Journey to the Lost City (1959)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Fritz Lang

Writers:

Fritz Lang (writer)
Werner Jörg Lüddecke (writer)

Release Date:

October 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Tagline:

A Wondrous Adventure Into a Mysterious Barbaric Land Lost Forever in Time!

Plot:

An architect travels to the remote city of Eschnapur to oversee some work being done at the bequest of the local Maharajah...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Debra Paget	...	Seetha
Paul Hubschmid	...	Harald Berger (as Paul Christian)
Walter Reyer	...	Prince Chandra
Claus Holm	...	Dr. Walter Rhode
Sabine Bethmann	...	Irene Rhode
Valéry Inkijinoff	...	Yama, High Priest
René Deltgen	...	Prince Ramigani
Jochen Brockmann	...	Padhu
Jochen Blume	...	Asagana
Luciana Paluzzi	...	Bahrani (as Luciana Paoluzzi)
Guido Celano	...	Gen. Dagh
Richard Lauffen	...	Bhowana
Helmut Hildebrand	...	Ramigani's Servant
Panos Papadopulos	...	Messenger
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Victor Francen

Also Known As:

Tiger of Bengal (UK)

Runtime:

USA:94 min | West Germany:95 min

Country:

Italy | France | West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Criterion Productions

Trivia:

This film, co-produced by Criterion, was the first film Fritz Lang had made for a German company since he fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Movie Connections:

Edited from Indische Grabmal, Das (1959)

A curious end for a great director

In 1957, near the end of his career, German director Fritz Lang -- best known for his 1926 classic, "Metropolis" -- agreed to re-make two films he'd collaborated on back in 1921. The original plan was to show these two films on consecutive nights but the American distributor simply edited them down to one feature, not much more than 90 minutes long, which was then titled, "Journey to the Lost City." Needless to say, a lot of plot continuity was lost in the process and the result is little more than a curiosity that offers only occasional hints of Lang's earlier talents.

Though made in the late 1950s, "Lost City" plays more like a film from the 30s or even the 20s with plot and characters that seem naive and with a style which has a vaguely dream-like quality. Its chief asset is the location footage shot in Rajasthan but to appreciate this, one must see a good print of the movie shown in a theater.

The cast can do little with their assigned parts. Paul Hubschmid, (billed as Paul Christian when he starred in "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms"), makes a passable hero and Debra Paget looks good in her hootchy-kootchy outfits. Like Paget, German-actor Walter Reyer may not look particularly Indian but his performance as the Maharajah has a bit of style. He's also featured in one of the film's most vivid moments when, temporarily toppled from power, he's tied shirtless between two posts in a tiger-pit and given a flogging.