Sherlock Holmes - E17: The Case of the Laughing Mummy
30min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (1954–1955)
Sherlock Holmes helps one of Dr. Watson's old friends by explaining the source of an odd noise in the man's home, but in doing so Holmes uncovers a more serious mystery.
Stars: Ronald Howard, Howard Marion-Crawford, Archie Duncan
30min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (1954–1955)
Sherlock Holmes helps one of Dr. Watson's old friends by explaining the source of an odd noise in the man's home, but in doing so Holmes uncovers a more serious mystery.
Stars: Ronald Howard, Howard Marion-Crawford, Archie Duncan
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:30I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch!
00:55Sir, can I carry a bag?
00:56No, no, no, thank you.
00:58Sorry.
01:01So sorry.
01:03Excuse me.
01:05Watson!
01:07Watson!
01:08Sorry.
01:10Watson, hurry up, come on, the train's going.
01:13Here, take that, put it here.
01:15Excuse me, excuse me now.
01:19Was it close call, Holmes?
01:21Yes, it certainly was.
01:23If you hadn't lingered to pass the time of day with that bomb, eh,
01:26we'd have had ample time.
01:30How did you know that I...
01:32Your elbow, it's wet.
01:34Well, you've obviously been leaning on a bar somewhere.
01:36And if I know you, it wasn't a bar man.
01:39Wasn't she pretty?
01:40Yes, she was a lovely young lady, as a matter of fact, came from Lancashire.
01:43Hasn't been in London very long.
01:44Blinker Watson.
01:48Sardines, doggone!
01:51Oh, I say, what a small world it is.
01:54Oh, good old Blinker.
01:56Best mile of the school ever had.
01:58Why, so many.
01:59You're putting it on a bit here and there, aren't you?
02:01Oh, particularly there.
02:03Oh, well, you know.
02:04Say, Holmes, do you know sardines?
02:06Oh, how do you do, sardines?
02:08Did you say Holmes?
02:11Not Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
02:13Oh, I see you've been reading about him in the papers, Watson.
02:16Oh, can't read anything else these days except about that last case of yours, Mr. Holmes.
02:20Yes, well, that presented a bit of a problem at first,
02:23but we managed to nail it before the finishing line, didn't we, Holmes?
02:26Oh, we did, oh, Blinker.
02:30You know, I wouldn't be at all surprised if you were going fishing.
02:34Yes, we're going to Witchenham, no?
02:35Why, of course.
02:37I'm living at our old family place, Forthingham.
02:39That's near Witchenham.
02:41Oh, I say.
02:44Something wrong, old man?
02:45Oh, no, no, no, nothing really.
02:48I don't want to bother Mr. Holmes with my troubles.
02:50Hmm, what sort of trouble, Mr. Taunton?
02:53Well, yes, it's my mummy.
02:56Oh, old lady Taunton.
02:58No, no, no, no, my Egyptian mummy.
03:00Has your father married again?
03:02Oh, no, no, no, don't be silly, Blinker.
03:04One of those Egyptian fellows who were mummified thousands of years ago.
03:07That sort of mummy.
03:09Oh, you have that sort of a mummy?
03:13Yes, yes, my uncle Joseph sent it to me from Egypt.
03:17He's an archaeologist, you know.
03:19Well, it seems an odd thing to have sent you.
03:21Last year he sent me a crate of sand.
03:23Sand?
03:25Yes, from the Sahara.
03:26The desert, you know.
03:28Just sand?
03:30Yes, that's all, just sand.
03:32Arrived one morning like the mummy case.
03:34Mummy case?
03:36Yes, a chap called Amonetep.
03:38Now...
03:39Amonetep.
03:40Priest of the 14th Dynasty or something.
03:42Anyway, that's what Professor Van Tolkens said.
03:44Professor Von Tolkens?
03:46Yes, he's a colleague of my uncle's.
03:48Lives quite nearby.
03:50He couldn't fathom what was wrong with the mummy either.
03:52Precisely what is wrong with your mummy, Mr. Johnson?
03:56It laughs.
03:57I beg your pardon?
03:59It laughs.
04:00Laughs?
