The Indian Tomb (1959) User Reviews

Second part similar to original film with marvelous production design and being colorfully photographed

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 1 October 2017]

Following to ¨Tiger of Eschnapur¨ that has similar ingredients , as the couple formed by an architect : Paul Christian or Paul Hubschmidt , and a gorgeous dancer : Debra Paget , escapes from the claws a wealthy Maharajah : Walter Reyel . They flee through the sunny desert , but are again imprisoned and once at palace happens several dangers , risks and adventures . While , the sister : Sabina Bethmann of the architect along with her husband : Claus Holm , appear to build a huge tomb ,and there occurs a coup of state carried out by the Maharajah's brother but things go wrong.

This adventure movie contains thrills , action , exuberant outdoors , luxurious interiors and a twisted love story. The massive budget was all created in India exteriors and in German studios . The film is essentially a romance story and in the midst of fighting , Cobras , surprising underground caves with Zombies-alike , and tigers . Here outstanding the wonderful Debra Paget who performs spectacular and erotic dances . Including an atmospheric and oriental style musical score by Michel Michelet . And a brilliant and luminous photography by Richard Angst , though being necessary a perfect remastering , that is why the film copy is washed-out . This is the second part formed by ¨Tiger of Schnapur¨ and this one , and there is a poorly edited version titled ¨Journey to the Lost City¨ made for USA marketing and delivered by American International Pictures , it is a heavily mounted hybrid of the two Lang films . There is also a silent adaptation , 1922 , by Lang with Conrad Veidt , Paul Ritter , Mia May .

This enormous budget film , for the time , financed by Arthur Brautner and thrilling script by Thea Von Harbou was compellingly directed by Fritz Lang . In 1920 , he began a relationship with actress and writer Thea Von Harbou (1889-1954), who wrote with him the scripts for his most celebrated films : Doctor Mabuse (1922), Nibelungs (1924), Metropolis (1927) and M , vampire of Düsseldorf (1931) . They married in 1922 and divorced in 1933 when Lang fled to America for Nazi regime . Lang directed various prestigious silent movies as Metrópolis , Woman in the moon , Doctor Mabuse , Spies , Spiders , Nibelungs ; noir films : Beyond a reasonable doubt , While city sleeps , The big heat , Clash night ; Drama : woman in the Window , Human Desire , Scarlet street , Fury and Western : Rancho Notorious , Western Union and Revenge of Frank James .

Delightful Conclusion of a Romantic Adventure

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 11 November 2009]

Seetha (Debra Paget) and Harold Berger (Paul Hubschmid) are rescued from the desert by a caravan and brought to a small village. However, the greedy owner of the house where they are lodged betrays the law of hospitality and reveals their location to Prince Ramigani (René Deltgen). The couple tries to escape but is hunted and captured by Ramigani and his men. Meanwhile Irene Rhode (Sabine Bethmann) and her husband Walter Rhode (Claus Holm) suspect that Maharaja Chandra (Walter Reyer) is not telling the truth about Harold's destiny. The conspirator Ramigani forces Seetha to accept to get married with Chandra to provoke the wrath of the priests and get the alliance of Prince Padhu (Jochen Brockmann) and his army. In the meantime, Harold succeeds in escaping from the dungeon and seeks out Seetha to save her.

"Das Indische Grabmal" is the delightful conclusion of a romantic adventure in the exotic India. This family movie seems to be a matinée with wonderful moments, like for example, the spider building its web and protecting the lovers after the offering of Seetha to her god Shiva; or the sexy dance of Seetha; or the maze in the underground of the palace; or the dead bodies without gore. The colors are splendidly restored in the DVD released in Brazil by Continental in the beautiful locations and sets, and it is possible to see the strings controlling the snake while Seetha is dancing. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sepulcro Indiano" ("Indian Tomb")

Fritz Lang's Indian Epic, part II

[Petey-10 · 8/10 · 9 December 2009]

In the end of Der Tiger von Eschnapur the two lovers were in the middle of a sandstorm.Harald Berger (Paul Hubschmid), the German architect and his Indian lover, dancer Seetha (Debra Paget) were chased through the desert by shikaris (cavalry) of Eschnapur's maharajah Chandra (Walter Reyer).They get into a Shiva temple, where a spider weaves a web so the trackers won't look for them in there.But Seetha is caught inside.He has to try and survive alone, and to safe the one he loves.But it's not going to be easy.His sister Irene (Sabine Bethmann) and her husband, architect Walter Rhode (Claus Holm) are suspicious,after Chandra has asked him to build a tomb for Seetha, who is still alive.She won't believe that her brother has died on a tiger hunt.Meanwhile, prince Ramigani (René Deltgen) wants to seize Chandra's throne.Das Indische Grabmal (1959) was the second last film Fritz Lang directed.His Indian epic is based on work he did forty years earlier on a silent version of Das Indische Grabmal.He wrote the screenplay with his wife of the time, Thea von Harbou, who also starred Die Nibelungen movies.It based on Harbou's novel of the same name.Both of these adventure films offer many thrills.The subterranean scenes are very thrilling.And to see Harald chained, trying to fight his way into freedom.It's a very sexy scene where Seetha dances to charm the cobra in that most revealing costume.The conclusion of this story is well told.

