Film · Drama, Adventure, Horror

Demon of the Himalayas (1935)

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).

Director

Andrew Marton

Writers

Eberhard Frowein, Mila Rau, Günther Oskar Dyhrenfurth

Country

Germany, Switzerland

Language

German

Release date

March 16, 1935

Original title

Der Dämon des Himalaya