04:01Quite.
04:02How does it laugh?
04:04Well, now, we go something like this.
04:08No, not really like that.
04:10It's much eerier than that.
04:11More like this.
04:13See, when does it laugh?
04:15Oh, practically any time.
04:17Well, have you seen it laugh?
04:20Me?
04:21Oh, good heavens, no.
04:23Why don't you give it away?
04:25I can't.
04:26Nobody wants it.
04:28I say, bingo.
04:30Oh, no, no, I'm awfully sorry.
04:32I...
04:33Oh, no, we...
04:34No, no, we couldn't.
04:35Well, look, why don't you burn it or chuck it in the river or something?
04:38Oh, well, now, I know this sounds silly,
04:40but there's an inscription on it.
04:42Something like,
04:44who destroys my sleep,
04:46destroys himself.
04:48Professor Van Tolken's translated it for me.
04:50You don't believe all that rubbish, do you?
04:52I mean, Egyptian capers and all that?
04:55Well, no, I don't actually believe the curse, Blinker,
04:58but I've got to do something.
05:00I'm engaged to Rowena Featherstone.
05:02No?
05:03No.
05:04Oh, she's a lovely girl.
05:06No.
05:07Oh, she's a lovely girl.
05:08She's got an aunt, Regiro Batlax.
05:11Well, she keeps after Rowena to break off the engagement.
05:14There's a chap who keeps an Egyptian mummy who laughs.
05:17Well, he can't be very reliable.
05:19Yeah, well, I understand that.
05:22Oh, I say.
05:24Would you mind come over to my place and see if you can stop him laughing?
05:27Oh, look, old boy, we were going fishing, you know, and...
05:30Oh, this might prove interesting, Watson.
05:33A mummy that laughs.
05:36A mummy that laughs.
05:42Uh, this is, uh...
05:44I'm on a tip.
05:46Well, he doesn't look as if he had much to laugh about.
05:48I wouldn't think so, would you?
05:50Wait till you hear him, Blinker.
05:51Frightening. Positively frightening.
05:53Hmm, 14th dynasty, I see.
05:56Yes, an exceptionally fine sarcophagus.
05:59I must say the funerary carvings of the 14th dynasty
06:02were the most beautiful ever known.
06:05Ah, yes.
06:06I haven't hurt him.
06:07He was a priest warrior.
06:09And here's the curse.
06:11Yes.
06:12Who destroys my sleep, destroys himself.
06:15Makes you think, what?
06:16Oh!
06:18This thing's full of splinters.
06:19I'm always picking myself on it.
06:21Hmm, when did the mummy start laughing, Reggie?
06:24As soon as you received it six months ago.
06:26No, no, no, rather not.
06:27First he was very well behaved.
06:29Quiet as a lamb.
06:30Then he started it about a month ago.
06:32I see.
06:34I take it these are the other Egyptian trophies your uncle sent you.
06:38Yes, rather.
06:39I stick them all in this room here.
06:40I call it my Egyptian room.
06:42You know, I wouldn't like Uncle Joseph to come back
06:44and think I didn't appreciate the gifts he sent me.
06:46Really touchy about the things they dig up,
06:48these archaeological fellows.
06:50Yes, yes, quite naturally.
06:52Has your uncle been in England recently?
06:55Oh, no, no.
06:56Not since he's been galloping off east as a young man.
06:58Must be at least 40 years, I think.
07:00Hmm, then you've never seen him.
07:02Oh, I say, that's the Sahara Sand I was telling you about.
07:06Oh, yes, yes.
07:10Does your uncle never write to you?
07:12No, no, never.
07:13Just sends back the things he digs up.
07:16Have you got a photo of him by any chance?
07:19Yes, yes, this one.
07:23It was taken when he was up at Oxford.
07:26I think he must have changed by now, you know, 40 years.
07:29Ravages of time and all that.
07:31Oh, I'm sorry, Reggie.
07:32I didn't know you had visitors.
07:34Oh, no, no.
07:35No, don't go, Louisa.
07:36I want you to meet my guests.
07:37This is Binko, Dr. Watson and Mr. Holmes.
