The Indian Tomb

Movie Information

The Hendersonville Film Society will show The Indian Tomb at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community, 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville. (From Asheville, take I-26 to U.S. 64 West, turn right at the third light onto Thompson Street. Follow to the Lake Point Landing entrance and park in the lot on the left.)
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Genre: Exotic Romance/Adventure
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Debra Paget, Paul Christian, Walter Reyer, Claus Holm, René Deltgen
Rated: NR

The second part to Fritz Lang’s The Tiger of Eschanpur, The Indian Tomb (1959), is what can be called (in a good sense) more of the same—only a little more so. Since the two films were made together and meant to be seen in succession, it’s not surprising that they’re stylistically of a piece. The Indian Tomb, however, is slightly more fun in that it’s so very obviously exotic nonsense of the serial-film kind. The very fact that it is part two necessitates five or six minutes of “last time, as you remember” lead-in to the story proper—and in its favor, it doesn’t cheat, but it’s still amusingly in keeping with the tone of a movie that boasts lines like, “Please, leave me my goddess. She’s a good goddess.” (Considering that said goddess has just had a spider save the leads’ hash by spinning a web to prove to their pursuers that they couldn’t be in the cave in which they’re hiding, one might agree.) Other aspects of charming foolishness include a lovably hokey papier-mâché cobra and a dancing scene where our heroine wears a scanty outft that’s either a testament to the quality of German glue, or proof that there is no law of gravity. And there’s the valuable lesson that if subterranean lepers appear in part one, there will be leper mayhem before part two is over. Always remember that.

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About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

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