Fritz Lang's Indian Epic **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 23 February 2006]

I was wary of purchasing Fantoma's 2-Disc Set of "Fritz Lang's Indian Epic" after being somewhat let down by the 1921 Silent original (co-scripted by Lang himself) and also its less-than-stellar reputation. For this reason, when the second part of the saga turned up on Italian TV a couple of years ago, I decided to check it out just the same so as to get an inkling of what to expect! I recall thinking it pretty kitschy and unworthy of Lang's enormous talent, but Fantoma's sale (through their website) of their entire DVD catalog a few months back made it an irresistible acquisition! Well, having now watched the entire saga (with dialogue and in color, as opposed to the rather static Silent version directed by Joe May - although hearing the Indian-garbed characters talking in German took some getting used to), I was pleasantly surprised by how genuinely engaging and sheerly enjoyable it all was! Though it was sold as an epic production (to the point of concluding ESCHNAPUR with the promise that Part II would feature greater thrills and even more spectacle) at a time when such films were all the rage, the saga was actually a pretty modest undertaking by eclectic (and prolific) German producer Artur Brauner. Despite the two films' exotic, handsome look (not least in the provocative dances of Debra Paget), the budgetary constraints were painfully obvious in the special effects department, especially the hilarious appearance of a 'ropey' cobra which is intended to 'test' (the scantily-clad) Miss Paget's faithfulness to the Maharajah!! All in all, even if these films hardly constitute Lang's greatest work (though he harbored an evident affection throughout his life for this particular tale, which was originally conceived by his former wife Thea von Harbou), they have great - and enduring - appeal for aficionados of old-fashioned, serial-like adventure stories tinged with romance and mysticism.

Even so, while I don't subscribe to that school of thought myself, there are some film critics (Tom Gunning, Jean Douchet and Pierre Rissient among them) who think very highly of Lang's Indian diptych - the first considering it one of Lang's towering achievements and the last two numbering it among the ten greatest films of all time!!

This deserves ANOTHER remake!

[mikaldhuber · 9 January 2006]

I just watched this on DVD--I wasn't aware of two important factors when I did. One, that this was a remake of a 1938 film, and two that it was actually the last part of a typical Lang epic-length film! I wonder how both films were ever condensed into a mere ninety minutes for domestic release? What an extraordinary feat in itself!

I can see the influence on Speilburg and Luca quite clearly. This does have numerous external similarities to TEMPLE OF DOOM, as well as several motifs common to other Lang films.

There are some amusing blunders. The Priest talks about Allah, then a few scenes later, cautions that THE GODS will be displeased. Islam is monothestic!

There was a line uttered by the Priest: "There will be darkness over Eschanpur." That would have been a most intriguing title, nothing so bland as THE Indian TOMB, and would have also linked TIGERS OF ESCHANAPUR to this film. Both were released in that one 90 minute Americanized version, JOURNEY TO THE LOST CITY. As far as I could tell from this half, the city was far from "lost"! The Maharajah is proclaimed as RAJ of this state and that, master of the realms of Yadda-Yadda, and so on. I got out my map of India and was easily able to locate the areas he mentioned.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and recommend it highly, especially to those who love a good rollicking adventure. I intend to secure the rights and bring this to the screen, before all the tigers are extinct.

A serious letdown after the first film.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 19 September 2011]

This is the continuation of the story begun in "Der Tiger von Eschnapur". This previous film ended with the lovers seemingly on death's door--dying out in the desert after running away from the vengeful Maharaja. Now, shortly after, the pair are recaptured. The beautiful dancer (Debra Paget) is being forced to marry the nasty Maharaja and her lover (Paul Hubschmid) is being held in a dungeon--but she's been told he's dead. In the meantime, the nice engineer's sister and brother-in-law are virtual prisoners of the Maharaja's kindness and they soon realize the man knows more about Hubschmid than he's admitting. And, during all this, there are MANY folks conspiring to depose the Maharaja.