07:40Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
07:42This is my fiancée, Miss Featherstone.
07:44Mr. Sherlock Holmes?
07:46The detective?
07:47Yes.
07:48Yes, he's come to look into this mummy business for us.
07:50Have you found anything, Mr. Holmes?
07:52Why does it laugh?
07:53Well, perhaps he tickled himself to death.
07:58I keep pleading with Reggie to get rid of it.
08:00Destroy it.
08:01Anything.
08:02But he's afraid of the curse.
08:04Well, I'm the one the curse is going to work on.
08:06And you know what they are.
08:08Really, Reggie, this is the 19th century.
08:11And Aunt Agatha wants to know when we're going to eat.
08:14She's famished.
08:15Women's always famished.
08:17Please, Reggie.
08:18She is my aunt.
08:20Well, I suppose I shall have to cook dinner myself.
08:22Cook left last night.
08:23Fourth of the month.
08:25Say, Binko, you cook.
08:28Well, I...
08:30Reggie, you didn't invite Dr. Watson here to cook.
08:33I'll cook.
08:34Well, maybe I'd better do it myself after all.
08:37We'll both cook.
08:38Come on.
08:39How many of us are there?
08:40Five?
08:41No, no, no.
08:42Six.
08:43I've asked Professor Von Tolkins to dine.
08:44I say, if you'd like a glass of sherry or a brandy or a soda or something,
08:47you'll find it all in the cupboard over there.
08:51Charming girl.
08:52I say, Holmes, let's finish up this matter in short order, eh?
08:55I hear the fish round about here absolutely snapping.
08:58Hmm.
08:59I wonder...
09:01You wonder what?
09:02You find something, Holmes?
09:03No, I wonder if Miss Featheringston can cook.
09:18A doctor, young man, you say?
09:20A veterinary, no doubt.
09:22Madam, I'm a graduate of the Royal College of Physicians.
09:25I specialize in human beings.
09:28And you detect, young man, I understand.
09:31Yes, madam.
09:32I detect.
09:33Work with the police?
09:35Well, on occasion.
09:37No wonder the crime rate's going up.
09:41Rowena, do we or do we not eat?
09:45In and out, Miss Arnie.
09:47We're bringing the food in.
09:50Reggie told me you've recently come back from Egypt, Professor.
09:53Yes, Mr. Holmes, just a few months ago.
09:56I have retired from active participation in Egyptology.
10:00I see.
10:01I understand that you met Reggie's uncle while you were out there.
10:04Yes, Professor Taunton and I excavated for a long time together
10:10in the Valley of the Lower Nile.
10:12Is Professor Taunton still active?
10:14Yes, Joseph is engaged in important excavation at the present time.
10:19You must be very glad to see all your old friends and relations again,
10:22Professor, after all these years.
10:24I've been gone so long, Doctor, I no longer have friends.
10:29And I'm afraid even my family wouldn't recognize me.
10:33Well, here we are at last.
10:35Better late than never, I always say.
10:37Oh, please do help yourselves, everybody.
10:39Informality's the form.
10:41This is local trout.
10:42We used it in our recipe we found in a cookery book in the kitchen.
10:45Didn't we, Reggie?
10:46Yes, at least I think it was a cookery book.
10:48I read something about mixing nitrogen with hydrogen or something like that at the end of it.
10:52Good Lord.
10:53Well, this is splendid.
10:55I haven't had a decent well-cooked fish like this in years.
11:12Rubber.
11:14Sheer, unchewable rubber.
11:18Aye.
11:20I think it's very edible.
11:23What do you think, Holmes?
11:25Not quite.
11:27Who knows?
11:28A sauce might have improved it somehow.
11:31It's quite delicious, Miss Featheringstone.
11:34I believe you're a customer of mine.
11:37You wouldn't think it's quite delicious, Miss Featheringstone.
11:40I believe you're accustomed to eating beetles and locusts...
11:44which I am told are considered delicacies in your...
11:59Reggie, take the other end, would you?
12:01Carefully, please.
12:03Carefully.
12:04Yeah.
12:07This time, we heard it ourselves.
12:09Yes, Watson.
12:10This time, we heard it ourselves.
