The Night of Counting the Years, Al Momia and The Mummy refer to this Egyptian film. The alternate titles should not be confused with unrelated films using The Mummy.

Cineteca di Bologna’s L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory restored the film in 2009 with the World Cinema Project and the Egyptian Film Center. The preservation work gives new audiences access to a film whose story itself concerns the survival of cultural objects.

The English title The Mummy can suggest a horror film, but this work concerns the trade in objects taken from ancient tombs. Its story is set in 1881 and draws on a historical episode. The conflict asks what it means to inherit a way of life when its survival depends on selling the remains of an older culture. That premise is enough preparation for a first viewing without disclosing how individual decisions resolve it.

Watch how figures are arranged in relation to the landscape and built spaces, and how deliberately movement is paced. The film gives a decision visual weight before it becomes an explanation in dialogue. This is a useful approach if its rhythm initially feels unfamiliar: concentrate on who stands with whom, who leaves a group and what an object means to the different people handling it.

The credited collaborators include cinematographer Abdel Aziz Fahmi, production designer Salah Marei, composer Mario Nascimbene and editor Kamal Abou El Ella. The Film Foundation and Bologna records describe a 2009 restoration from the original 35mm negative, with a 103-minute presentation. Keep those dates distinct: 1969 identifies the film, 1881 its historical setting and 2009 the preservation work. An English release title or a later restoration does not make this a different production.