The first film was escapist fun. This second one is dreary and slow during too much of the film. Part of it is that it's so talky. Part of it is the best part of the first film was the love story--but Paget and Hubschmid are separated almost this entire film and spend almost no time together. And, part of it is that the script is rather bereft of action--at least until the end of the film. And, when the fighting broke out, it often seemed like it was being performed in slow-motion. Finally, the Maharaja's change of heart at the end made no sense. Where did this come from considering it completely violated who he'd become in the film. The only really good thin about the film is Paget's sexy dancing--which manages to perhaps be even more alluring than it was in the first film! Wow. But otherwise, a rather limp follow-up--and one that should have been fun.

By the way, I just about always watch films in their original language with subtitles. On a lark, I decided to leave the English language version on for a few minutes--just to see if they were different. Oddly, the leading man plays a Canadian in the English language version and he's a German in the original film! Perhaps with WWII only a decade and a half back, they thought the film would be more marketable outside Germany if the man was a Canadian. I noticed a few other differences and turned it back to the German language version.

Adventure

[davidmvining · 7/10 · 30 September 2022]

The second half of the story that began with The Tiger of Eschnapur, The Indian Tomb is the same kind of easy adventure of good men saving women from bad men as the first half, except now there's an actual ending. The film doesn't elevate into grand adventure by the end, though it felt like it was laying the groundwork for the kind of controlled chaos of several storylines dovetailing at once could do, but it does remain a solidly amusing tale in an exotic locale.

Harold Berger (Paul Hubshmid) and Seetha (Debra Paget) are on the run from the forces of Chandra (Walter Reyer), Maharajah of Eschnapur. They use Berger's wit to outrun the horsemen as long as they can, eventually finding their way into a cave that gives them cover for a time, helped, perhaps, by the god Shiva influencing a spider to spin a web over the entrance after they get in. Does the film use the idea of the Indian gods being real and having influence over real events beyond this? Nope. It's just an event in an adventure story, so okay. Things end up going wrong, and the two get captured.

The action switches to Harold's sister, Irene (Sabine Bethmann) and her husband Walter (Claus Holm) who were introduced near the end of the first part. Walter is the chief architect, and when Chandra demands that Walter build, not a hospital, but the eponymous tomb for a woman who is not dead, Walter chafes under the order. There are lies about Harold being dead, killed by a tiger on a hunt. There are searches for the truth when Irene finds Seetha. There are discoveries about Harold's real state. There is a plan for escape.

The palace intrigue elements, mostly around Chandra's older brother Ramigani (Rene Deltgen) trying to consolidate different forces around him gains a greater focus as his plan steadily moves into actual action. He has the brother of the Maharajah's dead wife on his side, as well as the priests. The big question is the general of the armed forces in Eschnapur and his loyalties in the face of a rebellion. It's all standard adventure in a strange land stuff.

Where I was hoping the two major storylines would intertwine would be around the revolution itself. They sort of do, but not at the kind of frenetic escalation of one piling on top of the other as I had hoped. They happen at the same time, but they don't really affect each other as they play out. The escape through the dungeons has its own set of dangers, and the palace intrigue plays out separately, only interconnecting as they're both ending. Also, there's a big fight in the throne room that's so haphazardly shot that it reminded me of John Carpenter's action work on Ghosts of Mars: lazy. It's also mercifully short, though, moving on to character based resolutions in quick time, so the lack of quality action is less of an issue.

Is this some massively entertaining adventure? I don't think it rises to that height, but it is pretty consistently entertaining in a light and fluffy sort of way. It challenges nothing. No genre conventions, visions of the world, or ideas are challenged at all. It's just a straight adventure tale, and it does it well enough. The color photography continues to be somewhat dreamy and wonderful to look at. It's more tightly confined to sets than the first part which allows for a greater control of the camera and more interesting compositions. The acting is perfectly acceptable across the board (though the prevalence of brown-face everywhere is just as jarring to the cohesiveness to the picture as before), and Debra Paget even gets a second opportunity to dance around scantily clad in the temple.

It's not even Lang's best adventure movie (that would be Woman in the Moon), but The Indian Temple, both as a standalone feature and second half to a two-part film, is an entertaining romp through a boys adventure novel version of India as envisioned in the 1910s and made in the late 1950s.

Fritz Lang's holiday homework part two.

[dbdumonteil · 9/10 · 27 February 2004]

The second part of "der Tiger von Eschnapur" begins with a de rigueur summary .Although it's the same movie divided into two for business concern,"das Indische Grabmal" surpasses its predecessor and makes it sometimes look like a trailer.

