The
previous film in Fritz Lang’s so-called “Indian Epic” ends with both a cliffhanger
and a spoiler. We are told flat out that the two star-crossed lovers will indeed
be saved, even though their chances of survival were looking pretty paltry. Yet,
it will turn out to be a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire for
Seetha the temple dancer and Harald Berger, the German architect, in Lang’s The
Indian Tomb, the second part of his Indian Epic, which opens today
at Film Forum, in conjunction with, but separately from part 1, The Tiger of
Eschnapur.
Previously
on Fritz Lang’s Indian Epic, Seetha and Berger tried to escape the Maharaja’s
clutches, but didn’t flee far enough. Soon Seetha will be forced back into the Maharaja’s
gilded cage, while Berger will be secretly held captive by the lovelorn despot’s
envious brother, Prince Ramigani, for his own scheming purposes. Unbeknownst to
Chandra, there is a pitched power struggle going on behind the scenes and
nearly all the players have lined up behind Ramigani, with only the influential
General Dagh remaining loyal to the Maharaja.
There
was a lot of scene-setting and expositional set-up in Tiger, so it is
quite impressive how Lang, the old master, manages to keep it felling snappy. In
contrast, Indian Tomb revels in all the resulting intrigue. We are
talking about secret passages and shadowy cabals here. Yet, the lush scenery
and Debra Paget’s sexually charged dance numbers remain the greatest
attractions. In fact, Indian Tomb boasts the infamous/celebrated “snake
dance.”
Ironically,
Paget would eventually come out of retirement to host an evangelical talk show
on the religious network TBN in the early 1990s. Obviously, she is a lot more
fun to watch here. She continues to balance seductiveness and spirituality
quite adroitly as Seetha. Arguably, Paul Hubschmid gets a bit more physical and
bit more human as Berger this time around. Walther Reyer continues to throw
wildly over-the-top tantrums as the Maharaja, while Jochen Blume adds some
dignity as Asagara, the palace engineer and a wholly positive Indian character.
Lang
steadily cranks up the lurid scandal as Indian Tomb purrs along. Yet, he
gives it all a sense of classically tragic sweep. Again, it is not a transcendent
cinematic masterpiece, but it is big, bold, and compulsively watchable. Enthusiastically
recommended for fans of lusty historicals, The Indian Tomb and The
Tiger of Eschnapur both open today (9/27) in New York, at Film Forum (each
ticketed separately).
