Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

David Selznick must have seen The Sheik 14 years earlier, and decided that it was time for a similar film in color, therefore he shopped around for another really bad novel and voila! The best part of this film is without doubt the color - real fest for the eyes. for the depression audiences looking to escape the grim reality of their daily grind, it must have been overwhelming. The 3-strip Technicolor process was unbeatable and the last film I saw in that process 'My Favorite Concubine' was made 60+ years later in China and the color still stands out. My late husband told me that it was superior in that it did not fade, but it was a cumbersome and exacting process and was replaced by single strip formats which were easier to work with. Whether or not that is true, I have seen many color films fade to a horrible tint within a few years. As for the story, A young woman grieving the loss of her father visits the convent where she was raised and is advised to take a trip into the desert to find herself. Off she goes with a number of suitcases filled with designer clothing, and joins a caravan, courtesy of the local ruler. On the train she meets a mournful young handsome man, travelling with one small suitcase and wearing a rather shabby brown suit. Next evening she visits a local dive where Tilly Losch performs the same dance she gave in 'duel in the Sun', leaving the young man he mortified. Not to worry, Dominia soon hooks up with him as his tiny bottomless suitcase has produced a smart riding habit, and an even smarter tailored costume and polished riding boots to wear in the desert, and after a quick marriage they head off into the desert in a sandstorm. Surprisingly his suitcase did not contain a flowing Arab robe or even a silk dressing gown for the nighttime wear. The idyll is soon broken after a lost group of legionaries arrive and one recognizes the bridegroom as a runaway monk. After a long speech explaining that after many years in the monastery, he had just wanted to see the outside world, and a few minutes soul searching, he returns to the monastery. Both weep. End of story!Charles Boyer is excellent as the mysterious darkly handsome Valentino type. Marlene Dietrich is miscast as the deeply religious wife, and the story never rises above the type of chaste pulp romance aimed at 13-year old girls, which we used to call 'love books'. Ms. Dietrich has about 40 costume changes with never a dry cleaners, laundry or ironing board in sight, but they are always spotless and crease free. Likewise the Arab garments which resemble an ad for Persil detergent. There is the usual dim witted native played for laughs, without which no 1930's movie was without, but it is not overdone. Otherwise, the film is gorgeous to look at. Just turn off the sound, put on your favorite music, pour a glass of wine and relax.

As of my writing these comments, a large number of people who rated this film also wrote reviews on it – about 5 percent. Most commented on the love story and the co-stars, and many noted the scenery and wonderful cinematography of such an early Technicolor movie. A few found the religious aspects out of place. There's no doubt that the script for "The Garden of Allah" is wanting. The story seems choppy and disconnected in many places. Yet the plot is able to rescue this film because it is less bound by need for a seamless flow of scenes. The story is about a conflict of faith, and the plot raises that above the love story in several instances. There was a time when people seemed to enjoy or value occasional films of this nature. But they are rare indeed in the past two decades. That most reviewers so far have given so little due to the crisis of faith in this film may indicate that society in general has lost touch with an aspect of life that once was a serious study and interest of civilization. Aside from its script weaknesses, "The Garden of Allah" presents very well the angst of spiritual conflict among two believing Christian souls. Scenes of Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer show the depth of faith of these two people who were brought together by different and unusual circumstances. This is a movie well worth seeing.

Although color film technology had been experimented with for some twenty years before producer David O. Selznick decided to utilize it in 1936's "The Garden of Allah," it never achieved the lushness and depth seen in this movie until the 3-strip color processing technique patented by Technicolor came to the fore. And ravishing color is really the best reason for seeing this movie. Even with Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer as its stars, "The Garden of Allah" doesn't manage to get off the ground. The beautiful score by Max Steiner, and creditable cameo performances by C. Aubrey Smith, Joseph Schildkraut, John Carradine and Basil Rathbone (among others) all do their best to lend drama to what is essentially a slow, meditative potboiler with heavily theological underpinnings, but alas, it's no go. The problem lies not only in the tepid filmscript but with the decision to cast Dietrich and Boyer in the roles of the star-crossed lovers. If there's one thing both performers possessed in abundance, it was smouldering sex appeal. In "The Garden of Allah," however, they're forced to play against type as otherworldly characters with somewhat saintly pasts, and -- frankly -- it doesn't click. It would be like casting Marilyn Monroe opposite Clark Gable in a lavishly produced movie about the First Council of Nicaea, and then expecting romantic sparks to fly. It would make no sense, and the audience wouldn't buy it.The color in "The Garden of Allah," however, truly gorgeous... soft and deeply saturated and glowing with inner fire. It almost makes the movie worth sitting through.

Audiences back in 1936 must have been stunned at what they were watching: a full-fledged, beautiful full-length Technicolor film. I can't say for sure, but this might have been the first one (3-strip). At any rate, it still looks beautiful over 70 years later on DVD. In fact, just how good it looks is amazing.Kudos for that have to go out to Director Richard Boleslowski, Director Of Photography Virgil Miller, Selznick International Pictures and, for the DVD - MGM Home Entertainment. All of them combined to give us one of the best-looking films of the classic-era age.I thought the story was so-so: excellent in the first half, stagnant in the second. It gave a nice message in the end, even though a lot of people might not have been happy with it. I can't say more without spoiling things.Marlene Dietrich never looked better, I don't believe, and certainly never played such a soft-hearted character ("Domini Enfilden"). Heart-throb Charles Boyer was the male star and Domini's object of affection, but some of the minor characters were the most interesting to me. People like Joseph Schildkraut as "Batouch;" John Carradine as "The Sand Diviner;" The most memorable, to me at least, was the dancer "Irena," played by Tilly Losch. Wow, there is a face and a dance you won't soon forget! I've never seen anything like it in the thousands of films I've viewed. Just seeing her do her thing was worth the price of the DVD. Looking at her IMDb resume, she was only in four movies, but they were all well-known films.Basil Rathbone, the actor who really became famous for playing "Sherlock Holmes," also is in here as is C. Aubrey Smith, another famous British actor of his day. Schildkraut, by the way, will be recognized by classic film buffs as the man who played the arrogant sales clerk in the big hit, "The Shop Around The Corner," with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan.The beautiful direction, photography and color, and Tilly's dance, are the things I'll remember best about this movie which is a lot of good and not-so-good things all rolled into one. Had the last half hour been better - although I admire the ending - I would have rated it even higher. It's definitely one film collectors want to add to their collection.