All promises are fulfilled ;Everything Lang threatened to achieve in "der Tiger " materializes here.Here the two worlds (the luminous world of the maharajah and the subterraneans where the darkest secrets are hidden ) play an equal part .How can't we think of "Metropolis" when the lepers come up the stairs and force their way in the light of day?The maharajah is much more than a comic strip character here.He appears as a tortured man -the actor who plays this monarch is actually a German one,the one who plays count Andrassy is the "Sissi" saga-.Little by little ,we discover that he's in fact the real hero of the story-Mercier is absent during an hour in this part-:his evolution is downright intriguing .At the end of the story he found peace of mind in a completely unexpected way.

Remarkable scenes :the spider that spins its web and thus protects the lovers;their enemies seen behind this providential shield.Paget's erotic dance in front of the snake (which echoes to the long scene in the first part when Mercier watches her dancing).And mainly, mainly,these labyrinthine subterraneans which may represent the dark side of the mind .The two worlds (he said that in "die Nibelungen" (1924),there were four worlds!) are a permanent feature in Lang's canon:of course "Metropolis " springs to mind.But think of the underworld of "M";the double life of Andrews in "beyond a reasonable doubt" ;the child's world and the adults' one in "Moonfleet";the "normal "side of life and the secret one beyond the door in the eponymous movie;real life and dream (but where is the frontier?) in "woman in the window" .

Fritz Lang's holiday homework is actually his testament.He would do one more movie ("die tausend Augen des Doctor Mabuse"),but it seemed that,like his hero,he had found peace of mind in this movie.You can forget,unless you're a highbrow,his part in Godard's notorious "le mépris".

Like John Huston or Joseph Mankiewicz ,Lang finished his career brilliantly.

Cardboard, dated and juvenile movie...Can't believe it's Fritz Lang.

[Akzidenz_Grotesk · 1/10 · 7 April 2008]

Avoid "Indian Tomb" unless you're ten or younger. This corny adventure film, although colorfully filmed on location in India, never rises to the occasion. The characters are all one-dimensional, especially the "hero" of the film. His role has barely any dialog and his action scenes are weak and unconvincing. The female lead is beautiful but looks about as "Indian" as Michelle Pfeiffer.

The main Indian characters are mostly white actors in make-up! Their long, talky scenes will tempt you to press "fast-forward". Some parts are done well, such as the snake-dance and the leper cave, but they don't make up for long stretches of cardboard performances.

The dialog the actors speak comes from a seventh-rate comic book. The head-priest character has a ridiculously dubbed voice.

Though directed in 1959 by the usually great Fritz Lang, it more resembles a simplistic, lesser adventure serial from the 1930s. Lang bombed if he thought he was producing a work for mature audiences.

I was very disappointed in this film. Suitable viewing for children and Fritz Lang completists only.

"A gilded cage"

[Steffi_P · 9/10 · 24 December 2010]

Please see also my review of The Tiger of Eschnapur.

The Indian Tomb was the second part of a pair of pictures directed by Fritz Lang, his first German productions since the 1930s, adapted from a screenplay he had himself worked on nearly thirty years earlier. The two of them should really be considered one whole work as much as were his two-part epics from the silent era, Dr Mabuse: Der Spieler (1922) and Die Nibelungen (1924). These earlier opuses were among the most prestigious works made, not only in Germany but anywhere in the world at the time. However this Indian diptych of the late-50s, a product of the drastically different post-war German film industry, looks like some cheap and cheerful Euro B-flick, at least at first glance.

The Indian Tomb and its forerunner The Tiger of Eschnapur certainly bear many hallmarks of a trashy proto-exploitation feature. The Indian characters are played rather unconvincingly by Europeans in "brownface", the special effects are often laughable (stuffed tigers in part one, which are outdone by plastic cobras in part two), a bit of partial female nudity, and a fast-paced plot of action and romance with more than of a few plot holes, imagination-stretchers, and complete suspensions of logic – the most stupendous of which has to be the unexplained concept that lepers are actually zombies. To make matters worse, the two pictures were cut down into one movie by American International Pictures, Roger Corman's distributor, and for years this was all English-speaking audiences could see of them. Today however we are lucky enough to have fully-restored versions of both parts available to us, including a subtitled German version, which is far preferable to the atrocious English dub, assuming you can get over the illogic of Indians speaking to each other in German. Now at last we are able to rediscover and re-evaluate Fritz Lang's final masterpiece.

On closer inspection, these two pictures are not quite so low in their values and appeal as one might think. For a start, the fact that Europeans play Indians is not really so different to westerners playing Arabs in Lawrence of Arabia. And there would be female nudity in Blow-up, and that is considered arty! The cast, while not exactly award-worthy, are uniformly decent, with the standout being Walter Reyer's eerily underplayed portrayal of the unbalanced Maharajah. There's a fabulous musical score by Gerhard Becker, and although admittedly the invented "Uncle Pat" song sounds more like a Gregorian chant than a Irish folk ballad, when Becker interpolates it into the main score on sweeping strings it makes a wonderful, aching love theme. The plot too is more than just your typical fight-a-minute no-brainer. While far from realistic its rip-roaring adventure has many strands to it, such as the political infighting of the fictional eastern province and the Maharajah's descent into jealousy-fuelled madness. It is of course aspects like this that would have been ripe for the chop when the pictures were re-edited in the US.