12:22And now, we return to the case of the laughing mummy.
12:28Of all the silly things I've been indeedled into by you,
12:31this is the silliest.
12:33What do you expect to find up here?
12:36Something I discovered earlier this evening, Blinker.
12:38Do not address me by that ridiculous name.
12:43All right, now.
12:45But if I kill myself, I shall hold you personally responsible.
12:48Good.
12:49Now, what do you think?
12:50I'll be damned.
12:51I'll be damned.
12:52I'll be damned.
12:53I'll be damned.
12:54I'll be damned.
12:55I'll be damned.
12:56I'll be damned.
12:57I'll be damned.
12:58I'll be damned.
12:59I'll be damned.
13:00I'll be damned.
13:01I'll be damned.
13:02Good.
13:03We managed it somehow.
13:04I had my doubts on several occasions.
13:06We'll soon know now.
13:08Know what?
13:09Lest I'm mistaken, this is our laughing mummy.
13:12But this is only a weathervane, Holmes.
13:15Ah, yes.
13:16But one that laughs.
13:20Good heavens.
13:21It is laughing.
13:23It would appear to be so, wouldn't it?
13:25Especially with a mummy in the house.
13:27When the wind is in a certain direction,
13:29the weathervane acts as a whistle
13:31and the resultant sound is funnelled down
13:33into the Egyptian room below.
13:35But that's marvellous, Holmes.
13:37How did you stumble onto it?
13:38Well, in dealing with the occult, Watson,
13:40it's at best to remember the natural phenomena come first.
13:44Here, give me a hand with this, would you?
13:56Be careful you come down, Holmes.
13:58Yes.
13:59Just be careful.
14:05Here, Watson.
14:06Would you hang on to this, please?
14:10Watson, are you taking it?
14:21Watson.
14:24Watson!
14:27Watson!
14:30Do you think they know what they're doing, Reggie,
14:32dashing out of the house like this?
14:34Maybe not, Blinko.
14:35Well, Mr Holmes seems very capable.
14:37Oh, yes, yes.
14:38He's the reliable type.
14:40Doesn't say much, but when he does, it's to the point.
14:45Like me.
14:47Tell me, Professor,
14:48is this the first mummy you've ever heard of that laughs?
14:51The very first, Miss Featheringstone,
14:53and I'm quite sure that...
14:56Dr Watson, what's happened?
14:59I...
15:00slid off the roof
15:02and landed in the rhododendron.
15:04Not my rhododendron, Splinko.
15:06I've entered them in the local flower show.
15:08You may now withdraw your entry.
15:12Reggie, how long has this weathervane been on the chimney?
15:15Oh, uh, about a month.
15:17I see, and it was about a month ago
15:19that the mummies started laughing.
15:21Um, yes, yes, that's right, Mr Holmes.
15:23And?
15:24Hmm, it will now stop laughing.
15:27It was caused by the wind striking the weathervane,
15:29which then blew down the chimney
15:31and caused a sound which resembled a laugh.
15:34Well, well, well.
15:35Good heavens above.
15:37Mr Holmes, how terribly clever of you.
15:39You found it out all by yourself.
15:43I, too, was on the roof, Miss Featheringstone.
15:46Oh, I know.
15:47I think you're both terribly clever.
15:50My compliments, Mr Holmes.
15:52The simplicity of the explanation escaped us all.
15:55Although I knew, of course, there was an explanation.
15:58Well, now we can all go and finish dinner.
16:00We've got something else coming, I think.
16:01Um, lamb, isn't it, Rowena?
16:02I think so.
16:03Meat of some kind.
16:04Good.
16:05Oh, Reggie.
16:06Uh, yes, Mr Holmes?
16:07Who stuck this on the chimney?
16:09Oh, I did.
16:10It was lying about the place,
16:11so I stuck it up there to keep it out of the way.
16:12Oh, I see.
16:13Uh, thank you.
16:16You know, I believe I'll miss him laughing.
16:19Inhuman, somehow.
16:20Almost chubby.
16:22Chubby mummy.
16:29Ah, well.
16:30That's another mystery we've solved, eh, Holmes?
