The Garden of Allah (1936)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Richard Boleslawski

Writers:

Robert Hichens (novel)
W.P. Lipscomb (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

19 November 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

They loved each other with the fierceness of those who have been denied love!

Plot:

The star-crossed desert romance of a cloistered woman and a renegade monk.

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Oasis | Monastery | Secret | Monk

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win

Cast

Marlene Dietrich	...	Domini Enfilden
Charles Boyer	...	Boris Androvsky
Basil Rathbone	...	Count Ferdinand Anteoni
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Father J. Roubier
Joseph Schildkraut	...	Batouch
John Carradine	...	Sand diviner
Alan Marshal	...	Capt. De Trevignac
Lucile Watson	...	Mother Superior Josephine
Henry Brandon	...	Hadj
Tilly Losch	...	Irena
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eric Alden	...	Anteoni's lieutenant (uncredited)
Louis Aldez	...	Blind singer (uncredited)
Harlan Briggs	...	American tourist in hotel (uncredited)
John Bryan	...	Brother Gregory (uncredited)
Ann Bupp	...	Girl (uncredited)
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Gardener (uncredited)
Corky	...	Bous-Bous, the Dog (uncredited)
Nigel De Brulier	...	Lector at monastery (uncredited)
Marcel De la Brosse	...	Member of De Trevignac's patrol (uncredited)
Barry Downing	...	Little Boris (uncredited)
Helen Jerome Eddy	...	Nun (uncredited)
Irene Franklin	...	American tourist's wife (uncredited)
Robert Frazer	...	Smain (uncredited)
John George	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Ann Gillis	...	Convent girl #2 (uncredited)
Ferdinand Gottschalk	...	Hotel clerk (uncredited)
Betty Jane Graham	...	Convent girl (uncredited)
Bonita Granville	...	Convent girl (uncredited)
Edna Mae Harris	...	Oasis girl (uncredited)
Marcia Mae Jones	...	Convent girl #1 (uncredited)
Jane Kerr	...	Ouled nails madam (uncredited)
Leonid Kinskey	...	Voluble Arab (uncredited)
Michael Mark	...	Coachman (uncredited)
Andrew McKenna	...	Mueddin (uncredited)
Louis Mercier	...	Member of De Trevignac's patrol (uncredited)
Russ Powell	...	Proprietor (uncredited)
Frank Puglia	...	Man (uncredited)
Maria Riva	...	Young girl sewing in the first scene at the Convent (uncredited)
Adrian Rosley	...	Mustapha (uncredited)
Marion Sayers	...	Oasis girl (uncredited)
David Scott	...	Larby (uncredited)
Robert R. Stephenson	...	Member of De Trevignac's patrol (uncredited)
Frances Turham	...	Oasis girl (uncredited)
Betty Van Auken	...	Oasis girl (uncredited)
Charles Waldron	...	Abbe of monastery (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Boleslawski

Writing credits
Robert Hichens		(novel)
W.P. Lipscomb		(screenplay) and
Lynn Riggs		(screenplay)
Willis Goldbeck		(contributor to treatment) uncredited

Produced by
David O. Selznick	....	producer

Original Music by
Max Steiner

Cinematography by
Virgil Miller		(director of photography) (uncredited)

Film Editing by
Hal C. Kern
Anson Stevenson		(uncredited)

Set Decoration by
Sturges Carne		(settings)
Lyle R. Wheeler		(settings) (as Lyle Wheeler)
Edward G. Boyle		(settings) (uncredited)

Costume Design by
Ernest Dryden

Makeup Department
Sam Kaufman	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Eric Stacey	....	assistant director
Otto Brower	....	second unit director (uncredited)
Chauncy Pyle	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Lansing C. Holden	....	color designer
Irving W. Sindler	....	props (uncredited)

Sound Department
Earl A. Wolcott	....	sound recordist (as Earl Wolcott)
T.A. Carman	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Jack Cosgrove	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Clarence Slifer	....	special effects cinematographer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
W. Howard Greene	....	photographer
Robert Carney	....	associate photographer (uncredited)
Wilfred M. Cline	....	associate photographer (uncredited)
Nelson Cordes	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Don Dickey	....	grip (uncredited)
Frank Leavitt	....	grip (uncredited)
Oran McPherson	....	electrician (uncredited)
Morris Rosen	....	electrician (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bill Bowman	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Jeannette Couget	....	costume maker (uncredited)

Music Department
R.H. Bassett	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Hugo Friedhofer	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Bernhard Kaun	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
George Parrish	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Willis Goldbeck	....	assistant to producer
Natalie Kalmus	....	technicolor color supervisor
Harold Rosson	....	photographic advisor
Joshua Logan	....	dialogue director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Selznick International Pictures

Distributors

• United Artists (1936) (USA) (theatrical)
• Selznick Releasing Organization (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Hauser & Co. Filmverleih (1937) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• ClassicLine (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (VHS)

Runtime:

79 min | West Germany:75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor High Fidelity System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #2405)

Filming Locations:

Buttercup Dunes, Imperial County, California, USA

Company:

Selznick International Pictures

Trivia:

The young girl sewing in the first scene at the convent is Marlene Dietrich's daughter, Maria Riva.

Quotes:

Domini Enfilden: What an extraordinary man. Is he mad?
Batouch: Yes, he's undoubtedly English.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (1988) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Wedding March

Love & Destiny in the Sahara

North Africa in the 1930's. To a small Arab town on the edge of the Sahara comes a beautiful woman looking for meaning to her life & a handsome Trappist monk fleeing from his crisis of faith. They will meet and passions will be stirred, but not even the Sand Diviner knows if they will find happiness or sorrow, here, in THE GARDEN OF ALLAH.

The plot is pure hokum, but the film is still great fun & beautiful to look at. Marlene Dietrich & Charles Boyer are a superb screen couple. She is, to put it simply, gorgeous, and Boyer gives a most effective, understated performance, letting his sensitive face do much of the acting for him. (Dietrich had wanted her lover, John Gilbert, to have the leading male role, and he had gone so far as to have color tests made, but he died unexpectedly before shooting could begin.)

The supporting cast is excellent: Basil Rathbone, in a sympathetic role as a Count who loves the desert; Joseph Schildkraut as a friendly, talkative guide (all the "Arabic" he & others speak in the film is pure gibberish); Lucile Watson as a gentle Mother Superior; Alan Marshal as an honorable young French officer; Tilly Losch as a dangerous dancer; Henry Brandon as a comic porter; John Carradine as the mysterious Sand Diviner; and magnificent Sir C. Aubrey Smith as a wise old priest.

Movie mavens will recognize Helen Jerome Eddy as a nun; Marcia Mae Jones & Bonita Granville (peeking over the nun's shoulder) as convent girls; gaunt Nigel De Brulier as a monastery lector; and Ferdinand Gottschalk as a hotel clerk, all uncredited.

Color films of the 1930's are both rare & lovely to look at, and this movie is no exception - the cinematography is as colorful as the desert itself. THE GARDEN OF ALLAH was the first Technicolor film to be shot on location. Yuma, Arizona gave the film makers all the sand dunes they could desire, but contaminated drinking water & 135 degree heat soon had the company in revolt. When the daily rushes showed Boyer's face had burned a bright tomato red, producer David O. Selznick finally gave in. The remainder of the film was shot on a Hollywood sound stage.