Journey to the Lost City (1959)

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:

Architect | Maharajah | Dancer | Travel | Monkey

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.

Quotes:

Prince Chandra: I want you out of Eschnapur before the sun sets tomorrow. May the wind wipe out every trace of your footsteps, as your treachery has my friendship.

Movie Connections:

Edited from Das indische Grabmal (1959)

Fritz Lang's Final Journey

One of the last cinematic projects to be worked on by legendary German film director Fritz Lang, Journey to the Lost City is really a combination of two films made in serial-like fashion set in India. The films tell the story of an Indian dancer(who obviously is not Indian) going to the "Lost" city(which seems to be very easy to find)to perform for the Majarajah, a German actor with a light coat of shoe polish. Along the way she falls in love with an architect who has been asked to help the city. The Majarajah wants to marry the dancer, and we soon have a very problematic love triangle on our hands. But wait! The Majarajah has an older brother that desires to be the sovereign. He leads an unhappy group of nobles against the love-struck Majarajah. The film is not up to par with most of Lang's work. It is derivative in its plot and direction. We get very little new and fresh. The actors are pretty bland. Debra Paget is beautiful, but she does little in her role. The rest of the cast of German thespians are okay with no one except Walter Reyer as the Majarajah standing out. He does what he can with his one-dimensional role. His scene being flogged, however, is probably the highlight of the film as well as the lepers rioting out of a cave. Whatever happened with the lepers? The film doesn't let us know. The best part of the film is the location shooting of India, a rich cultural tapestry. But the locations, expensive sets and costumes cannot fully save this essentially B movie. The story is very weak and the film has a look of being - poorly-crafted. Too bad this was the legacy of an aging Lang, a man who dazzled us with M and Metropolis. Although the film has many weaknesses, the film is vaguely entertaining in that Saturday afternoon way.