Year: 1921
Director: Joe May
Country: Germany
Language: N/A
The Indian Tomb (1921) is a picture that could not be made in 2018 due to its problematic depiction of a culture neither film-maker nor viewers would have been familiar with. Even though there were a few positive movies about different races in the silent era, such as The Flying Ace, these were the exception and not the majority rule. When European film-makers of the silent era sought to depict India, they would define it by its otherness to the West.
The Maharajah of Bengal wants his wife to have the most fabulous tomb in the world. He hires an English architect to design and constructs it. There's just one little problem. His wife is not dead.
Germany's version of India was the stuff of fantasy. Large ungodly monuments, beautiful dancers, jungles filled with monstrous beasts, and strange "outsiders" fill the screen throughout the run-time. It's unfortunate, but typical for the silent era, that the Indians are played by white-men in brown-face. Written by Thea Von Harbou and Fritz Lang, wife and husband at the time, the main positive going for this film is that its story is exciting and full of suspense.
The pacing of the picture is incredibly fast, cutting from one scene to the next at frantic speed. Perhaps this is an attempt to hide cheap looking sets that even for 1921 look substandard. The special effects make up for the scenery however; it makes the picture far more intoxicating and may even make you forget about the difficult indifference the filmmaker's have to a culture different from their own.
At times the picture can be silly; but at other times it can be mesmerizing. A notable actor in this film is Conrad Veitd, who most notably played Major Strasser ("round up the usual suspects") in Casablanca (1942). His acting is impressive; perhaps just to see him in his earlier roles is worth the price of admission.
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