User reviews

Le Tigre du Bengale (1938) is a thrilling adventure film that transports audiences into the heart of the jungle, where daring exploits and exotic landscapes unfold with a sense of old-school grandeur. This forgotten gem captures the spirit of its era, mixing romance, danger, and an unmistakable sense of adventure.

While the plot may seem a bit familiar - an intrepid hero battling against both human and animal threats - it's the film's atmosphere that truly enchants. The film does not shy away from lavish set pieces, dramatic encounters, and a storyline driven by intense action. The blend of espionage and romance, set against the backdrop of the Bengal jungle, offers a perfect escape for fans of vintage adventure films.

Though the pacing and performances may feel outdated by today's standards, Le Tigre du Bengale succeeds in delivering a genuine sense of excitement and escapism. It's a movie that perfectly encapsulates the escapist fantasies of the late 1930s, where every scene feels larger than life.

Twenty-one years before the version popularized by Fritz Lang, we would be wrong to forget that there was that of Richard Eichberg, also shot in two parts.

For this first part of a duration almost equal to Lang's Bengal Tiger, one could logically expect an identical plot, but this is not the case. The story even differs on many points, so that we are sometimes surprised by the twists, which are close to those we know to better get away from it.

Despite a first half-hour that struggles to gain acceptance, we are then very quickly seduced by this story which turns out to be richer and more complex in the end than we would have thought (Lang's version even becomes simplistic at side), multiplying the characters (with some who differ greatly from those we know) and the stakes, not to mention a last part in Paris that we do not expect at all, concluded with a cliffhanger which is equally.

Otherwise, a special mention to the decorations which are of high quality and varied.

Pleasant surprise that this film rehabilitated by Wild Side Video, even if the flamboyance, the exoticism and the poetry of the future version of 1959 always seduces me more.

Then, for a film that takes place in India, it must be recognized that with colors it makes you dream more...

Written by Libellool.