Claudio Carvalho 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")

MARIO GAUCI I was wary of purchasing Fantoma's 2-Disc Set of "Fritz Lang's Indian Epic" after being somewhat let down by the 1921 Silent original (co-scripted by Lang himself) and also its less-than-stellar reputation. For this reason, when the second part of the saga turned up on Italian TV a couple of years ago, I decided to check it out just the same so as to get an inkling of what to expect! I recall thinking it pretty kitschy and unworthy of Lang's enormous talent, but Fantoma's sale (through their website) of their entire DVD catalog a few months back made it an irresistible acquisition! Well, having now watched the entire saga (with dialogue and in color, as opposed to the rather static Silent version directed by Joe May - although hearing the Indian-garbed characters talking in German took some getting used to), I was pleasantly surprised by how genuinely engaging and sheerly enjoyable it all was! Though it was sold as an epic production (to the point of concluding ESCHNAPUR with the promise that Part II would feature greater thrills and even more spectacle) at a time when such films were all the rage, the saga was actually a pretty modest undertaking by eclectic (and prolific) German producer Artur Brauner. Despite the two films' exotic, handsome look (not least in the provocative dances of Debra Paget), the budgetary constraints were painfully obvious in the special effects department, especially the hilarious appearance of a 'ropey' cobra which is intended to 'test' (the scantily-clad) Miss Paget's faithfulness to the Maharajah!! All in all, even if these films hardly constitute Lang's greatest work (though he harbored an evident affection throughout his life for this particular tale, which was originally conceived by his former wife Thea von Harbou), they have great - and enduring - appeal for aficionados of old-fashioned, serial-like adventure stories tinged with romance and mysticism.Even so, while I don't subscribe to that school of thought myself, there are some film critics (Tom Gunning, Jean Douchet and Pierre Rissient among them) who think very highly of Lang's Indian diptych - the first considering it one of Lang's towering achievements and the last two numbering it among the ten greatest films of all time!!

michael autin This is a Lush production. The costumes and extravagance of the exterior sets for the various parades is intoxicating. This film captures the allure that India held for many decades. The story is clear cut, and there are many simplistic plot motivations. The film is the premier example of the Cliffhanger style, as the story unfolds from peril to peril. While some effects are of grade A cheese (a poor tiger in the beginning) The dance scenes Really do open the eyes. Of Star Trek note... the second dance scene MUST have been the inspiration for Vina, the Orion Slave dancer of "The Cage" fame... many of the same exotica is there. Fritz Lang was indeed a crafty teller of tales.

vostf 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.