''The Indian Tomb'' (''Das indische Grabmal'' in its original German) is a 1959 West German-French-Italian

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

. It was produced by Artur Brauner, directed by

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary '' Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. ...

, and stars Debra Paget,

Paul Hubschmid Paul Hubschmid (; 20 July 1917 – 31 December 2001) was a Swiss actor. He was most notable for his role as Henry Higgins in a production of ''My Fair Lady''. In some of his Hollywood films he used the name Paul Christian. He appeared in dozens ...

Walter Reyer Walther Reyer (4 September 1922 – 5 September 1999) was an Austrian actor. He appeared in more than 50 films and television shows between 1954 and 1997. Filmography References External links * 1922 births 1999 deaths Austrian m ...

Claus Holm Claus Holm (4 August 1918 – 21 September 1996) was a German film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1943 and 1979. He was born in Bochum, Germany and died in Berlin, Germany. Selected filmography * ''Floh im Ohr'' (1943) - Knecht H ...

Valéry Inkijinoff Valery Ivanovich Inkizhinov (russian: Валерий Иванович Инкижинов; 25 March 1895 – 26 September 1973), known as Valéry Inkijinoff, was a Russian actor, director and acting teacher. Born to a Buryat family in Irkutsk, h ...

, and Sabine Bethma. It is the second of two

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

s, comprising what has come to be known as ''Fritz Lang's Indian Epic''; the first is '' The Tiger of Eschnapur'' (''Der Tiger von Eschnapur''). Both are based on the novel '' Das indische Grabmal'', written by Lang's ex-wife,

Thea von Harbou Thea Gabriele von Harbou (27 December 1888 – 1 July 1954) 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 1 ...

, who died in 1954. In 1960

American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...

obtained the rights to both films and combined them into one heavily-edited, 90 minute long feature renamed ''Journey to the Lost City''. After both were dubbed into Spanish, they were shown as separate films, when in fact the second was a direct continuation of the first. Interiors were shot at the

Spandau Studios The Spandau Studios or CCC Studios were film and television studios located in Spandau, a suburb of Berlin. They were established in 1949 following the Second World War by the producer Artur Brauner controller of CCC Films, on the site of a form ...

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

with sets designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vis ...

Helmut Nentwig Helmut Nentwig (1916–2007) was a German art director.Bergfelder p.254 Selected filmography * '' You Can No Longer Remain Silent'' (1955) * '' Bonjour Kathrin'' (1956) * '' The Simple Girl'' (1957) * '' The Big Chance'' (1957) * '' Munchhausen ...

and Willy Schatz.

In popular culture

The film is probably best remembered today for Debra Paget's erotically charged "snake dance scene".

Reception

On review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film had an approval rating of 88% based on 8 reviews.

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the '' Frankfurter ...

wrote: "Here lies Fritz Lang, once creator of important films like ''

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

'' and '' M''. The 'Indian tomb' is his own." .e, grave as a filmmakerIn contrast to those earlier opinions, contemporary American film critics are positive about the film."The Indian Tomb" at Rotten Tomatoes
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Notes

External links

* * A from ''The Indian Tomb'' ( Debra Paget dancing with a cobra)
"Three and a half Tombs" - article about the genesis of the book and the films made from it

* [http://deutsches-filminstitut.de/archive-bibliothek/nachlaesse-und-sammlungen/artur-brauner-archiv/ Artur-Brauner-Archive at the Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt (German), containing the production files for this movie] 1959 films 1950s adventure drama films 1959 romantic drama films German adventure films West German films French drama films Italian drama films 1950s German-language films Films based on works by Thea von Harbou Films directed by Fritz Lang Films scored by Michel Michelet Films set in India Films with screenplays by Fritz Lang Remakes of German films Films shot at Spandau Studios 1950s Italian films 1950s French films 1950s German films {{adventure-film-stub

In popular culture

Reception

See also

Notes

External links