The Indian tomb (1938)

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Movie
Original title The Indian tomb
The Indian Tomb 1938 Logo 001.svg
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1938
length 95 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Richard Eichberg
script Arthur Pohl , Hans Klaehr , Richard Eichberg, Thea von Harbou
production Richard Eichberg
music Harald Boehmelt
camera Ewald Daub , Hans Schneeberger , HO Schulze, W. Meyer-Bergelt
cut Willy Zeyn junior
occupation

The Indian tomb is the second part of the adventure film Der Tiger von Eschnapur by director Richard Eichberg, shot in 1937 in Udaipur and Mysore ( India ) and Rüdersdorf (Germany). The screenplay was written by Richard Eichberg, Arthur Pohl, Hans Klaehr and Thea von Harbou based on the novel by Thea von Harbou . The premiere of the film took place on January 28, 1938 in Wuppertal-Elberfeld, the first Berlin showing on February 26, 1938 in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo .

action

The sequel to the film The Tiger of Esnapur shows the hunt for Sitha and Sascha around the world disguised as the Maharaja's journey with Irene Traven and Prince Ramigani, while Fürbringer, Emil Sperling and his wife Lotte Sperling are working on the Maharaja's building projects in India. In Bombay, Ramigani manages to track down Sitha in a second-class variety theater. But before that, Sitha can contact Irene Traven. Before both can speak to each other, Sitha is kidnapped by Prince Ramigani. While the Maharaja traveling with his entourage after Eschnapur and Irene shows his country Ramigani forges with other nobles of the country a revolt with the aim that Ramigani itself Maharaja is. Sitha is taken to a remote mountain castle, but Sitha's servant Myrrha manages to smuggle Irene into the closely guarded mountain castle for a conversation with Sitha. When Irene asks the Maharajah for mercy for Sitha, the latter refuses. While Ramigani plans to assassinate Chandra during a feast, he has Irene Traven and Fürbringer captured. Emil Sperling escapes capture disguised as an Indian and, with the help of Sascha Demidoff, frees Fürbringer and Irene. For the festival, Ramigani forces Sitha to dance. When she approaches the Maharajah in her dance and warns of the attack by Ramigani, she is shot. The revolt that broke out is also put down and Ramigani dies on the run from his just punishment. The Maharajah now asks supporters to stay to complete the tomb for Sitha.

Production and theatrical release

Both films were produced by Richard Eichberg (Richard-Eichberg-Film GmbH, Berlin) under the production management of Georg Wittuhn . The entire film crew traveled to India for both films and it was shot on location under the personal patronage of the Maharajah of Udaipur. The famous Indian Menaka-Bellett was hired for some dance scenes. The choreographer Hans Gérard supervised the choreographies of La Jana.

The director Richard Eichberg witnessed a life and death fight between a tiger and a wild boar, which he vividly described in all bloody details to the press. Alexander Golling, who played the glow-eyed villain Ramigani, is said to have even enjoyed being venerated as a saint, according to marginal notes from the press. “You shot in the mountains, in the midst of simple mountain farmers. Countless locals lined the way. Golling remembered that he always had to wear a turban and, even in the hot climate, his costume with dark make-up. Once he took off his turban and his blond hair came out. The locals didn't know anything about make-up and thought Golling was really Indian. Everyone was frightened - an Indian with blond hair! At that time you thought you had a god in front of you and it supposedly took some time before you could make it clear to people that Alexander Golling was neither an Indian nor a god. ”Fever, diarrhea and the unfamiliar heat made the actors feel weak and rapid weight loss, so that some scenes later had to be re-shot in the studio in Germany after the actors were able to recover and gain weight again. For the scenes that were re-shot in Germany, an Indian fairytale world with palaces and temples had been recreated on the film grounds in Berlin-Johannisthal .

The films The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb were recombined after the end of the war under the title Indian Vengeance and shown in German cinemas.

At the same time - also under the direction of Eichberg - a French version with the title Le Tombeau hindou was produced. The main roles - with the exception of Prince Chandra, who was played by the Munich-born editor and actor Max Michel - were mostly cast by French actors. It worked Alice Field (Sitha), Pola Illéry (Myrrha) and Roger Charles with the Prince Ramigani.

background

The author Thea von Harbou only worked on the script for the film "The Indian Tomb", not on the script for the first part "The Tiger of Esnapur". All previous film adaptations of the novel, which bears the title "The Indian Tomb", are based only on the novel. Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou wrote the screenplay for the first film adaptation from 1921 ( Das indische Grabmal (1921) ) . Although Fritz Lang was already being discussed as a director in 1921, Joe May (then producer and director) took the project on on the grounds that Lang was too young and inexperienced for such an expensive and monumental film project. In the film version from 1959, Fritz Lang, who returned to Germany from emigration to the USA, took over the direction.