16:33Yes, Watson.
16:35In solving it, we've been confronted by a far deeper mystery.
16:40Eh?
16:41What do you mean?
16:42You may observe the sarcophagus is of the 14th dynasty,
16:46but the mummy itself is of a much later period.
16:50Well, well, perhaps they had an old box lying about when the Jap died.
16:55Yes, possibly.
16:56Possibly.
16:57But it would have to be lying about for a very long time.
17:14Morning, everybody.
17:15Isn't it a lovely morning?
17:16Simply gorgeous.
17:18Good morning, Miss Featheringston.
17:19Yes, it is indeed a lovely...
17:21Yes.
17:22Yes.
17:26You look very refreshing, Miss Featheringston.
17:28Very refreshing.
17:29And I am.
17:30No mummy laughing any longer, thanks to you, Mr. Holmes.
17:33Well, well, well, I say, what early birds we all are.
17:36Morning, everybody.
17:37Morning.
17:38Morning.
17:39God's in this heaven and all's right with the world,
17:41and all that sort of thing.
17:42You know what?
17:43There's no need in invoking the name of the deity.
17:46I wasn't.
17:47I was quoting a bit of poetry or something.
17:49Shakespeare, I think it is.
17:50Tennyson, darling.
17:51Oh, is it?
17:52Oh, yes.
17:53Actually, Miss Featheringston, I think, if I'm not mistaken,
17:56it's a quotation from Robert Browning.
18:00Ben Ezra.
18:03Pippa Passes, Watson.
18:05Oh, yes, of course.
18:06Pippa Passes.
18:07I knew it was something like that.
18:08Good morning.
18:10Oh, good morning, Professor.
18:12Have a cup of tea or a baked egg or kipper or something here, sir?
18:15No, thank you.
18:16I just wanted to return this book.
18:18Oh, I say, it's awfully decent of you.
18:20Oh, Professor von Tarkinus.
18:22Yes, Mr. Holmes?
18:24Reggie has a 14th Dynasty vase in the Egyptian room,
18:27which rather puzzles me.
18:28I wonder if I could impose upon you to clarify a point for me.
18:32It would be my pleasure, Mr. Holmes.
18:34Should we see it now?
18:36If it wouldn't be too much trouble, Professor.
18:38Not at all.
18:43Yes, the composition of the pottery struck me as being rather later than the 14th Dynasty, Professor.
18:49This is the vase I referred to.
18:52Considerably later, Mr. Holmes.
18:55The 18th Dynasty, in fact.
18:57I rather thought Reggie was mistaken.
19:00Yes, he was also mistaken about the mummy.
19:03The mummy?
19:04I'm afraid I don't understand.
19:06Don't you?
19:07I believe it was you who told Reggie that Amun-Otep was of the 14th Dynasty.
19:11It was, Mr. Holmes.
19:13But, of course, this mummy, like the vase, is of a considerably later period.
19:18Really?
19:20How much later would you estimate, Mr. Holmes?
19:23Well, I'd say 4,000 years later.
19:284,000 years later?
19:36How did you determine that, Mr. Holmes?
19:39Well, the sarcophagus is obviously authentic.
19:43The burial wrappings of the mummy itself are of a comparatively modern Egyptian weave.
19:50Expertly aged, I admit.
19:53I'd hope the discrepancy wouldn't be noticed.
19:57If it hadn't been for the coincidence of the weather vane,
20:00I should never have bothered to look at the mummy so closely.
20:04What do you propose to do, Mr. Holmes?
20:07I'm afraid, Professor, I have no alternative.
20:10Holmes, what are you talking about?
20:14Professor von Tolkien's, as I regret to say, Watson, involved with murder.
20:19Murder?
20:20Well, who was murdered?
20:22Joseph Taunton, Reggie's Uncle Joseph.
20:26But how do you know? Where's the body?
20:29You are gazing at the mummified remains.
20:33Oh, no. No, no, really.
20:37You're right, Mr. Holmes.
20:40This is Joseph Taunton.
20:44And if I killed him...
20:46What do you mean, if you killed him?
20:48I don't know.
20:52That sounds strange, doesn't it?
