Demon of the Himalayas

Plot Summary

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).

Top Cast

Gustav Diessl Dr. Norman - Ethnologe

Erika Dannhoff Anne

Günther Oskar Dyhrenfurth Professor Wille - Leiter der Internationalen Himalaya-Expedition

Jarmila Vacková Ellen - his Wife

Hans Winzeler Dr. Winkler - Expedition doctor