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English
Region 2
Region 2
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Strong 1936 drama about a rich but unfulfilled woman Domini Enfilden (Dietrich) who seeks her destiny in the deserts of north Africa and meets Boris Androvsky (Boyer) a Trappist monk who has deserted the order. The chemistry between the mature Dietrich and the young and incredibly handsome Boyer in his first starring role is excellent.
We also have Basil Rathbone in a sympathetic role as a friend, and the unforgetable C Aubrey Smith as a priest, with his magnificent features, they don’t seem to make them like this any more.
Fine directing of a timeless story with acting and dialogue that does not date
This is the first film where they attempted to shoot Technicolor on location, but unfortunately after a short time the hardships and perils of the Arizona desert proved too much and the remainder of the film was shot on soundstages.
The restoration of the 1936 Technicolor is superb, although Technicolor does not have the natural quality of modern colour systems it has a heightened colour depth and saturation that is the stuff of nostalgia.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Anyone interested in early colour feature films should see this - and anyone who hasn't realised just how good films of the first half of the 20th century can be. This remastered version of an early Technicolor film produced by David Selznick in 1936 will not disappoint. It is beautifully photographed, and the affinities with Gone With The Wind will be immediately obvious to the viewer, though at 78 minutes it is only a third of the latter's length. As a story it offers first rate entertainment, combining piety, romance and tragedy with a memorable conclusion.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
From the days when Technicolor really was glorious and rather splendidly restored on DVD, The Garden of Allah is one of those films that's often so gorgeous to look at you can overlook the fact that there's not much going on. Part of that early-mid 20th century literary genre of disastrous geographical journeys of self-discovery, the first half is deceptively sensual as Marlene Dietrich's devout convent girl who has gone to the desert to find herself and Charles Boyer's unworldly runaway monk meet and fall in love in a place with a very different morality to the one they were raised in. An erotic dance sequence with an Arab dancer who Joseph Schildkraut's loquaciously camp local guide goads into attacking his simple brother (Henry Brandon) could almost have come out of an African cousin of Black Narcissus (though it's doubtful that Powell and Pressburger would have included an extra who seems to be clearly miming masturbation in the background: how that passed by the Breen Office censors is a true question for the ages). Certainly John Carradine's sand diviner foretelling great joy and greater suffering and Basil Rathbone's European count who has been adopted by the desert could have stepped out of the pages of Rumer Godden's novel. Sadly the second half never lives up to the promise of the first, not helped by the shifting sands of time and popular morality in an increasingly secular society making Boyer's betrayal seem less Earth-shattering than it did in 1936 and the terrible dilemma the lovers are faced with seem not quite such an insurmountable cause of turmoil. But if that leaves the film to survive on its visuals and star power, wildly cast against type though the two leads are, they're strong enough to carry it through - Dietrich rarely looked so good on screen and the Three Strip Technicolor location work is still incredibly impressive and more than justifies its honorary Oscar. More soap than substance, but certainly a high quality luxury brand that it's no hardship to wallow in.
Fremantle's UK PAL DVD boasts a good transfer with fine colour but no extras beyond filmographies.
Fremantle's UK PAL DVD boasts a good transfer with fine colour but no extras beyond filmographies.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Poor quality DVD
I might be doing Fremantle Home Entertainment a disservice but I can't help thinking that the other reviews of The Garden Of Allah found on this page are actually for the region 1... Read more
Published 20 months ago by S. A. G. Morrison
Ravishing
This is one of the great technicolor movies, exquisite to look at - and Dietrich in colour - many of her films were in black and white - is glorious to look at. Read more
Published on 5 April 2010 by W. Russell
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