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.

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.

While traveling to Bengal, invited by Maharaja Chandra (Walter Reyer) to build schools and hospitals for his people, the German engineer Harold Berger (Paul Hubschmid) rescues the servant of the half-breed dancer Seetha (Debra Paget) from the harassment of a group of men in a fountain. They travel together to Chandra's palace and Berger saves Seetha from the attack of a tiger in the road through the woods. The widower Chandra intends to get married with Seetha and thanks Berger for his heroic attitude, giving an emerald ring to him to express his gratitude and friendship. Chandra proposes Seetha, but Berger and she are in love for each other and have secret encounters during the nights. Meanwhile Chandra's elder brother Prince Ramigani (René Deltgen) is plotting a scheme to grab power and trying to convince Chandra's brother-in-law Prince Padhu (Jochen Brockmann) to join him. When Chandra is informed that Berger secretly meets his beloved Seetha, he plots revenge against the engineer, but he escapes with Seetha through the desert. Chandra sends his men to hunt the couple while Berger's sister and her husband and Berger's partner Walter Rhode (Claus Holm) arrive to the palace to begin the construction of the buildings. However, Chandra changes his mind and orders the engineer to develop a project of a monumental tomb to his lost love. In the meantime, Berger and Seetha's horses die, they run out of water and they are surprised by a sand storm."Der Tiger von Eschnapur" is the first of the two "Fritz Lang's Indian Epics" of the director Fritz Lang in his return to German. The exotic and mystic romance has many action scenes and engaging subplots of betrayals, with the gorgeous Debra Paget performing magnificent choreography with her dance. The colors are splendidly restored in the DVD released in Brazil by Continental in the beautiful locations and sets. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "O Tigre de Bengala" ("The Tiger of Bengal")

If you're familiar with Fritz Lang, particularly his silent epics like "Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler," "Metropolis" and "The Nibelungen," and you admire the intricate plotting, attention to detail and fully flesh out worlds, his two-part Indian Epic (of which "The Tiger of Eschnapur" is the first part) will probably turn out to be a splendid surprise. This massive production has a lot going for it, not the least of which are the remarkable locations, cinematography, Langian screen compositions and stunning costumes. This is eye candy to the max with one amazing image after another, but its modern day Adam and Eve storyline and supernatural microcosm are also noteworthy. The first time I watched it, I think I found it rather slow and uneventful, but something about it brought me back about a year later. The second viewing was a very different experience. I saw things I completely missed the first time around. The clever irony, the emphasis on the spiritual world, the correlation of animals to the main characters and the Gods, the existence of a subversive underworld, and the interplay of opposing forces all came into focus in the most poetic fashion. I think it takes a second viewing to see how it all works. As someone else mentioned, the films are structured in a cliff hanger serial style, not unlike the Indiana Jones films. Unlike Spielberg, however, Lang's Indian Epic isn't afraid to take its characters seriously. There is humor, but the romance of character, locale, theme and story take a front seat. There is more going on here than just a fantastic adventure. I must also mention Debra Paget, who plays Seetha, a half-Indian, half-Irish dancer. She basically runs away with the whole show. I hadn't ever fully appreciated her until I saw her in this. She never radiated more beautifully than she does here and her two dances (one in each part of the film) are without a doubt among the most erotic ever photographed. Yet, they equally expand the full drama of the story. Lang's compositions speak volumes about the characters and an entire essay could be written about them. Suffice to say, even if the meaning of the shots don't hit you, you'll still be blown away by the exquisite colors, production design, and costumes. The use of white is astounding. Let me also mention the music by Michel Michelet. It's quite a stylish score, rich with exotic instrumentation, Indian marches and fanciful dances. Like the exquisite images, the score adds considerably to the alluring atmosphere. If you're a Fritz Lang fan, and you don't mind silent film pacing, you're probably of an age and mind-set to appreciate this epic. It made me wonder what Lang would have done with "Metropolis" had he shot it in 3-strip Technicolor, like this epic. There are some negatives I must mention, however. Some of the visual effects are less than satisfactory and a few of the sets look like it. Also, some of the Indian characters (Chandra, for example) are not Indians but white actors in makeup. Such were the times, but even as recently as 1982's "Ghandi," white actors (Ben Kingsley) were playing non- whites. Nevertheless, the broad strokes performances work well in this kind of adventure. The Fantomas DVD of Lang's Indian Epic has both German and English language available. Even though the dubbing is regrettable, the English version is preferable (unless you speak German), since the subtitles avert your eyes from the spectacular imagery. If you approach this with an open mind, Lang's Indian Epic will sweep you away to a wondrous world.