Demon of the Himalayas (1935)
Adventure · Horror · Drama
Overview
German film about a Himalayan expedition and the search for a mountain spirit, who guarded, according to the tradition of the locals, the peaks of high mountains. The long-lost and recently rediscovered and restored film is now a unique cinematic document because it is the first feature film that was shot directly in the Himalayas (up to 6400 m altitude). Hans Ertl even turned his Bell & Howell to the main summit of Sia Kangri, 7422m. Likewise, the film contains footage from India and Tibet, from a time long before the emergence of mass tourism. Some of the footage was later recycled in ‘Lost horizon’ (1937) by Frank Capra and in ‘Storm over Tibet’ (1952).
Cast
- Gustav Diessl as Dr. Norman - Ethnologe
- Erika Dannhoff as Anne
- Günther Oskar Dyhrenfurth as Professor Wille - Leiter der Internationalen Himalaya-Expedition
- Jarmila Vacková as Ellen - his Wife
- Hans Winzeler as Dr. Winkler - Expedition doctor
- Hans Ertl as Hans - junger Bergsteiger der Himalaya-Expedition
- Albert Höcht as Bertl - junger Bergsteiger der Himalaya-Expedition
- André Roch as André - junger Bergsteiger der Himalaya-Expedition
- James Belaieff as Jimmy - junger Bergsteiger der Himalaya-Expedition
- Piero Ghiglione as Der italienische Bergsteiger und Journalist