Der Tiger von Eschnapur (1938)

The first part of the two-part film adaptation of Thea von Harbou’s novel The Indian Tomb centers on three people: Chandra, the Maharaja of Eschnapur; his wife Sitha, the Maharani and a former dancer; and Sitha’s former lover, Sascha Demidoff. The adventurers Sascha Demidoff and the brothers Fjedor and Mischa Borodin live in a hut in the Indian jungle and need money to return to Europe. While the Borodin brothers plan to rob Sitha, Demidoff’s former lover, who became a wealthy Maharani after their affair, the men get into an argument in which Sascha shoots Mischa. Sascha flees from the brothers into the jungle. During a tiger hunt, the Maharaja’s hunting party finds an injured European who claims to be a Russian count but is in fact Sascha Demidoff. Before Sascha can reach Sitha to warn her about the Borodin brothers and rekindle his passion for her, Prince Ramigani, Chandra’s younger and ambitious brother, already suspects that something is wrong with the Russian count. Meanwhile, the architect Emil Sperling arrives at the palace in Eschnapur to deliver his boss Fürbringer’s plans for a dam to the Maharaja and thereby win the contract. Despite many attempts, Emil Sperling is unable to get close to the Maharaja or the prince to discuss the construction project. With nothing accomplished, he returns to Berlin. At a celebration of the successful tiger hunt, Sascha and Sitha are introduced to one another. Although Sascha gives nothing away, Sitha visibly turns pale at the sight of him and leaves the celebration early. During the festivities, the Borodin brothers arrive at the palace through Prince Ramigani’s intervention. They expose the supposed Russian count as an impostor and accuse him of robbing them. In the ensuing scuffle, Sascha Demidoff manages to escape and breaks into Sitha’s apartments to persuade her to flee with him. While Sitha begs her former lover to leave without her, Ramigani, Chandra, and the palace guards suddenly burst into her rooms and discover the two in what appears to be an unmistakably intimate embrace. After a brief fight, Sascha Demidoff escapes. Because a strange man with whom she shares a past has been found in her presence, Sitha falls out of Chandra’s favor. Prince Ramigani uses the situation to persuade Chandra to cast Sitha out, since he himself is in love with her and wants to possess her. Later, Sitha’s maid Myrrha allows the escaped Sascha to use her as a messenger, enabling Sitha to flee the palace with her lover. The Maharaja of Eschnapur and Prince Ramigani immediately take up the lovers’ trail and pursue them around the world until they reach Berlin. The architect Fürbringer also lives in Berlin, and his fiancée Irene Traven is determined to secure the dam-building contract for her future husband. Irene boldly sneaks into the Maharaja’s hotel suite and pretends to be a journalist. During their conversation, she reveals her true intentions. The Maharaja is impressed by her efforts and agrees to attend a gathering at Fürbringer’s home that evening to meet the architect. At the same time, the Maharaja’s men search all over Berlin for Sitha and Sascha. When Chandra arrives with Ramigani at the evening gathering at Fürbringer’s home and meets the architect, Emil Sperling, and his wife Lotte, he spontaneously decides to award the contract to Fürbringer, adding that this decision is entirely thanks to the efforts of his fiancée, Irene. Visibly surprised and hurt because he knew nothing of Irene’s independent action, Fürbringer turns away from the Maharaja and makes a scene with Irene. At that moment, Chandra learns from Ramigani that they have located Sitha and know she is to perform a dance at the Winter Palace the next day. The two men hurriedly take their leave of the gathering. The following evening, Sitha performs as an Indian temple dancer at the Winter Palace. In the hands of an enormous statue of an Indian goddess, Sitha seems to come to life and dances for the fascinated European audience. The Maharaja has invited Irene Traven, her fiancé Fürbringer, Emil Sperling, and his wife Lotte to the gala. Only Fürbringer refuses to attend, wounded in his vanity because winning the contract was not solely due to his own efforts, and stays at home. The audience at the Winter Palace is visibly impressed by the exotic dance and the Indian dancer’s magnificent costume. When Sitha leaves the stage, the Maharaja’s men are already waiting in her dressing room. They order her to get into the waiting car to be taken back to India. Sascha sees what is happening and tries to intervene, but can overpower only one of the men. In the ensuing struggle, he knocks against a candle, which immediately sets the curtain behind the stage on fire. As news reaches the Maharaja that his escaped wife has finally been captured, the Winter Palace stage begins to burn. The fire spreads quickly, and soon the entire building is ablaze. In the panic, Irene loses consciousness and is in danger of burning to death. Although Chandra has already made it out of the burning building and is safe, he runs back into the flames to rescue Irene Traven. At the same time, Fürbringer learns from a phone call from Sperling that the palace is on fire and immediately sets off to find out whether Irene has been rescued. When he learns at the scene that Irene is still inside the burning theater, he too runs into the burning palace. The Maharaja finds the unconscious Irene and carries her in his arms to the exit, where he silently hands her over to Fürbringer. By this time, Sascha Demidoff has managed to free his beloved Sitha from her captors. Thus, their flight from the Maharaja’s vengeance begins all over again. As the Maharaja stands outside the burning palace and hears that Sitha’s abduction has failed, he confirms the contract award to Fürbringer, this time adding that a huge tomb must be built before the dam, as a memorial to a great love.