The success of Richard Eichberg's “Indian films” cemented La Jana's fame as an exotic dancer.

“After the end of World War II, in 1958, the director Fritz Lang, who emigrated to the USA after taking power , attempted a remake of both films with Debra Paget and Paul Hubschmid . Although both films showed all of India's splendor in color, they didn't catch on with audiences. The beautiful Debra Paget was not up to the erotic, gentle attraction of La Jana. "

criticism

“Exotic locations and adventures, intrigue and betrayal, romance and vengeance: From these ingredients of tried and tested American role models and traditional trivial romance of German popular literature, this monumental adventure film mixed an audience-effective cocktail in two parts. The border to kitsch is more than touched on in this spectacle, which is one of the most elaborate German productions of the thirties, but that is one of the characteristics of the genre. The dancer La Jana is enchantingly elegant as a proud, passionate Maharani. "

- Lexicon of German films

“The director Roland Eichberg knew what he had to offer his audience. La Jana's costumes were breathtakingly beautiful and the audience should be amazed by their exotic feminine charms. Nothing was too expensive or too opulent to recreate the fairytale wealth of the Indian royal palaces in the film. The famous Indian Menaka ballet was hired for various dance scenes. La Jana's cloakroom was accordingly spectacular: glittering tendrils barely covered her bosom, head and shoulders and only a golden sash loops around her narrow hips when she wakes up in a scene as a temple dancer on the hands of an imposing Indian deity. This revue scene is probably one of the most beautiful and impressive that can be seen in the film "The Tiger of Esnapur". "

- Christa Bandmann

“Against the director of the second Indian tomb, Richard Eichberg, Joe May was pure iron stone . Since the middle of the decade, Eichberg was the king of the Berlin snout and had an almost voluptuous speculative lack of concern, and "his actor guard had to be able to move between frivolity and lasciviousness" (Werner Holba: Geschichte des Deutschen Tonfilms). In its version of the Indian films, the bombastic kitsch climbs heavenly heights (this version is the best known thanks to incessant re-performances in the cinema and television). Like May, Eichberg also put his wife, Kitty Jantzen, in a female lead. The best thing about the film is of course the beautiful La Jana (the perfect nakedness, Alfred Polgar), as she glides through the film with her beautiful limbs as the high priestess of a cult who doesn't even think about celebrating the cold statues of Shiva because he finds his hot satisfaction in himself. "

- Classics of the German sound film

meaning

The Indian Tomb is an opulent adventure film that, with many shots of Indian palaces and landscapes, magnificent exotic costumes and dances, and fairytale interiors and backdrops, was supposed to take the viewer into a strange world and entertain them (including an elephant fight that was filmed in India, seen in the film). This makes it atypical for German cinema productions in the years just before the Second World War. The dramaturgical concept with two full-length films building on each other corresponded to more previous films such as Die Spinnen , Dr. Mabuse, the player or The Nibelungs . The buildings and costumes were made by Willi A. Herrmann and Alfred Bütow (complete equipment).

literature

  • Thea von Harbou : The Indian Tomb , Berlin 1918.
  • Thea von Harbou: The Indian Tomb , Area Verlag 2005, ISBN 3-89996-640-6 .
  • Christa Bandmann: The stars shine. From the heyday of German film , Heyne Verlag (Dec. 1984), ISBN 3-45301-128-7 .
  • Christa Bandmann / Joe Hembus: Classics of the German sound film 1930-1960. Munich 1980, pp. 108-111. ISBN 3-442-10207-3
  • Thomas Kramer (Ed.): Lexikon des Deutschen Films , Büchergilde Gutenberg, ISBN 3-7632-4425-5 , p. 157 ff.
  • Audiobook The Indian Tomb . Kassel: MEDIA Net-Kassel 2007 (= films to listen to , 1), 6 CD audio, total playing time: 6 hours 24 minutes, ISBN 978-3-939988-01-4 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for the Indian tomb . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2015 (PDF; test number: 14 V V).
  2. ↑ a b c Comp. Christa Bandmann: The stars shine. From the heyday of German film , Heyne Verlag (Dec. 1984), ISBN 3-45301-128-7 , p. 83 ff.
  3. ↑ cf. Thomas Kramer (Ed.): Lexikon des Deutschen Films , Büchergilde Gutenberg, ISBN 3-7632-4425-5 , p. 157 ff.
  4. ^ Christa Bandmann, Joe Hembus: Classics of the German sound film 1930-1960. Munich 1980, p. 111