The Mummy goofs

Ardath Bey offers up prayers to Isis in the language of the King James Bible.

In the film's enhanced audio edition, when Ralph Norton recites the Scroll of Thoth he is heard repeating the words "Ra-Breath-Life". That rendering does not match the text shown on the title card, nor is it what Imhotep says when he later reads the scroll in the museum.

When Imhotep smashes the glass of the display cabinet with his bare hand, it's obvious there is no glass — only a sound effect is used.

Imhotep was condemned to "the Nameless Death", yet his name remained carved on his coffin. The ancient Egyptians had chisels and would have been capable of obliterating the glyphs that spell out Imhotep's name, but the coffin is still intact when his mummy is discovered.

During the flashback sequences of Imhotep's mummification his legs are wrapped together. They remain bound in the long shots of the mummy in his sarcophagus (a dummy was used), but when he comes to life the leg wrappings are shown separately, allowing him to walk. Similarly, at the start of the bandaging his arms are tied to his chest, yet by the end they are depicted wrapped individually, enabling him to reach for the scroll.

In the car scene where Muller shows Frank the Isis charm, the close-up is a re-used shot from earlier and does not correspond with the way Muller holds the charm in the longer shots.

When Helen first appears, she is smoking a cigarette in a holder. After she turns away from the camera and raises it to her mouth, in the following shot it's nowhere to be seen.

A newspaper article reporting the discoveries identifies the man who helped them locate the site as "Ardath Bey." (See also trivia — this is an anagram of "Death by Ra.") However, many other sources, including the subtitles and captions on home-video releases, use the spelling "Ardeth Bay."

(At about 41 mins) While Sir Joseph is getting ready to burn the Scroll of Thoth, he places it in the hearth with one end pointing out into the room, then produces a matchbox. A short time later, as he succumbs to the Mummy's spell and dies, the scroll is lying sideways across the hearth. Shortly afterwards, when the Nubian servant comes to collect the scroll, it has reverted to its original position.

Ralph Norton refers to the Egyptian goddess Isis's "vestal virgins", but Vestal Virgins belonged solely to the Roman goddess Vesta, and that tradition arose long after the period of Imhotep. As an archaeologist, Norton ought to have been aware of this.

The pharaoh is portrayed with long hair and a lengthy beard reminiscent of the rulers of ancient Persia. Yet examinations of pharaohs' remains show they typically wore their hair at medium length or cropped short.

The Union Jack, the national flag of the United Kingdom, is flown upside down as the camera pans to the sign reading 'Field Expedition... 1932...'.

A newspaper reporting the discovery of a princess's tomb carries photographs of King Tutankhamun's golden sarcophagus.

The film repeatedly refers to 'Vestal Virgins' as part of Egyptian religious customs. In reality, Vestal Virgins were priestesses of the Roman goddess Vesta and had no connection to Egypt. As archaeologists, Frank, Joseph and Doctor Muller would have been expected to know this.

Compelled by Ardath Bey (Imhotep), Helen takes a taxi to the Cairo Museum. The taxi draws up beside the car in which the Whemples are about to depart. Tyre tracks, identical to those of the taxi, are visible on the dirt driveway near the Whemples' car. Those tracks were plainly left when the taxi's approach had been practised.