The Garden of Allah. 1936. Directed by Richard Boleslawski.

(7/3/00)

This David O. Selznick production is a feast for the eyes. It is an early example of three-strip Technicolor and made very good use of it. It is mostly set in North Africa--Morocco and the desert. I was reminded that Morocco attracted painters like Matisse and Delacroix. There are beautiful scenes of caravans silhouetted against sunsets. And Marlene Dietrich wears such beautiful clothes.

The film has a very literate script. This is a highbrow production all the way. It is about a monl who flees the monastery and goes out into the real world. He falls in love with a woman and marries her, but is unhappy because he feels guilty. His terrible secret is finally brought to light and the man and the woman agree that they must give up their happiness and he must return to the monastery.

Charles Boyer is wonderful as the troubled man. He's especially affecting in an early scene where he goes to a club where an erotic entertainer dances for him. He guiltily looks away and then he doesn't realize that he is supposed to give her money. And he is so awkward and inexperienced in his courtship of Dietrich.

Marlene Dietrich seems as remote as a ststue some of the time. Especially in the early scenes at the convent. But she does come to life in places. C. Aubrey Smith is wonderful as the priest and it is nice to see Basil Rathbone around, though I'm not sure exactly who he was supposed to be in the story.

I didn't like the ending in which both characters give up their happiness. It just seems like this poor man was conned into monastic life before he really knew the score. But someone told me that the ending was necessitated by the Hayes office and that the way it was supposed to end showed them both happy and contented, especially the monk who had gone out and experienced the world and was satisfied. And moreover, they had a child.

I found it interesting that Dietrich is restless in the cosmopolitan centers of Europe and is advised to go out into the desert. Supposedly she is advised to go there to get away from the distraction of cities. But Morocco seems as much of a distracting place as Paris or London would be. And I also found it a little questionable that such a religious woman would want to have her future divined by a fortuneteller. The church disapproves of that in uncertain terms.