Tony S
The continuation of the Tiger of Eschnapur, that is far more disappointing, than you would expect. The couple gets separated in the very beginning and doesn't reunite until the end. Which is exactly what happened in the first film before they escape. It's hard to find this not annoying since the plot now revolves around Berger's brother attempt to find out what is going on. A completely pointless and uninteresting task for the audience's viewing, since they know everything that has happened before Rhode's figure it out. There is no hilariously derpy tiger puppet in part 2. You only get the fakest snake ever put into a colored film. Speaking of snakes. The main attraction is the Paget's snake dance. An incredibly erotic scene. Completely blowing out of the water anything preceding this in terms of skimpy outfits. These movies had a sentimental value to Lang, since his first wife wrote the story. But it's not something I'd recommend from a vast filmography of this great director.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
11/30/21
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The decision to cut this story into two films has done it no favours.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
02/01/23
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Audience Member
I liked the sequel a tiny bit better than its predecessor "The Tiger of Eschnapur" because it has a hotter dance number and it does a better job with its story and characters. Like the first film it is very colorful with glittering royal Indian clothing and you can't have India without snakes. There are even lepers who look like zombies! Sure, both films have foreseeable events but they are still fun to watch. The acting is acceptable but the characters are really card-board cut outs with the exception of Chandra who you could argue has some sort of depth as the film ends. Some of the misconceptions I found amusing were of Shiva being a female, Seetha worships a gigantic statue with huge breasts; also of Akbar the Great being referred with the Mongols instead of the Mughal empire. One thing I didn't like was during the sensual dance sequence a fake snake accompanies Seetha, and in one shot you can see it is leaning on a wire! Being an Indian myself I am fascinated by films that show India, unfortunately the two Lang films didn't live up to my expectations. The images from the two movies make it look very promising.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
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The conclusion of the story that began with the Tiger of Eschnapur is still rather moribund and repeats some of the plot elements from the first film (another rather erotic dance is featured). But this is meant to echo the serial films of ye olde days and such repetition was a staple (I'm being nice). One highlight for Fritz Lang afficionados is the use of tunnels and passageways into which the actors are thrown, not knowing which way to choose or which door to open (the lady or the tiger?). Such are the vagaries of fate. To recap, this adventure story takes place in Indian using German actors in greasepaint and my copy was badly dubbed in addition to being woodenly acted. Yet, some of those early serials (the less famous ones) feature similar traits...
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
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Debra Paget's dance number deserved a much better snake.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
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On November 11th last I saw "Der Tiger von Eschnapur" (1959), the first part of master-director Fritz Lang's indian (so-called) "epic", very late in his, at that point, completely declining career. Back then I wrote ""Der Tiger von Eschnapur" is the perfect example that a bad screenplay and bad acting can be filmed in an extraordinary beautiful way. The movie has a slow screenplay, with little thrills, little interest, little appeal, but everything is lavish about it, the colour is intense and beautiful, the cinematography excels, the set and costume design are fabulous, and the directing top notch. Yet all this cannot hide the fact that the movie, as a story, has very little to offer". Furthermore I wrote "The movie reminded me of those action/exotic adventures of the 30s, such as "The Mummy", "Tarzan" or "King Kong", where the screenplay was lame but it was a slow build up to the real surprise, twist or horror the movie would show. But here, in the 1950s, or to audiences today, this does not work. The lame dialog becomes lamer, and there is really nothing the screenplay is building up to. No tension, no clever thing, no surprise". Well... all this (and worse!) can be said of the second part, "The Indian Tomb", or, in it's original "Das indische Grabmal". The first movie ended in a way that left little interest to anyone to see the second (hence the 3 and a half month interval), and the second, after a 5 minute recap, picked up from there with the same slow pace, the same lame story, but the same beautiful shots, scenarios and clothes. Basically the lovers are caught again, Paul Hubschmid is supposedly killed (who in the audience can believe that the main actor dies at 20 min into the film???), and Debra Paget is brought back to the palace to marry the Maharadjaj. Little is seen of either of them for a long time, as the sister and repective husband of Hubschmid (who had arrived at the end of the first film), verbally represent the tention of "where are they? are they dead? are they alive? we have to save them?" for at least 10 unnecessary scenes. Also, the conspirators of the first film again are back to take the Maharadjaj of the throne. But further plot development is inexistent, and in the end all these stories merge in a "climatic" assault on the palace. Again this is nothing, and little of interest happens for 100 minutes. Again the story struggled with a lost romanticism and drama which only belonged to overblown silent movies. Again the thread looses itself in emptiness(the 2 main characters really have each a couple of lines here as the whole plot revolves around them and not on them). Again the climax does not exist. Again the only interesting thing of the movie, is, as in the first, a dance by Debra Paget, where she shows her incredible body as she charms a very very fake snake. Speaking of fake things, the leper scene is unbelievable, and how can you stab a person if it's clearly seen that the knife DOES NOT TOUCH OR ENTER THE SKIN?? Maybe the american version (which reduces the 2 films to a single one of 90 minutes called "Journey to the Lost City") is bearable. If it's not at least it's shorter! This one, as the first, is just a flop. One can belive that it's made by Lang because of the beautiful technical aspects. But the story is just plain bad, and all scenes inevitably are: person walks in a room, has a conversation standing still, person leaves the room. And if the conversation is as boring as hell, and when "action scenes" come that have no tension whatsoever, what can you do? It may be a beautifully shot film, but it just isn't watchable as a story. Poor Lang. At least he had 40 years of masterpieces behind him... Don't see any of these movies. And if you do, see the first. At least it has Luciana Paluzzi, whose character unfortunately died in the first one. Well.. they could have raised her from the dead instead of doing whatever they do here... that at least would make the movie a little interesting...
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
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