The opening scene of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom“ is not only the best of the whole series for the author of these lines. The second adventure about the whip-wielding archaeologist begins quite atypically with a song and dance number in the Shanghai nightclub “Obi-Wan” (an Easter egg!), with which Steven Spielberg plays the classic Hollywood musicals of Busby Berkeley (“Parade in the Spotlight”) – the first hint that the ET director would love to direct a musical himself, but didn’t get it until 2021 with his adaptation of West Side Story.
Then follows a perfectly timed action sequence: Indy wants to exchange a chieftain’s urn for a rare diamond owned by a gang boss. But he tricks the hero, poisons his potion and shoots Indy’s friend Wu Han. In a breathtaking race against time, the adventurer tries to get hold of the antidote – while chaos reigns around him…
Tempo, timing, dramaturgy: basically everything at the opening of the second Indiana Jones blockbuster is great staging art. And yet the creators had a small glitch, for which you have to look very closely – it can be seen for only a few seconds!
On the hunt for the antidote, Harrison Ford must defend himself against all kinds of attacks – including the gang boss’ henchmen throwing small axes at him. Indy ducks helplessly in front of a Chinese statue, next to which a band can clearly be seen, who are not deterred by what is happening – and just keep playing.
But Indiana Jones knows how to help himself – he takes the cymbal from the drum kit and throws it at his opponents. If you press the pause button at this exact moment – at minute 9 and 38 seconds – you can still see the instruments on the left. But the band has disappeared without a trace! Of course, the musicians could have fled the commotion, which would be understandable – but it’s unlikely they managed to do so in a split second…
So it is a classic connection error – which, of course, is not absent from any major cinema production and does not detract from the quality of the film. “Indiana Jones and the Temple” of Death is – according to the motto of the opening revue number “Anything Goes” – a true blockbuster roller coaster ride, which in terms of speed and inventiveness has hardly been matched to this day.