6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
After the death of her father, convent-educated Domini Enfilden heads for the desert seeking peace. But instead of tranquility, the sultry beauty finds passion in the arms of Boris Androvsky — secretly a Trappist monk who has broken his vows and lost his faith. Will Domini discover Boris' secret, and will his hidden past destroy their future happiness?
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer (I), Tilly Losch, Basil Rathbone, C. Aubrey SmithRomance | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
1562 kbps
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
While David O. Selznick had been producing films since the early 1920s, he did not form his own independent studio at Selznick International Pictures until 1936 when he made the Freddie Bartholomew vehicle, Little Lord Fauntleroy, which was adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel. Later that year he produced another adaptation of a celebrated literary work, Robert Hichens's The Garden of Allah. Although the 1904 novel already had been adapted twice in the silent era, Selznick thought that he could do something fresh with the material but had his work cut out for him with a sprawling 480-page book. The script required two writers, W.P. Lipscomb (1935's Les Misérables and A Tale of Two Cities) and Lynn Riggs (Stingaree), and was considered one of the most expensive films for its day (cost estimates were around $2.3 million). According to film historian Bruce Eder, Marlene Dietrich had a dispute with Paramount Pictures and very luckily became available to Selznick who cast her to portray the heroine Domini Enfilden. French-born Charles Boyer had been acting in American movies since the early '30s and was cast to co-star with Dietrich as her lover, Boris Androvsky. The Garden of Allah also features supporting turns by studio regulars such as Basil Rathbone, C. Aubrey Smith, and John Carradine. Selznick planned for the film to break new ground in three-strip Technicolor but it was a scorching journey to bring it to the screen. The Oakland Tribune ran a special Sunday feature on The Garden of Allah which it headlined as the "HOTTEST ROMANCE EVER FILMED." The newspaper sent its correspondent J. Eugene Chrisman out to the Buttercup Valley among the Yuma sand dunes in Arizona to cover the filming with temperatures reaching 140 degrees!
The Garden of Allah begins almost obliquely, first in the sunset desert over the main titles and then transporting the audience to an old convent. There the devout Catholic Domini (Dietrich) has returned to the nunnery that she once abandoned. She's observed by the very young nuns in tow praying in the candle-lit chapel. Director Richard Boleslawski cuts to a seemingly parallel story at a monastery in northern Africa. A priest shows a French soldier around the quarters before sitting down at a very long table for a meeting of the brotherhood. The priest orders one of the young brothers to summon Trappist monk Boris Androvsky (Charles Boyer) from his cell but he is nowhere to be found. Boris has breached the monastery's code of poverty, silence, and chastity by venturing off into the world. Boleslawski shifts the locale to Beni-Mora and the parish of the benevolent Father J. Roubier (C. Aubrey Smith) amid the Algerian desert where Domini hopes to discover a new life adventure. Boris is also headed for this region and he later collides with Domini at a café featuring Ouled Naïl dancers, including Irena (Tilly Losch) whose a real show-stopper. Domini and Boris meet each other there and their romance takes up much of the film. Boris has a mysterious past that is being looking into by Count Ferdinand Anteoni (Basil Rathbone).
Boris and Domini gather in the desert.
The Garden of Allah makes it initial splash on high-definition on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-25 courtesy of Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Appearing in Academy Ratio of about 1.33:1, the 1936 classic has been given a healthy average bitrate of 28123 kbps. I was hoping that Kino would derive its transfer from the same restored print that appeared on the 2000 Anchor Bay and the 2004 MGM DVDs but they've sourced a different archival print that's not as clean and sports video artifacts. DVD Talk's Glenn Erickson lauded MGM's image for appearing "in perfect shape; only a few shots exhibit color haloes indicating a misalignment of Technicolor matrices. The colors leap off the screen." By contrast, KL has a softer picture that occasionally displays color splotches in the form of small polka dots (see especially Screenshot #20). You can also spot some of the artifacts in frame capture #s 9 and 19. Additionally, there is some image flickering during extreme long shots, location exterior shots, and during reel transitions. I detected some dust particles in the opening shot (#18). I bought the MGM disc nearly eight years ago instead of the A.B. because it was more readily available and also had subtitles (which its predecessor lacked). I re-watched it after viewing KL's transfer and consider it to have a richer and bolder color palette, superior definition, and a clearer appearance. The Kino does contain more detail and grain, however. The Blu-ray has an above-average transfer but I'm disappointed that Kino did not work off the same print.
Kino provides only eight scene selections. (My MGM DVD has twenty chapter stops.)
Kino renders the film's original monaural as an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Dual Mono (1562 kbps, 16-bit). It is in very good shape and is presented cleanly with good clarity on the sound track. I was able to discern all of the film's diverse regional and ethnic dialect without resorting to the optional English SDH. Max Steiner composed a grand, romantic, and Arabian-inspired score that shows good bass on the front channels. Audible hiss is kept to a minimum and distortion and tape-dropouts are blessedly non-existent.
When I saw a "Bonus" option on the main menu, I was hoping for a commentary track from a historian but the only so-called "extras" are some trailers for other Dietrich titles in KL's catalog.
The Garden of Allah doesn't have a deep story and is very leisurely paced but Dietrich and Boyer make a fairly compelling screen couple. What elevates the film from the assembly line of period epics and melodramas is the extraordinary three-strip Technicolor, which isn't fully exploited on this disc. I wish that Kino Lorber would have licensed the older restoration that appeared on the two US DVDs. The transfer is for the most part okay but I would go for one of the OOP standard-definition discs. (The MGM can be bought new for $14.) KL does boast superior audio with the lossless sound track but offers no extra features. RECOMMENDED but with the qualifiers I've noted.
1935
1932
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1955
Warner Archive Collection
1937
Warner Archive Collection
1936
1940
1942
1932
1944
1932
1933
2011
Warner Archive Collection
1947
Kino Classics Remastered Edition
1934
Warner Archive Collection
1935
1934
Warner Archive Collection
1936
Warner Archive Collection
1938
Warner Archive Collection
1949
4K Restoration
1955