And now let us turn to the contribution of Herr Lang himself. Although he spent most of his twenty years in Hollywood making cheap and sometimes nasty B-flicks, he never lost the flair and professionalism of his early German career, at which time he was rightly regarded as one of the most important talents at UFA studios. He was always at his best presenting adventure stories tinged with a slightly dark, paranoid streak which, while unfortunately being the subject of auterist psychobabble, mainly serves to heighten the sense of danger and excitement. As in The Tiger of Eschnapur the vast, angular sets are given prominence, with shots composed so that the walls seem to press in on all sides. There's often a passage or open door at the back of the room, suggesting that the heroes could be crept up upon from behind at any moment. Early on there's a shot where Walter and Irene are in their quarters, and a net curtain covers one corner of the frame. By cinematic convention this looks like a point-of-view shot, which gives this unnerving feeling that the couple are being watched. The carefully orchestrated action finale, in which all the various elements – the rebellion, Harald's escape, the flooding of the catacombs – reach a crescendo is reminiscent of the climactic scenes of Metropolis and Die Nibelungen. It is really such a good thing that Lang, the man who brought our dreams and our nightmares to the screen with such vibrancy, did not end his career in lower-end Hollywood productions. His Indian epic is a glorious and worthy tribute to his silent-era heyday.

TERRIBLE MOVIE!!!

[talula1060 · 3/10 · 23 April 2018]

This movie was awful. Just as bad or worse than the first one. Same issues as the first one too. Acting was the worst thing about it. All the Indian characters were German with brown makeup to make them look Indian. It was extremely obvious in gorgeous Technicolor. The sole American leading lady was referred to as Indian but she had the features and coloring of Elizabeth Taylor. Apparently Lang thought having black hair and bare feet were the only things she needed to make her look Indian. The prince was terrible and often spoke forcefully for no reason. His makeup was very noticable and very phony looking. Jewelry was often too big for the actor wearing it and very phony looking also. The actors had very limited skills which often made them yell or glare at people regardless of what was taking place. Amateur mistakes. The brother of Berger is awful and often inexplicably shouts his lines. At one point, his employer the prince, removes some architectural models from the room and the brother throws a tantrum, shouting and throwing things. The brother did not want to work on any designs anyway since his partner was missing so why he freaked out is unclear. In another scene, he is instructed by the Prince to build a tomb. The prince angrily tells him all the precious gems he will have at his disposal. He's almost shouting the names of the gems as though the brother had protested the crappy materials. It makes no sense. The leading lady Seetha is only there for eye candy. Her skills are very limited. Perhaps because of this, Lang always puts her in tight fitting tops without benefit of a bra and then will have her stretch and lean in the supposed guise of prayer to this or that goddess. At one point she does a sensual dance with a snake in which she is basically naked with a few week placed bits of cloth. She does a dance with a snake where she flexes her bare legs and even thrusts her hips suggestively over and over. For the time period this is beyond risque. Her face is exquisite to look at and this and the above dance are what make her bearable on screen. Her acting is tough to gauge because she's an American who didn't speak German so all her lines are dubbed by someone else. The writing isn't particularly good either. Characters do things that don't make sense and are never explained. Some of the plot devices are ridiculous and obvious. Like when the Prince steals a coat and smears it in blood to present to the hero's sister to prove he's been killed. This coat had been sewn recently by the hero's sister and had been stored in the closet of her room. Of course she knew it was a lie! Just lazy writing here. The prince is all upset because this woman he liked didn't like him? They barely knew each other and had no arrangement but he acts as though she'd cheated on him. It's far too weak a storyline to be believable as the prince isn't played like an ego maniac who expects everyone to bend to his will. He just wasn't the kind of guy to force a woman to be with him. In any case, i gave it 3 stars for the beautiful color, scenery and costumes. The acting, story, and directing warrant a big fat zero.

Excellent

[rbloom333 · 9/10 · 29 November 2008]

Second part of Fritz Lang's bizarre epic about Indian mysticism shot for television and cut into two features by the studio (the other part being The Tiger of Eschnapur); it's a brilliantly executed pulpy and humorous masterpiece, with breathtaking color cinematography and elaborate set design which rivals the underworld city in Metropolis. Lang really celebrates the artifice of film, and his uncanny sense for mise-en scene proves his mastery of the craft. It's certainly a strange work and perhaps a bit hackneyed, but one should keep an open mind and sink in to the vivid images and spectacular naive tale of power and magic.

