El tigre de Esnapur

The story is dull, but the sets are beautiful and visually appealing. Staring hilariously tacky but cute puppet of a tiger. The main entertainment value is admiring Debra Paget's costumes and her horrible lip-sync.

Fritz Lang's two part Indian Epic made up of the films The Tiger of Bengal and The Tomb of Love is, to put it lightly, a cinematic enigma. While Lang is no stranger to both pulp fiction and long films, he oddly fails at both in this two-part travesty.

Watching a film like Lang's Metropolis or his five hour epic of Die Nibelungen is a magical experience. The films flow at such a brilliant pace, drawing in the viewer and creating a world of high drama and excitement amidst some of the most lavish and beautiful sets of the silent era. Yet, somehow, this magic is lost in his Indian Epic, as the nearly three and a half hours that comprise both films drags for what seems like an eternity. While the first film, The Tiger of Bengal, starts off like a pleasing, pulpy adventure story, it soon peters off nearly halfway through, setting the pace for what will be the rest of the first and the entire second film.

Production was evidently a very expensive and impressive one, complete with jewel-studded clothing, immense and desolate dungeons, and large and grandiose palaces, stocked with every little intricate detailed imagined; yet, these impressive settings are hardly utilized in to making this the film(s) it could have been, for they remain nothing more than eye-candy in what is ultimately a theatrical play of the most dire sort. Stilted, bland dialogue and scenes that drag and repeat play out almost cyclically: Where is the princess? She's over there. Where is the foreigner? He's over there. What should we do? We should do this... and so on, ad nauseam, until nearly three and a half hours of a film still unrealized is completed.

Even in some of Lang's previous minor failings he never achieved such a monotony as this. In his canceled pulp-adventure project, The Spiders, Lang was able to pull off an exhilarating tale of adventure in a foreign land for the first film, which would be canceled shortly after just the second Admittedly, the second and last entry of The Spiders almost seems to set a precedent for what would go wrong with both The Tiger of Bengal and The Tomb of Love: hardly anything happens.

I simply just don't understand what Lang went in to this project imagining. After reading this was a remake of the Indian Epic that he originally produced earlier on in his career I was so excited to finally sit and view what I imagined would be a wonderful adventure. I assumed it was one of his last, final great works; a tale of intrigue and adventure and lavish sets, and a film I could rely on for years to come to go back to and relieve the magic all again. Such a disappointment on so many levels, both as an adventure film, and arguably one of Lang's worst.

"Der Tiger von Eschnapur" is a film about a German architect who is brought to India to work for the Maharajah of Enschnapur (a fictitious kingdom). Along the way, he exercises very poor judgment and falls in love with a half-caste (Debra Paget) and they both risk their lives if they act upon this love. And so, naturally, they do and the film ends with their fleeing for their lives. Exactly what happens next, you'll need to see in the second film in this series--"The Indian Tomb".

I enjoyed "Der Tiger von Eschnapur". It was the sort of film that was like a throwback to the 1940s--to the films of Universal Studios. In many ways, it was a bit like "The Cobra Woman", "Thief of Bagdad" or a movie serial--full of action, romance and escapism. On the other hand, it certainly was not a great piece of art--more like a B-movie with a slightly higher budget and a nice locale. Plus, Miss Paget had one of the sexiest dance numbers I can recall having seen apart from Rita Hayworth's in "Gilda". However, to put it bluntly, it was a decent film but not good enough to enable the director, Fritz Lang, to be able to mount a comeback to his former greatness. But with small bad touches (one-dimensional characters and some bad special effects--such as the obviously stuffed tiger during the big climactic scene and the wooden-looking severed head), it certainly isn't a great work of art--more just Saturday matinée escapism and nothing more. But, frankly, sometimes that is all you need to have a bit of fun.

In Schnapur , there rules a powerful Maharajah called Chandra : Walter Reyel who falls in love for a beautiful temple-dancer : Debra Paget , who schemes to marry her despite fierce opposition from factions within his own court . But all his wealth and power has not prevented his sweetheart has a romance with an architect : Paul Christian . Both of whom flee from Eschnapur but are pursued by the Maharajah's soldiers . This sparks a coup of state which is eventually put down . The plot expands to build a huge tomb to imprison the girl who betrayed him but things go awry.

