As the second decade of the 21st century nears its end, I have been going back in recent months to revisit some of my earliest silent film DVDs. One of my early favorites was Joe May’s (pronounced MY) THE INDIAN TOMB from 1921 (now 100 years old) and I am happy to report that after seeing it again, it still remains one of my favorites. I’ve always enjoyed films with a touch of the exotic and this one has it in spades. The Indian setting along with the supernatural overtones creates a film that is both old fashioned and modern at the same time.
The story of a vengeful maharajah (Conrad Veidt), his all powerful yogi (Berhard Goetzke), an English architect (Olaf Fanss) and his fiance (Mia May) covers a lot of ground with many plot twists and complications from those twists. It’s a hard film to describe, it just needs to be experienced. All the resources available to the German filmmakers of the time are put to use creating a film that ideally captures the less realistic but fully engaging world of the silent movie.
The film is actually two separate but connected features and runs a total of 221 minutes (all on one DVD). Part 1 THE MISSION OF THE YOGI sets everything up while Part 2 THE TIGER OF BENGAL works everything out leading to a fateful conclusion. The overall quality of the print is above average and there’s a fine synthesized score from Eric Beheim that draws heavily on the music of Rimsky-Korsakov. A textbook of German silent cinema, THE INDIAN TOMB would be remade by Fritz Lang (the original writer) in 1959. if you enjoy silent movies, this film is a must-see.
The Capsule Critic 