The Mummy (1932) 4K UHD Screenshots (Patreon)

Video

Aside from a few moments where the gradients fail to resolve smoothly, this another sensational Universal 4K entry for their monster classics. Beautifully rendered gray scale swerves between luscious shadows - the densest blacks - and vivid highlights, while the in-between looks equally grand. The original cinematography is not only preserved, it's bettered by this presentation. No one who saw The Mummy in 1932 saw it looking so brilliant.

Extensive preservation eliminates most faults on the print, leaving The Mummy pristine. With a full 4K scan, detail swells. Behind the well resolved grain structure, wherever the source material chooses sharpness over a romantic haze, texture reaches an extreme. Facial definition shows in every close-up. On Karloff's makeup, fine sand and rotting cotton appear at their fullest potential. Richness in the location photography fills the screen in wide shots. It's marvelous.

Audio

The Mummy opens with the same Swan Lake theme shared by Dracula, so ignoring the fidelity lapses on high and low ends, the DTS-HD mono effort is still impressive. The score is intact and relatively clean given the separation of time. Some lackluster peaks are hardly discouraging.

Static has been removed from moments of silence as to not keep it steady for the entire running time. Dialogue is typically spoke with a mild undercurrent of hissing, kept to a minimum and so light, most will not notice.

Skipped frames within the video are the biggest concern. A word is lost at 13:38 due to a missing frame, and another instance later sounds rushed. In the scheme of things, it's a minor intrusion, the concern lying solely with this mix in particular compared to quality evident elsewhere.