The Garden of Allah

USA, 1936
Length
79 minutes
Director
Richard Boleslawski
Cast
  • Marlene Dietrich
  • Charles Boyer
  • Basil Rathbone

Content

Domini Enfilden, who was raised in a convent, withdraws to North Africa after the death of her
father to try to find herself. There, at the edge of the Sahara, she takes up with the Russian-French
Boris Androvsky. They go riding together in the desert, fall in love, and even get married. But their
happiness is abruptly interrupted when Boris reveals the secret he’s been keeping; he was a monk,
who fled his Trappist monastery after suffering a crisis of faith … The melodrama was severely
condemned by Catholics. Much of the financing for the film came from John Hay Whitney, a major
investor in Technicolor and it was one of the first three-colour productions to use exterior scenes
to enhance the story. Shot at great expense in the Mojave Desert, the subtle use of colour and
consciously soft contrast turn the location into a spiritual landscape onscreen that perfectly reflects
the changing emotional states of the protagonists, with a palette and illumination that is reminiscent
of the Dutch and Flemish painters of the 16th and 17th century. Cinematographers Harold Rosson
and W. Howard Greene received a special Academy Award, the first Oscar ever given for colour
cinematography.

Gallery

Credits

Production company
Selznick International Pictures
Original title
The Garden of Allah