The Indian Tomb (Das indische Grabmal in its original German) is a 1959 West German-French-Italian adventure drama film. It was produced by Artur Brauner, directed by Fritz Lang, and stars Debra Paget, Paul Hubschmid, Walter Reyer, Claus Holm, Valéry Inkijinoff, and Sabine Bethma.
It is the second of two feature films, 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 1918 novel Das indische Grabmal, written by Lang's ex-wife, Thea von Harbou, who died in 1954. The novel had earlier been filmed twice; each time as a two-part German film; in 1921 and 1938 respectively.
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 renamed Journey to the Lost City which earned domestic gross of $500,000.
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 in West Berlin with sets designed by the art directors Helmut Nentwig and Willy Schatz.
Reception
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film had an approval rating of 88% based on 8 reviews. 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] In contrast to those earlier opinions, contemporary American film critics are positive about the film. 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.".
See also
The Indian Tomb (1921 film) The Indian Tomb (1938 film)
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 "Come On, Baby, Be My Tiger" - article about the several versions of the film Artur-Brauner-Archive at the Deutsches Filmmuseum in Frankfurt (German), containing the production files for this movie