Der Tiger von Eschnapur (1959)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Werner Jörg Lüddecke (writer)
Thea von Harbou (novel)

Release Date:

October 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Romance

Tagline:

Der deutsche Millionen-Film!

Plot Keywords:

Flogging | Colonial | Tiger Hunt | Dancer | Elephant

Cast

Debra Paget	...	Seetha
Paul Hubschmid	...	Harald Berger / Henri Mercier in French version
Walter Reyer	...	Chandra
Claus Holm	...	Dr. Walter Rhode
Luciana Paluzzi	...	Baharani
Valéry Inkijinoff	...	Yama
Sabine Bethmann	...	Irene Rodhe
René Deltgen	...	Prince Ramigani
Jochen Brockmann	...	Padhu
Richard Lauffen	...	Browana
Jochen Blume	...	Asagara
Helmut Hildebrand	...	Ramigani's servant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Guido Celano	...	General Dagh
Victor Francen	...	Penitent
Panos Papadopulos	...	Kurier
Angela Portaluri	...	Bäurin

Also Known As:

La tigre di Eschnapur (Italy)
Le tigre du Bengale
The Tiger of Eschnapur (International: English title) (informal literal title)
Tiger of Bengal (UK)

Runtime:

Germany:101 min | Spain:95 min

Country:

West Germany | France | Italy

Language:

German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

CCC-Atelier, Spandau, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Central Cinema Company Film (CCC)

Movie Connections:

Edited into Journey to the Lost City (1959)

Talkie silent Orient tale

Der Tiger von Eschnapur looks like a silent movie with dialogue. The settings are magnificent and the story telling comes close to Der Müde Tod. Unfortunately the characters will speak and that breaks the magic in it. Especially for the lead actor playing architect Harald Berger: he is awful and it's even worse with the dubbing in the French version. I wonder why Fritz Lang had to make do with him. Perhaps his eyesight was starting to decline. Perhaps he was just not able to shoot his great tragedies of the 20s with dialogue although he prided himself on being a good script doctor. Well, he had to adapt to the American Motion Picture Industry then his Art would be stemmed, obstructed.

The pity is Fritz Lang never topped himself after his marvelous silent works of the 20s. Metropolis is overrated but despite all the wooden sentimentalism in it we have insights of the German director at his best. With M he gave us the best out of the silent era but he never again reach the magic of his previous work. While it took twenty years to Hitchcock to come to the masterpieces he shot in the 50s Lang did not improve his visual mastering. And worst of all the scripts he was handed in Hollywood hardly appealed to his deepest talent whereas he closely engaged in the making of Thea von Harbou's screenplays.