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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

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 was done with Hollywood, and he took an offer from the German film producer Artur Brauner to make a film with German money in India based on a script Lang and his ex-wife Thea von Harbou had written for the 1920 silent version of the same story (she died in 1954, a few years before this adaptation began production). Lang didn't often use color photography, but it seems inevitable that he would use it here, much like the embrace of colors in other India-set tales by people like David Lean, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and even Steven Spielberg. It's also a complete throwback to the kinds of movies that Lang was making early in his German career (he was originally supposed to direct the silent version of the story before the task went to Joe May), eschewing any kind of serious take on justice, destiny, or man's relationship with technology in favor of straight adventure. In that regard, it's one of the better examples from Lang's filmography, even if it's really just the first half of a story.

The Maharaja of Eschnapur, Chandra (Walter Reyer), has called two people to his palace. The first is the German architect Harold Berger (Paul Hubschmid), brought to build hospitals along with his brother-in-law, bringing a certain Western influence to the Indian city, inspired by the Maharaja's time in Europe after the death of his wife. The other is the dancer Seetha (Debra Paget), brought from a southern province to dance for the goddess (the goddess is never named), a thin pretext for Chandra to see if he wants to marry her. They end up going to Eschnapur together, and Harold saves Seetha from the eponymous tiger, kindling love between the two. The overall conflict between our three main characters is obvious from early on.

Another way that this feels like a callback to Lang's earliest movies is that this is the first film of his since Woman in the Moon where there are significant, ornate sets, the kind that had reached their zenith with Metropolis. The centerpiece of that in this film is the underground temple, a large open space with a huge statue of the goddess looming over it. It's here where Seetha does her dance with Chandra watching, lusting over every motion, a place where outsiders are forbidden. At the same time, Berger is following a series of underground Mongol tunnels underneath the palace and discovers a secret entrance into the temple. It's all an effort to draw them together in a shared sense of danger since she is the only one to see him. At the same time, there's a good bit of palace intrigue around Chandra's older brother Ramigani (Rene Deltgen) that doesn't do a whole lot in this film but feels like it's going to end up playing a more important role in the sequel.

There's no denying the love between Harold and Seetha, especially when Harold proves to her that her father was European (her blue eyes are a big giveaway). Seetha feels like a bird in a cage, and there's an inevitable effort to get her out. There are fun adventure elements like Harold being fed to tigers but managing to win his way out, creeping through underground tunnels, and a chase through the Indian countryside. Being a Fritz Lang film, it's all cleanly and well-filmed.

One of the weirder things about the film is that every speaking part is German (except Paget who is American) and all of the background characters are actually Indian. The exteriors were filmed in India, so actual Indians are often seen which clash pretty obviously with the more Teutonic speaking parts that obviously look like white people in brown face. I don't have a moral objection to it, but it does mess with the verisimilitude of the film. It's just kind of jarring to see all the way through.

Lang was later dismissive of the film, equating it to sugar, but I don't see anything wrong with that. Yes, Lang had been aiming for more "serious" fare ever since M in 1931, but there's nothing wrong with simpler entertainments. He does that well here, painting a colorful portrait of India while giving us a likeable lead in Berger, a pretty lead in Seetha, and a complex enough set of emotional motives to pit people against each other convincingly. It was also, apparently, one of the inspirations for the creation of Indiana Jones (Berger wears a tuxedo that looks exactly like the one Harrison Ford wore in The Temple of Doom, probably not coincidentally the India set adventure).

This is obviously Lang not making the kinds of movies he wanted to make, only the ones he could. It's also the kind of adventure that he probably should have started making in Hollywood when he first showed up in the 30s, securing a potential reputation for financial success before pushing his more serious films in an industry he didn't know. He was good at making these movies, though, and that's really not something he should have run from for so long.

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!!

"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.

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.

Probably my least favourite Fritz Lang movie I've watched by far, but it still had a decent amount going for it. It is undeniably stunning to look at, as the sets, costumes, use of colour, and lighting are all fantastic.

Debra Paget is also quite captivating as the dancer who becomes embroiled in a love triangle, while a whole lot of less than compelling political intrigue and scheming goes on in the background.

It's all just a little bit flat and lacks energy. It's definitely not trying to be slow-paced or meditative or anything, but neither is it particularly exciting or compelling. It does feel surprisingly lifeless, which isn't something I could say about any other Fritz Lang film I've seen.

Still keen to see how this story ends with Part 2, and don't ultimately regret watching this first part, even if it was a tiny bit disappointing.

Although it's rarely remembered as fondly as Metropolis or M, or even the numerous B-movies he made in the US, this picture represents an exceptional return to form for director Fritz Lang. At last, after years of slumming it with little pictures in Hollywood's big pond, The Tiger of Eschnapur reunites him with the pure and unbridled sense of adventure and the grandiose splendour which characterises his earliest pictures.

