaged-up mummy is a memorable image, but whose stiff, menacing Ardath Bey is a magnificent performance of a tremendously compelling villain. There's none of the plummy charm that he frequently brought to his subsequent villains; Bey is not without wit (which he uses to cutting effect against the blithely imperialistic British characters), but he is without humor, and Karloff's performance is an unimpeachable triumph of presence and restraint." - Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy