Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

talula1060 This movie should have been so much better. Lang is capable of a lot more. Unfortunately, it did not live up to its creator's abilities. The writing was stilted and awkward with unrealistic dialogue. Whenever anyone spoke, they basically said whatever they needed to advance the plot regardless if it was believable. There were a few lines about the gods thrown in to remind us we are in India. There is absolutely no subtlety here at all. The worst part about this film was the acting. Not one of these actors was believable or natural. I realize acting styles have changed over the years. The prince with his bad Indian makeup and phony looking jewelry had two moods: bland or outraged. He marched in front of cages of tigers for no apparent reason other than that he's a prince who controls everything and because this movie has tiger in the title. Some of the other actors were caricatures of what they thought Indians should be like. Dark brown makeup with blue eyes and Nordic features? What was Lang thinking? Then we've got the two leads: the dancer and the German architect. Paget the dancer was beautiful to look at, but that's where her talent ended. If she's sad, she's sitting there with a huge frown. If scared, an exaggerated wide eyed look. It's ridiculous how badly she acts in this movie. Reminds me of acting from the 20s. At least then they had no dialogue to work with, so movement was everything. Another thing that is bound to make the acting awful is that the lead actress is not speaking the same language as her paramour... Literally. This makes it impossible for them to relate to and respond to one another. Her lines were overdubbed in German while she spoke them in English in the scene. Her lover spoke German throughout. I'm not sure why Lang chose to cast someone who didn't speak German. Finally, we come to the love interest for our dancer. He's not only creepy, but he's got zero charisma and is unpleasant to watch. At times he's yelling his lines just to inject some emotion into his scenes. It's the work of an amateur. Again, no subtlety. They all are behaving like a bunch of people who have never acted a day in their lives. Considering they are all experienced, i can only lay these errors at the director's feet. Even the costumes and props looked unrealistic and poorly constructed. Perhaps Lang was past it or maybe he just wasn't able to change with the times. Either way, it made for a very poorly constructed picture.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) Fritz Lang is one of those directors who managed the transition from silent film to sound film, even if most people will probably argue that his best works come from the days when there was still intertitles in films to tell us what the characters were saying. "Der Tiger von Eschnapur" is one of the last films of Lang and he was already in his late 60s when he made this one and it's actually a remake of a film that Lang already made considerably earlier in his career. This is also why Thea von Harbou, a couple years dead already by 1959, is listed as the writer. She also worked on the script of the original black-and-white films. This one here is in color and the first 100 minutes from a duology that continues with "Das indische Grabmal", another 1959 film. The cliffhanger ending also indicates this.I personally did not enjoy the watch too much. It starts off fairly solid, the characters are interesting, but sadly it does not stay this way for the entire film. I quickly lost interest in the story of an architect falling in love with a dancer, a woman that the local Maharajah also has an interest in. It's a tale about love, power and deceit, but it's nowhere near as good as it could have been. Looks like Lang already had his best days behind him and I cannot say I have a whole lot of interest in seeing the sequel, although I probably will soon and I hope it's actually 100 minutes that are improved to the 100 minutes we have here. As for the 1959 version of "The Tiger of Eschnapur", I do not recommend watching it unless you're a Lang completionist. It's not a failure, but also it's not a good film. Thumbs down. Oh yeah and a quick note about the cast. Do not be fooled by the characters in the film and the dark skin makeup because pretty much the entire cast is German. of course the clean speaking with no accents in this film also gives them away.

JohnHowardReid At the end of his career, Fritz Lang made two films in India: The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959) and its sequel, The Indian Tomb (also known as The Tomb of Love) starring Debra Paget, Paul Christian (billed as Paul Hubschmid), Walter Reyer, Claus Holm and Luciana Paluzzi. (In 1960, both movies were combined and edited down to a mere 94 minutes. The resultant hard-to-follow pastiche was then released as Journey to the Lost City). I thoroughly enjoyed The Tiger of Eschnapur. Admittedly, the plot is Boys Own Paper stuff, but on its juvenile level, it offers plenty of spectacular action – and typical Fritz Lang suspense – set against some truly magnificent backgrounds. And who could resist Debra Paget as she appears here, so lovingly photographed and so exotically attired? The only draw-back is that the movie ends like the chapter of a serial and you are then forced to view The Indian Tomb to see how it all comes out. I found this sequel a little tiresome, but many of my colleagues disagreed. To them, this chapter was even more exciting and colorful than The Tiger of Eschnapur. I would hazard that how you react depends to some extent on the interval of time involved. I watched the sequel straightaway. My colleagues viewed it at intervals varying from a week to six months. Both films are now available on excellent DVDs.

michael autin This is a Lush production. The costumes and extravagance of the exterior sets for the various parades is intoxicating. This film captures the allure that India held for many decades. The story is clear cut, and there are many simplistic plot motivations. The film is the premier example of the Cliffhanger style, as the story unfolds from peril to peril. While some effects are of grade A cheese (a poor tiger in the beginning) The dance scenes Really do open the eyes. Of Star Trek note... the second dance scene MUST have been the inspiration for Vina, the Orion Slave dancer of "The Cage" fame... many of the same exotica is there. Fritz Lang was indeed a crafty teller of tales.