| The Garden of Allah | |
|---|---|
1936 US Theatrical Poster |
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| Directed by | Richard Boleslawski |
| Produced by | David O. Selznick |
| Written by | William P. Lipscomb Lynn Riggs Robert S. Hichens (novel) |
| Starring | Marlene Dietrich Charles Boyer Basil Rathbone C. Aubrey Smith Joseph Schildkraut John Carradine Alan Marshal Lucile Watson |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | Virgil Miller |
| Editing by | Hal C. Kern Anson Stevenson |
| Distributed by | Selznick International Pictures United Artists |
| Release date(s) | October 15, 1936 |
| Running time | 79 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Garden of Allah (1936 film) is a film made by Selznick International Pictures, directed by Richard Boleslawski and produced by David O. Selznick. The screenplay was written by William P. Lipscomb and Lynn Riggs, based on the 1905 novel by Robert S. Hichens. Hichens's novel had been filmed twice before, as silent films made in 1916 and 1927. The film stars Marlene Dietrich and Charles Boyer with Basil Rathbone, C. Aubrey Smith, Joseph Schildkraut, John Carradine, Alan Marshal, and Lucile Watson. The music score is by Max Steiner.
It was the second film to be photographed in three-strip Technicolor gaining an honorary Academy Award for cinematography.
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Trappist monk Boris Androvski (Charles Boyer) feels enormous pressure at having to keep his vows as a monk, so he flees his monastery. Yet he is the only one who knows the secret recipe of the monastery's famous liqueur, a recipe passed down from one generation of monks to another. Meanwhile, heiress Domini Enfilden (Marlene Dietrich) is newly freed from her own prison of caring for her just deceased father and also seeks the frisson of the North African desert to nurture her soul.
Androvski and Domini meet, fall in love, and are married by the local priest, after which the newlyweds are whisked off into the scorching desert, a trip that the local sand diviner has forecast will come to a bad end. Domini is totally unaware of Androvski's past as a monk.
When a lost patrol of French legionnaires finds its way into camp, one of their number recognizes the liqueur he is served. The truth comes out, and a guilt-ridden Boris decides to return to the monastery, parting from his wife.
At the beginning of her 1984 music video "Time After Time," Cyndi Lauper is watching a scene from the film.[1]
Following the success of the movie in Brazilian cinemas, in Rio de Janeiro the park between the beach neighbourhoods of Leblon and Ipanema, i.e. Jardim de Alah, was named after the movie.