Fritz Lang's highly theatrical adventure with an engaging, old-fashioned romantic flair.

[TheVid · 29 May 2003]

This is the first part of Lang's storybook romance between an architect/adventurer in India falling for an exotic temple dancer belonging to the Maharajah. It's an exotic B-movie with low-budget charm and expert craftsmenship, a throwback to old-time matinee adventures. Lang's gift for stylized storytelling is evident throughout. This is part one of two, THE TIGER OF ESCHNAPUR continues the story right where this one leaves it; so be sure to obtain both films.

An inferior sequel to an already mediocre first film

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 21 February 2016]

"Das indische Grabmal" or "The Indian Tomb" is a co-production between West Germany, France and Italy that resulted in this German 100-minute movie from almost 60 years ago and a sequel to "Der Tiger von Eschnapur". If you have the time and endurance for over three hours, it makes total sense to watch these two films in one sitting because this one here follows the other one with literally no time to breathe in terms of the action. The previous film also ends on a cliffhanger. Back then in 1959, the gap was only 1.5 months between the two releases and this is really the longest you should wait as well, even if there is a brief summary of the first film even earlly on for this one here. But even this summary felt a bit shoddy in terms of how they elaborated on the maharajah's brother's (or was it his cousin? no I think brother) ambitions. Another option would be you just skip the second one or even skip both because this watch was far from a revelation. It was one of director Fritz Lang's last works and it is nowhere near as famous as his early silent film classics. Speaking of silent films, there exists a version of this film here from really early, 1921, but right now I do not remember if I liked that one more. Also there is another sound movie from briefly bevore World War II, so this story here was pretty interesting back then apparently. However, it seems as if nobody gave it another go after this version we have here and it's been a long time really since then. Who knows, maybe somebody will eventually. I wouldn't mind and I'd probably check it out. In terms of 1950s films, it's among the most known Germany has to offer. If you see the characters in this film, they may not seem German to you, but do not be fooled by the heavy makeup. Honestly, now I know for example that the maharadjaj is played by a German actor, well Austrian, but to me it looks as if you can see it is fake color on his face or maybe I just think I perceive it like that because I know they are no Arab actors or something. Would be interesting to erase my memory again if I thought the same nonetheless of if they could get me fooled. Anyway, most of the actors are German, which you also realize from the fact that their German is fluent and without accents. However, the film is not as fluent. This also has a bit to do with Debra Paget. She is American and this one of the exceptions, but not surprising to see international actors want to work with Lang. Then again, she is not really a star. Also I kinda felt it was fake how they acted as if she was the ultimate goddess in terms of beauty here. Come on, she is not that stunning and I usually really dig dark-haired girls. Kinda fitting to see she often wore blonde hair, but here the role required her to have Black hair of course because of her exotic character. The male lead is played by Pail Hubschmid. I cannot say too much about him, but I see he is Swiss, so maybe I should correct my statement from "many Germany actors" to "many German-speaking actors". Most of the other cast members here are also pretty experienced and have enjoyed prolific careers. Feel free to check out their bodies of work if you care. Oh and it needs to be said that this film is in color, which is of course not a given for late 50s. This kinda saved the film at times even because honestly the sets and costumes are almost the only bright spot (in the truest sense) this film has to offer and had it been in black-and-white, thenn the almost only reason to watch this movie would be gone as well. Oh by the way, before I go a bit into detail about why I mostly disliked this film, just another random snippet of information: The aforementioned Paget and also Sabine Bethmann are still alive today and have reached a pretty high age. I wonder what they think about this film now, if they like it. If they even care. Perhaps they are also still alive when you come here to read this review. Probably this film with Lang and von Harbou in charge, even if they are more known for their much earlier works, will still be shown on television for decades to come, maybe even in theatres on the occasions of a Lang retrospective.