Pretty good movie with huge budget for the time , colorful cinematography , luxurious palaces as well as spectacular outdoors . It deals with a moving loving triangle triggering the Maharajah's vengeful ire and in the midst there are several fights , escapes , snakes , tigers and the Goddess Shiva . Here stands out the gorgeous Debra Paget who performs spectacular and erotic dances . It packs an emotive and thrilling musical score by from Gerhard Becker and Michel Michelet . Glamorous photography by Richard Angst , shot on location in India and in German studios , though being necessary a perfect remastering , that is why the film copy is washed-out . This is a remake from the silent original also directed by Fritz Lang with Conrad Veidt , Paul Ritter , and Mia May . This ¨Tiger of Schanapur¨ is the first part , being followed by a second installment titled ¨The Indian tomb¨ . Both of them were merged for US as ¨Journey to the Lost City¨ delivered by American International Pictures , it results to be a poorly edited hybrid of the two Lang movies.

The motion picture scripted by Thea Von Harbou , Lang's wife , was lavishly produced by Arthur Brauner . And it was well directed by Fritz Lang who also made another classic adventure movie : ¨Moonfleet¨ . 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¨ ; Western : ¨Rancho notorious¨ , ¨Western Unión¨ , ¨Revenge of Frank James¨.

Fritz Lang's last American work " beyond a reasonable doubt" was a commercial failure and it was panned at the time -nowadays ,and mainly in Europe ,critics are inclined to reverse their opinions.Actually "beyond a reasonable doubt " could easily be "remade" (God preserve us!) today because its screenplay with the unexpected final twist is trendy(1) .Afterward,Lang returned to Germany and began to film what was an old plan of his (it was filmed ,but by other directors),written by his ex-wife Thea Von Harbou.

The gap between "Der Tiger von Eschnapur" and "beyond a reasonable doubt" (and "human desire" "while the city sleeps" "clash by night" "the big heat" etc) seems so wide that a lot of people did not recognize "their " Fritz Lang.One could answer them that ,already in the mid-fifties ,Lang had adapted for the screen "Moonfleet" ,his first color experiment with startling results .And "Moonfleet" too did not seem to belong to Lang's canon."Moonfleet " was a tour de force because it was a whole story seen through a child's eye.Something magic was born ,and it's this magic we find again in "Der Tiger von Eschnapur".

"Der Tiger von Eschnapur" is a 4 million marks movie and the most accessible of all Lang's works:it can appeal to a child as much as to a professor .At first sight,it appears as an adventure yarn ,close to comic strip ,some kind of "Fritz Lang and the temple of doom" ,but a director like him cannot be brought down to only that.

"Der Tiger von Eschnapur" is a visual splendor ,with an unusually inventive use of color,which is not unlike his British peer Michael Powell (Black orchid,thief of Bagdad).Lang was an architect ,and it's impossible not to feel it,here more than in his entire American period. It's no coincidence if his hero (Henri Mercier/Harald Berger) is an architect too;they are always holding and studying plans .Lang's camera perfectly captures the space it describes .Mercier (Paul Hubschmid)is often filmed in high angle shot,in the huge palace of the Maharajah,in the tiger pit ,or later,in the second part ,in the dungeon where he's imprisoned.Actually,and it's obvious,it takes us back to Lang's German silent era ,particularly "der müde Tod" "die Niebelungen" and "Metropolis".

"Der Tiger von Eschnapur" is essentially a movie of exposition:some scenes which seem overlong (Paget's dance),irrelevant(the lepers ) are actually necessary to prepare the stage for part two.And this leads us to one of Lang's permanent features:the coexistence of two worlds.

Behind the lavishly furnished palace,the sumptuous clothes,the sparkling jewels ,there's another world beneath.The scene when Mercier meets the lepers scrawling on the ground ,and in a simpler but no less harrowing ,Baharani's blood seeping out of the basket are hints at a darker side of the luminous magic world of Chandra.

There's a lot to say about "der Tiger von Eschapur" :the flight through the desert recalls sometimes Henri -Georges Clouzot's "Manon" (1949),as Mercier's madness breaks out and he begins to fire at the sun.

"Der Tiger von Eschnapur" is a must.

(1) it was finally remade and as expected it was a disaster