I originally reviewed this movie back in 2009, 9 years after it first appeared on DVD. It took 18 tears for it to get a Blu-ray release and, for me originally, it wasn't worth the wait. Although the movie was restored by the F. W. Murnau Foundation, the Blu-ray looks no different than the 2000 Image DVD. Where the Blu-ray missed out, in my original opinion, was in the new 2018 accompanying score by a Czech couple, Irena & Vojtech Havlovi, known as The Havels. At first, I got the feeling that they weren't watching the movie when they composed the music for it.
The 2000 soundtrack by Eric Beheim, which is a pastiche of themes by Rimsky-Korsakov, seemed much more suited to the material. Exoticism deserves exoticism not improvisation I thought. The Murnau Foundation may not have been able to obtain the rights to the Beheim score but they should have come up with something similar. This new score has a Philip Glass like quality which takes getting used to but by the end of this nearly 4 hour cinematic journey, its hypnotic qualities suit the material perfectly. Having re-watched the new Blu-ray and since the picture quality remains the same, I have come to prefer The Havels' new score. The Blu-ray also contains a 45 minute special feature on the making of the film and those involved. For a comparison, below is my original DVD review.
ORIGINAL 2009 REVIEW:
As the first decade of the 21st century nears its end, I have been going back in recent months to revisit some of my earliest silent film DVDs. One of my early favorites was Joe May (pronounced MY)'s THE INDIAN TOMB from 1921 and I am happy to report that after seeing it again, it still remains one of my favorites. I've always enjoyed films with a touch of the exotic and this one has it in spades. The Indian setting along with the supernatural overtones creates a film that is both old fashioned and modern at the same time.
The story of a vengeful maharajah (Conrad Veidt), his all powerful yogi (Berhard Goetzke), an English architect (Olaf Fanss) and his fiance (Mia May) covers a lot of ground with many plot twists and complications from those twists. It's a hard film to describe, it just needs to be experienced. All the resources available to the German filmmakers of the time are put to use creating a film that ideally captures the less realistic but fully engaging world of the silent movie.
The film is actually two separate but connected features and runs a total of 221 minutes (all on one DVD). Part 1 THE MISSION OF THE YOGI sets everything up while Part 2 THE TIGER OF BENGAL works everything out leading to a fateful conclusion. The overall quality of the print is above average and there's a fine synthesized score from Eric Beheim that draws heavily on the music of Rimsky-Korsakov. A textbook of German silent cinema, THE INDIAN TOMB would be remade by Fritz Lang (the original writer) in 1959. If you enjoy silent movies, this film is a must-see...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.