I gotta say I was already not impressed by Lang's first film from that duology and this one here is at least as forgettable. The story tries to be ambitious from start to finish, but it just never succeeds. It is also an absolute deal breaker how they were really trying too much here. Take a look at the story and literally every single scene is so packed with drama, so packed with danger and characters possibly losing their lives or at least major conflict during dialogues that it was all too much and felt very pretentious. Honestly, with everything going on here, I was surprised how little I cared at all and how bland and boring it all felt. Something is definitely missing. I think sometimes less is more and this is the key issue. Give the audience a chance to breathe for a second (or minute) before you move on to the next escalation.The mediocre range from most of the actors, including the core actors, also does not help at all. It may be an acceptable film in terms of cinematography and the visual side (already mentioned costumes and sets), but in terms of the story, there is really nothing memorable to it, although it tries truly hard to become an epic even, but they come oh so short. In the previous film, a tiger is mentioned in the title even and I think there is also more tiger action (or animal action in general) than with this one here, which is also a bit of a disappointment for me as an animal lover. Camels and horses are included briefly and I am undecided if I liked the lengthy scene with the snake. This somewhat mesmerizing dance sequence where it is all about the female protagonist's life is among the most memorable sequences from this film. I guess it is alright. I think the idea to dance in such a deadly situation is one that is difficult to grasp, but she was literally dancing foor her life there and probably much more likely would have been bitten and killed if she just sat there and cried. So she did the right thing in trying to appease the snake and the goddess too. But it was no great scene either and this being considered one of the highlights does also not really say anything positive about the film as a whole because it shows how the rest is forgettable in almost its entirety. Paget's outfit there was really hot and progressive for a film from before the 1960s even, but then again I also liked her much more simple outfits. The costume design is really the only highlight in this movie, from beginning to end really. Props to Claudia Hahne-Herberg. Shame she is mostly forgotten by now despite working on a handful of movies that are not. Her craft lives on. Good for her. Wish I could say more positive things about other production values here, but it feels almost impossible. I also found it disappointing how they treated certain core aspects from the first film, as if they are totally irrelevant now. One thing I did not expect is how the movie really moved away considerably from the lovebirds at the center of the story and for example also focused more on Bethmann's character or twists linked only to the locals and not to the new arrivals. But this also did not make things better or worse. It still felt mostly wishy-washy. This word exists in English too, doesn't it? Anyway, time to end the review now and I certainly find it sad to see Lang go out on a low note here. Not a failure, but also far away from a positive recommendation. Not recommended. Finally, despite the fantasy elements here or the mythology I could say, this is not really a film for young audiences. There are violent acts happening, even if they gave their best to make them not look too gruesome, like the fight sequences or the scene when the protagonist is a prisoner and kills a guard with his chains. But then again, also quality-wise this is not the stuff you would want your kids to watch. Or anybody else you care about. As I said, go for something else instead, also because here and there I kinda struggled with really remembering and understanding who is who. Maybe just. However, I still stopped caring really quickly, which is never a good thing at all. I can't even hate this movie. Enoguh said. Okay, I could still end this review with something positive (except the costumes) and say you find some pretty nice beard ideas in here. Alright, really enough now. Thanks if you truly made it until here. Must have been as big of a challenge as watching these 100 minutes until the very end. Good news is there is no third film and there never will be.

Lang Lush - Part 2

[kirksworks · 10/10 · 18 December 2006]

(Spoilers). The Indian Tomb (actually titled The Tomb of Love in the opening credits of the Fantomas DVD release) is part two of Fritz Lang's Indian Epic, and I have to say that this and Part One, The Tiger of Eschnapur, are quickly become two of my favorites of this director, despite their deficiencies. As I said in my notes about Tiger, this two part production has a lot going for it, not the least of which are the remarkable locations, cinematography, Langian screen compositions and costumes. This is eye candy to the max with one amazing image after another, but its modern day Adam and Eve storyline and supernatural microcosm are also noteworthy. Part One set the stage, pitted the characters against one another, and in Part Two, the rivalry between architect Harald Berger and the Maharaja Chandra, and the political intrigue finally explode in full force. In Part Two the pacing also picks up. Speaking of that, I must mention that the first time I watched both films, I found them rather slow and uneventful, particularly Part Two - but something about them brought me back and about a year later I re-watched them. The second viewing was a very different experience. I saw things I completely missed the first time around. The clever irony, the emphasis on the spiritual world, the correlation of animals to the main characters and the Gods, the existence of a subversive underworld, and the interplay of opposing forces all came into focus in the most poetic fashion. On first viewing I think I preferred the first part, but I now feel they are equally strong. In Part Two, the plot to overthrow the prince and the arcs of the key characters (particularly Paget's Seetha character) carried more weight on second viewing. As someone else said, the films are structured in a cliff hanger serial style, not unlike the Indiana Jones films. Unlike Spielberg, however, Lang's Indian Epic isn't afraid to take its characters seriously. There is humor, but the romance of character, locale, theme and story take a front seat. There is more going on here than just a fantastic adventure. At the end of Part One, the hero, Berger, and the Indian dancer, Seetha, beaten by the sun in the desert, collapse, and Berger shoots his gun towards the sun in an act of defiance against God. This theme of defiance towards God develops throughout Part Two. And Part Two also has Debra Paget's erotic dance of death (with an unfortunately fake snake). As I mentioned in my comments about Tiger, Paget basically runs away with the whole show, and her erotic dance in this part certainly adds to it. With her many jeweled costumes contrasted by her dark makeup, she never radiated on screen more beautifully. She is truly one of the great faces of that era. Her scant gilded costume is very risqué for 1960, and I can't image it didn't get censored back then. Yet, the dance is beyond erotic, for it also intelligently expands the drama of the story. Lang's compositions speak volumes about the characters and an entire essay could be written about them. Suffice to say, even if the meaning of the shots don't hit you, you'll still be blown away by the exquisite colors, production design, and costumes. The use of white is astounding. And let me mention the music by Michel Michelet. It's quite a stylish score, rich with exotic instrumentation, Indian marches and fanciful dances. Like the exquisite images, the score adds considerably to the alluring atmosphere. If you're a Fritz Lang fan, and you don't mind silent film pacing, you're probably of an age and mind-set to appreciate this epic. It made me wonder what Lang would have done with Metropolis had he shot it in 3-strip Technicolor. There are some deficiencies I must mention, however. Some of the visual effects are less than satisfactory (the aforementioned snake being the worst offender), and a few of the sets look like sets. Also, some of the Indian characters (Chandra, for example) are not Indians but white actors in makeup. Such was the times, but even as recently as 1982's Gandi, white actors (Ben Kingsley) were playing non- whites. Nevertheless, the broad strokes performances work well in this kind of adventure. The Fantomas DVD of Lang's Indian Epic has both German and English language available. Even though the dubbing is regrettable, the English version is preferable (unless you speak German), since the subtitles avert your eyes from the spectacular imagery. If you approach this with an open mind, Lang's Indian Epic will sweep you away to a wondrous world.