Lang was famously not a fan of widescreen with which his latest American pictures were shot, and here we see just how well he could use the old fullscreen format. Depth is such an important aspect in his shots, with vast empty spaces conveyed through a downward angle that shows the floor or the ground stretching out before us, such as that shot of the deserted village during the "hour of the tiger". Much of the movement is in depth rather than across the screen, with business at the sides of the frame to create a tunnel effect. Lang, a former architecture student must have also been delighted at all the breathtaking Indian buildings and atmospheric studio recreations he gets to play with here. As usual with Lang, his characters appear trapped within the spaces they inhabit, with claustrophobic shot compositions and now even colour schemes that make people seem one with the background. There's a great and rather comical shot where the Maharajah is leaning against a pillar, in which the shape and style of his outfit mean he looks like a pillar himself. The fact that most of these rooms are real 360-degree spaces rather than backless sets also gives Lang a real advantage. Notice how in Debra Paget's lavish quarters in the gold birdcage scene, even the windows look out onto a high wall. Lang creates an impression of a palace of endless passages and no exits. It's this slightly nightmarish vision which really drives the adventure along.

With the exception of Debra Paget, who had a handful of prominent Hollywood roles over the previous decade, the cast is mainly made up of Europeans who will be unfamiliar to most in an English-speaking audience. Lead man Paul Hubschmid is not a very interesting actor, but at least he underplays his performance – far preferable to awkward hamming. Ms Paget herself is not really exceptional either, but she does prove herself to be a superlative and hypnotic dancer. The real standout acting-wise however is Walter Reyer, who portrays the Maharajah as calmly authoritative, with just a hint of madness.

One final point – fans of the Indiana Jones movies may find themselves recognising a few sights and scenes that remind them of stuff from The Temple of Doom. While a lot of Temple of Doom's plot comes from an older Hollywood movie called Gunga Din (1939), Fritz Lang's Indian diptych seem to have given Spielberg's picture much of its spirit. This is a comic book vision at India, barely realistic, but filled with a sense of both fun and genuine menace. Forget about Lang's reputation as a dark and cynical purveyor of film noir. Although he never got the recognition he deserved at the time, with his childlike sense of adventure and breathtaking imagery, when given his creative freedom he could be the Steven Spielberg of his era.

The second half of Fritz Lang's saga lives up to the promise of the first. Elaborate set pieces, sultry exoticism and moral reckoning all skillfully delivered by a proven film maestro. Delightful fun when all is said and done.

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.

Watching this, I can't help but feel that it was one of the many movies Spielberg had in mind with Temple of Doom, and Lucas with Return of the Jedi. Debra Paget looks stunning and the plot movies along briskly. Well made with some outstanding scenery. The old master Fritzz Lang could still make a watchable movie deep into his dotage.

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.

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.

Der Tiger von Eschnapur looks like a silent movie with dialogue. The settings are magnificent and the story telling comes close to Der Müde Tod. Unfortunately the characters will speak and that breaks the magic in it. Especially for the lead actor playing architect Harald Berger: he is awful and it's even worse with the dubbing in the French version. I wonder why Fritz Lang had to make do with him. Perhaps his eyesight was starting to decline. Perhaps he was just not able to shoot his great tragedies of the 20s with dialogue although he prided himself on being a good script doctor. Well, he had to adapt to the American Motion Picture Industry then his Art would be stemmed, obstructed.

The pity is Fritz Lang never topped himself after his marvelous silent works of the 20s. Metropolis is overrated but despite all the wooden sentimentalism in it we have insights of the German director at his best. With M he gave us the best out of the silent era but he never again reach the magic of his previous work. While it took twenty years to Hitchcock to come to the masterpieces he shot in the 50s Lang did not improve his visual mastering. And worst of all the scripts he was handed in Hollywood hardly appealed to his deepest talent whereas he closely engaged in the making of Thea von Harbou's screenplays.

Harold Berger is an architect from Germany who has arrived to India to build a temple for Maharahaja Chandra.Then he meets a dancer called Seetha who becomes his destiny.He saves her from a tiger.The only problem is that Seetha is promised to the Maharahaja.Those two men become the worst enemies.Der Tiger von Eschnapur (1959) is the first part of Fritz Lang's Indian epic.It's a mighty entertaining movie from the great German director.Debra Paget does great work as the dancer.The exotic dance she does before the enormous female idol is quite amazing.Paul Hubschmid is terrific as Harold.Walter Reyer is great as Chandra.Harold's sister Irene Rhode is played by Sabine Bethmann and her husband Walter by Claus Holm.Luciana Palizzi portrays Baharani.René Deltgen plays Prince Ramigani, who wants to seize the throne from his brother.This movie still works, after 50 years since its making.The Irish tune that's heard in the movie sounds beautiful.The movie contains many good scenes.In one of them Seetha is being captured by Prince Ramigani and nearly gets raped by his men.It's pretty horrifying when Harold witnesses the leper colony.At the end there are some thrilling moments when the lovers are being chased and they get in the middle of a sandstorm.To be continued...