20:57Joseph Taunton and I were friends.
21:01We devoted our lives to excavating the glories of Egypt.
21:06And last year, we discovered the tomb of Amenhotep.
21:10An untouched tomb, Mr. Holmes.
21:14Over 4,000 years.
21:17Joseph and I, we are the first human beings to set foot in it since the day it was sealed.
21:23Can you imagine what that meant to us?
21:25Yes, I can understand that.
21:27Joseph was beside himself.
21:30He wanted to open the mummy case immediately.
21:33But it was wrong, Mr. Holmes.
21:35The case had to be opened carefully, delicately.
21:38We quarreled.
21:40I tried to restrain Joseph physically, but he broke loose from me.
21:44He ran to the case and opened it, and then...
21:47And then, Professor?
21:49And then he staggered and dropped dead.
21:53As he opened the sarcophagus?
21:55Yes.
21:57There were no witnesses to what had happened, Mr. Holmes.
22:02But in our struggle, Joseph had suffered bruises.
22:07I knew what the police would believe.
22:10And so you removed the mummy of Amenhotep and substituted the body of Joseph Taunton instead?
22:17It was the only way I could get the body out of the tomb.
22:21Mr. Holmes, I didn't mean to kill Joseph.
22:25It was his heart. He always had a weak heart.
22:28You say he staggered, Professor.
22:30What did he do as he staggered?
22:33He grasped his throat as if he were choking.
22:37Watson, would you oblige me by removing the cover of the sarcophagus?
22:42Yes, of course.
22:51Ouch! A splinter.
22:53Yes, Watson, ouch. As Reggie said. And as undoubtedly Uncle Joseph said, too.
22:58Professor, would you care to take a closer look at what Reggie called a splinter?
23:08What? It's a...
23:10A hollow needle that would pierce the skin of anyone who touched it.
23:14But I don't understand.
23:16The curse of Amenhotep and a hollow needle that contained the venom of an asp.
23:22The same snake poison that killed Cleopatra.
23:26And that killed your friend, Joseph Taunton.
23:29The most marked symptom of asp poisoning is suffocation.
23:34The victim instinctively clutches his throat.
23:37But then it wasn't our fight.
23:40No. And traces of the poison may still be found in the body, even after mummification.
23:46I say, Holmes, you don't think there's any of that poison left in the needle, do you?
23:50Because, well, if so...
23:52The next few minutes will determine that, Watson.
23:55What?
23:57Well, how's old Amenhotep doing?
23:59I bet he's feeling down in the mouth now he's stopped laughing.
24:02You'll be glad to learn, Reggie, that the Professor has offered to take the mummy off your hands.
24:06Oh, I say, that's awfully decent of you, Professor.
24:09What are you going to do with him?
24:11He's also considered giving it a fitting burial.
24:13Oh, of course. Now, why didn't I think of that?
24:16Do you realize what this means, Rowena?
24:18Now we can be married. That old...
24:20I mean, your aunt, well, she won't have a leg to stand on.
24:24But, darling, Aunt Agatha really likes you.
24:27She just pretends to think you're not very bright.
24:29Really? She likes me?
24:31I think so.
24:32Oh, well, then. Well, then.
24:34Let's go and tell her the good news.
24:39Thank you, Mr. Holmes.
24:41Not at all, Professor.
24:43Holmes. Holmes!
24:45What? What's the matter?
24:47Why, you look ill.
24:48It's the poison. I... I can't breathe.
24:50Oh, no, no. Relax, Watson. Relax.
24:52If there'd been any poison left in that needle,
24:54Reggie would long since have joined his ancestors.
24:56Unfortunately, the curse only worked once.
24:58Oh.
25:00Ridiculous.
25:02Yes, sir.
25:04Oh, Mr. Holmes.
25:06Don't worry about me.
25:08I still can't get my breath.
25:10Not again.
25:12It's probably the food we've been subjected to.
25:14Yes, I myself would prefer some of that fish
25:17that you insist on pursuing
25:19up and down the waterways of England
25:21with such wild abandon.
25:23Curse.
25:25What a nonsense.
25:53THE END
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