The Indian Tomb (German: Das indische Grabmal) is a 1959 adventure film, co-written and directed by Fritz Lang. Produced by Artur Brauner, it is an international co-production of West Germany, France and Italy. It is the second film, after The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959), that comprise "Fritz Lang's Indian Epic" duology, which are based on the 1918 novel Das indische Grabmal, written by Lang's ex-wife Thea von Harbou.
In 1960 American International Pictures obtained the rights to both films in "Fritz Lang's Indian Epic", combining them into one heavily edited, 90-minute-long feature named Journey to the Lost City which earned domestic gross of $500,000.[4] After both were dubbed into Spanish, they were shown as separate films, when in fact the second was a direct continuation of the first.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film had an approval rating of 88% based on 8 reviews.[5] Contemporaneously Die Welt wrote: "Here lies Fritz Lang, once creator of important films like Metropolis and M. The 'Indian tomb' is his own." [i.e., grave as a filmmaker][6] In contrast to those earlier opinions, contemporary American film critics are positive about the film.[5] The film is probably best remembered today for Debra Paget's sexy "snake dance scene". Hollywood Reporter headlined their review with a publicity shot of her dance, writing, "The pasted-on costume she wears for a long “snake dance” scene, which leaves her nearly naked, seems to do the trick — though Seetha's wardrobe will hardly distract 21st century viewers from perhaps the fakest-looking writhing cobra in movie history."[7]
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang, better known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian-American film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States. One of the best-known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute. He has been cited as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time.
Thea Gabriele von Harbou was a German screenwriter, novelist, film director, and actress. She is remembered as the screenwriter of the science fiction film classic Metropolis (1927) and for the 1925 novel on which it was based. von Harbou collaborated as a screenwriter with film director Fritz Lang, her husband, during the period of transition from silent to sound films.
The Indian Tomb is a two-part 1921 German silent film directed by Joe May.
Debra Paget is an American retired actress and entertainer. She is perhaps best known for her performances in Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments (1956) and in Elvis Presley's film debut, Love Me Tender (1956), as well as for the risqué snake dance scene in The Indian Tomb (1959).
The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse is a 1960 black-and-white crime thriller film directed by Fritz Lang in his final film. A West German/French/Italian international co-production, it starred Peter van Eyck, Dawn Addams and Gert Fröbe. The film made use of the character Dr. Mabuse, who had appeared in earlier films by Lang in 1922 and 1933. The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse spawned a film series of German Mabuse films that were released over the following years to compete with Rialto Film's Krimi films.
Joe May was an Austrian film director and film producer and one of the pioneers of German cinema.
The Tiger of Eschnapur is a 1959 West German-French-Italian adventure film directed by Fritz Lang. It is the first of two films comprising what has come to be known as Fritz Lang's Indian Epic; the other is The Indian Tomb(Das Indische Grabmal). Fritz Lang returned to Germany to direct these films, which together tell the story of a German architect, the Indian maharaja for whom he is supposed to build schools and hospitals, and the Eurasian dancer who comes between them.
Valery Ivanovich Inkizhinov, known as Valéry Inkijinoff, was a Russian actor, director and acting teacher. Born to a Buryat family in Irkutsk, he began his career in the Soviet Union, playing the lead role in Vsevolod Pudovkin's 1928 film Storm Over Asia. He immigrated to France in the 1930s, where his strong facial features made him a favorite villain for exotic adventure and crime films.
Artur "Atze" Brauner was a German film producer and entrepreneur of Polish origin. He produced more than 300 films from 1946.
The Tiger of Eschnapur may refer to:
Olaf Holger Axel Fønss was a Danish actor, director, producer, film censor and one of Denmark and Germany's biggest stars of the silent film era.
The Indian Tomb is a 1938 German adventure film directed by Richard Eichberg and starring Philip Dorn, La Jana and Theo Lingen. It is the sequel to Eichberg's The Tiger of Eschnapur.
CCC Film is a German film production company founded in 1946 by Artur Brauner. A Polish Jew who survived the Nazi era by fleeing to the Soviet Union, he lost dozens of relatives to the Nazis. His primary interest was making films about the Nazi era, but after his first such film failed at the box office, throwing him into debt, he began producing entertainment films, the commercial success of which then financed his Holocaust-related films, some of which also became successful. In 2009, Brauner donated 21 Holocaust-related films to Yad Vashem.
The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the New West area of Charlottenburg, was a major Berlin cinema owned by Universum Film AG, or Ufa. Opened in 1919 and enlarged in 1925, it was the largest cinema in Germany until 1929 and was one of the main locations of film premières in the country. The building was destroyed in November 1943 during the Bombing of Berlin in World War II and replaced in 1957 by the Zoo Palast.
Die Nibelungen is a 1966/1967 West German fantasy film released in two parts, Siegfried von Xanten and Kriemhilds Rache. It was directed by Harald Reinl and produced by Artur Brauner. Die Nibelungen starred Uwe Beyer, Karin Dor and Herbert Lom. The two films were a remake of Fritz Lang's 1924 silent classic Die Nibelungen, which was in turn based on the epic poem the Nibelungenlied.
Walter Wischniewsky was a German film editor who worked on over a hundred productions during his career. Wischniewsky also sometimes worked as an assistant director. Wischniewsky began his career during the Nazi era, but most productions he worked on were post-Second World War. He edited several rubble films, including The Berliner (1948). During the 1950s and 1960s he became one of the mainstays of German commercial cinema, working on the long-running Edgar Wallace and Karl May series. Wischniewsky edited Fritz Lang's Indian-shot The Indian Tomb and The Tiger of Eschnapur.
Das indische Grabmal is a 1918 novel by the German writer Thea von Harbou. It tells the story of a German architect who is commissioned by an Indian maharajah to create a large monument, only to learn that it is meant for the maharajah's unfaithful lover, who will be buried alive as punishment. The novel has been adapted for film three times, and was not translated into English until 2016.
Willy Schatz (1903–1976) was a German art director of Baltic German origin. He designed the sets for numerous film productions in post-war West Germany including Fritz Lang's The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb in 1959.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse is a 1962 German film directed by Werner Klingler. It was the fourth part of the Dr. Mabuse series from the 1960s and was a remake of the 1933 Fritz Lang film The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.
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