CommentsXp Best movie ever!

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

MartinHafer 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.

Petri Pelkonen 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.

kirksworks (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.

mikaldhuber 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.