One justifiably famous sequence

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 9 July 2023]

"Indian Tomb", the follow-up to "The Tiger of Eschnapur", is even duller than its predecessor, if that's even possible: it's all talk, very little action, and torturously slow. Even the visuals don't impress much anymore - much of the film takes place in underground caverns. But the famous dance sequence is indeed astonishing, as is Debra Paget's thigh muscle definition. She gets some competition in the eye-candy department this round from the smoking-hot blonde Sabine Bethmann; Debra still wins, but Sabine definitely leaves her mark as well. The zombie-lepers of the first film make another appearance, although they are much more agile this time. ** out of 4.

Outstanding!

[braun-andrew · 10/10 · 9 March 2022]

These may be the finest films I've ever seen (parts 1 and 2). The cinematography, the "sets", the action, story, acting were out of this world. The ending was fantastic! These movies had it all. They had love, suspense, thrilling heart stopping scenes etc. Etc. I loved Metropolis and these were it's equals. WOW.

High adventure in India with Debra Paget as Seetha

[Wuchakk · 8/10 · 13 May 2022]

A German architect (Paul Hubschmid) flees Eschnapur with the fiancé (Debra Paget) of the maharajah (Walther Reyer) whose reign is secretly threatened by his envious brother (René Deltgen). Into this situation arrives the architect's sister and brother-in-law (Sabine Bethmann & Claus Holm).

"The Indian Tomb" (1959) is the second of Fritz Lang's duology referred to as his Indian Epic; the first part being "The Tiger of Eschnapur," released earlier the same year.

Both films were heavily edited down into a 95-minute movie for American audiences called "Journey to the Lost City" (1960), which heavily trimmed Debra Paget's iconic dance sequences due to the Hays Office. Obviously you should see the two separate movies rather than the butchered version, but it's not absolutely necessary to see the first film in order to enjoy this one since it includes a recap at the outset. (I've personally never seen Part I, except for the dance sequence).

Anyone who likes adventure flicks such as "Legend of the Lost" (1957), "The Vengeance of She" (1968), "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) and "Octopussy" (1984) should appreciate either installment of the Indian Epic. They feature spectacular palaces, heroes, villains, rivalry, danger, swords, beautiful women, romantic passion, elephants, tigers, snakes, torches, caverns, dungeons, temples, honorable monks and all-around high adventure.

Each include 3-minute dance sequences by Debra Paget as Eurasian Seetha, both equally awe-inspiring, but this one features her in more revealing (non)attire (I prefer the first one since less is more). Debra's performances are just as good or better than Brigid Bazlen unforgettable dance scene in "King of Kings" (1961) and Salma Hayek's in "From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996).

The film runs 1 hour, 40 minutes, and was shot in Udaipur in Northwestern India, areas normally barred from Western film crews up to that point. Interiors were shot at Spandau Studios in Berlin. "Octopussy" used some of the same India locations.

GRADE: A-