THE GARDEN OF ALLAH

US, 1936, 80 minutes, Colour.
Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer, Basil Rathbone.
Directed by Richard Boleslawski.

The Garden of Allah is a brief but quite exotic piece of romantic fantasy. It is one of the earliest colour films and uses its colour imaginatively with the studio sets of Africa and the desert. The film starred Marlene Dietrich in the mid-'30s at the height of her romantic popularity and exotic mysteriousness. In this she is matched by Charles Boyer at the beginning of his Hollywood career. Basil Rathbone and Josef Schildkraut are also in the cast with eccentric characterisations. The film has Catholic overtones - the heroine brought up in a convent trying to find herself in the
desert. The hero is a runaway Trappist monk who is in conflict with himself and in rebellion against God. The film has a conventional and self-sacrificing ending - perhaps in contrast to similar themes and treatments in later decades. Dietrich is attractive - Boyer manneredly tormented. Direction is by Richard Boleslawski, who directed some notable '30s films including the Fredric March- Charles Laughton Les Miserables. There is an appropriate score by Max Steiner.

1. 'Thirties romances and melodramas? The comparisons with this film? The exotic African and desert setting? The religious themes? Sure-fire box office with forbidden romance and religion? Tastefully done?

2. A David Selznick production, the quality of the stars and audience expectations? Supporting cast? The quality of the early colour photography, sets and locales? The atmosphere of Max Steiner's score?

3. The emphatically religious background: the opening with the nuns, the orphans, the talk about the marriage feast at Cana? A joyful approach to religion, even with self-sacrifice? The contrast with the monks, their isolation from the world, their work, the emphasis on suffering? Vocation and silence? The Foreign Legionary and his discussion with the abbot - and the explanation of the religious background for the audience? The abbot and his severe judgment on the runaway monk? The themes of remorse, the irrevocable nature of the vows? The importance of faith? The parish priest in the desert and his instinct for helping people, his emphasis on commitment and peace? The ingredients for religious complexities? The serious tone of the '30s - especially about the lasting nature of vocation?

4. The exotic background: convent, monastery, North Africa, the towns, the nightclubs, the desert, the oases? How well used?

5. Themes of love and romance? Religion and sexuality? Guilt and conscience? Grief?

6. Audience response to Marlene Dietrich, presence and style? Exotic? Her visit to the convent and the reaction of the girls? The nuns welcoming her? Her grief at her father's death. her need for solitude and finding herself, prayer? The story of the marriage feast at Cana? Her being sent on her quest by the nuns? Her encounter with Boris, the train journey, his awkwardness, the mystery and his attraction? Her arrival in the town, the kindly help from the parish priest? The confidence man at the railway station and his acting as guide, his poetry and charm? His relations? The Italian Count and his presence in Africa, his dressing as an Arab/ transition to his European background and dress? His friendship with Dominie? The encounter with Boris at the nightclub, the exotic dancer and his embarrassment about the money? Their falling in love? Riding together? The build-up to the preparation for marriage, the marriage ceremony and their vows? Their joy? The encounter with the sand diviner and his prophecies, Dominie's not listening to the disaster? The encounter with the lost patrol and the irony of the legionnaire recognising Boris? The Count and his arrival, the meal, his story about the runaway monk? Dominie's grief, talking through the problems with Boris and his return to the monastery? Her accompanying him? The tragic and self-sacrificing heroine?

7. Boris and the drama of his leaving the monastery, audiences hearing about it before seeing him, his not being immediately identified but audiences suspecting? His moroseness and silence in the train? The dancing girl and his not knowing to give her the money? His snatching the cross? His anti-religion? Faith and the dog? His growing attachment to Dominie, riding with her, falling in love, marrying her? His inability to tell her the truth? The consequences of his continuing reticence? The encounter with the legionnaire? The argument with the Count after the dinner? The focussing of the wine of which he knew the secret? His telling the truth to Dominie? The decision to return, the story of his vocation? The train trip and his re-entering the monastery?

8. The poet guide, his style, cousins, the light touch? The dancer Irene and getting the money in the club from Boris?

9. The Italian Count, suave, a friend, his telling the story to Dominie and precipitating the crisis?

10. The Hollywood version of priests and nuns - sacrifice and religion?

11. Themes of frustration, loneliness, compensation? The clerical celibacy issue and Boris' fascination with Irene and her dancing? His falling in love with Dominie?

12. The success of the film as a soap opera of the '30s, melodramatic romance, religious fable?