The Garden of Allah (1936).

The Garden of Allah (1936), Is a dramatic film directed by Richard Boleslawski and produced by David O. Selznick. Based on the 1905 novel of the same name by Robert S. Hichens. Hichens's novel had been filmed twice before, as silent films made in 1916 and 1927. Cast: 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. The filming locations were in Buttercup, California and Yuma, Arizona.

After the death of her father, Domini Enfilden returns to Le Couvent de Ste. Cecile, where she grew up, to reunite with her friend,  Mother Josephine. The Mother Superior, advises her to travel to the Sahara Desert, where she might find the answers she is looking for.

Meanwhile, at a Trappist monastery at el Lagarnine in Tunis in Northern Africa, a visitor, Captain de Trevignac, tastes the liqueur for which the monastery is best known for. The liqueur is made from a secret formula by Brother Antoine, who has just fled the monastery, taking the secret with him.

While traveling to the city of Beni Mora, Algeria, Domini meets Antoine on a train, but he says nothing to her.

Later, in a cafe, Antoine can not take his eyes off an exotic dancer named Irena.



When Irena pulls a knife on her lover, Hadj, who will not marry her, Antoine helps Domini escape with her life, and this is when Boris introduces himself as, Boris Androvsky.

The next day, they ride to the Oasis of the city Azur, where they meet Count Ferdinand Anteoni, who tells Domini to wait to travel into the desert until the urge is very strong. When native girls admire the crucifix around Boris' neck, he does not like them hanging on him, so he throws it into the water.

Domini, does not like his violent outbursts and Anteoni warns Domini, "a man who fears to acknowledge his God is unwise to set foot in the desert," and tells them that the Arabs have a saying that the desert is the garden of Allah.

Later, a man tells Domini that something glorious is waiting for her during her travels into the desert, but also gives her a warning.

While out riding, they come to a church. There, Father J. Roubier, who promised Mother Superior he would look out for Domini, notices Boris. Although, the priest warns Domini not to fall in love with Boris, he agrees to marry them the next day.

Following the wedding, Boris and Domini take a caravan into the desert with Domini's guide, Batouch, and Hadj.

One night, Domini lights a torch to guide Boris back to the camp and instead saves a patrol that has been lost for three days. Among the men is de Trevignac. Boris returns and de Trevignac is sure they have met before.

After Batouch serves a bottle of the Lagarnine liqueur, de Trevignac remembers who Boris is and leaves the table in anger. Domini, confused, pleads with Boris to tell her the truth about his past but, he refuses.

The next morning, before De Trevignac and his men leave, he tells Anteoni where the caravan is camped.

At dinner, Anteoni tells the story of the Lagarnine liqueur, which will never again be manufactured as the monk who knew the secret of the liqueur disappeared after taking his final vows. Boris, then states tearfully "that the man had a right to love".

Boris, then shares with Domini about his life at the monastery, where he had lived since childhood under the vow of silence, and spoke with people for the first time when, as an adult he was put in charge of the monastery's hotel.

Believing that no one who loves will be punished by God, Domini agrees to let Boris return to the monastery. At the gates of the monastery, Boris and Domini say good-by for the last time..

 

Fun Facts:

Merle Oberon was originally signed to play Domini, but was "bought off" by David O. Selznick at a cost of $25,000.

Marlene Dietrich's first film in Technicolor.

Gilbert Roland was originally cast as Boris Androvsky.

Among the actors David O. Selznick considered and tested for the role of the monk Boris Androvsky before casting Charles Boyer were Robert Taylor, Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone, George Brent, Laurence Olivier, Fredric March, Brian Aherne, Noel Coward, Maurice Evans, Robert Donat, Ivor Novello, John Gielgud and Jean Gabin.

For the role of Capt. De Trevignac, David Niven, Cesar Romero and Ray Milland were tested before 'Alan Marshal was cast.

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

This 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 and 135 degree heat soon had the company in revolt. When the daily rushes showed Boyer's face had burned a bright  red, the remainder of the film was shot on a Hollywood sound stage.

I usually do not enjoy watching movies like this.. but, this film was such fun and beautiful to watch, that I just could not stop watching.. This maybe.. one of my favorite Boyer performances. Color films of the 1930's are a rarity and the cinematography in this film showcased the desert beautifully.

Lucile Watson (May 27, 1879 – June 24, 1962)  began her career on the stage debuting on Broadway in the play Hearts Aflame in 1902.

Her next play was The Girl With Green Eyes, the first of several Clyde Fitch stories.

At the end of 1903, Lucile performed in Fitch's "Glad of It". This play featured several young performers including Lucile who would move on to major Broadway or motion picture prominence: Robert Warwick, John Barrymore, Thomas Meighan and Grant Mitchell.

 For the rest of the decade she performed in several more Fitch stories into the 1910s.

Sometime in the 1910s she was briefly married to silent film star Rockliffe Fellowes.Her marriage to Fellows produced no children.

Watson's first film role was in the 1916 silent film The Girl with Green Eyes, a film version of the Clyde Fitch play she had performed in on Broadway in 1902.

She did not appear in another movie until 1930, when she had an uncredited role in, The Royal Family of Broadway.

Watson was primarily a stage actress, starring in plays: Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines, Heartbreak House, Ghosts, The Importance of Being Earnest and Pride and Prejudice.

Her second husband was playwright Louis E. Shipman whom she married in 1928. She was widowed in 1933.

Watson reached the height of her adult acting career in playwright Lillian Hellman's anti-fascist dramatic stage play, Watch on the Rhine on Broadway (1941).

Two years later in Hollywood, she and Lukas reprised their roles in the film adaptation. In perhaps her best known film role, Lucile Watson's performance as 'Mrs. Fanny Farrelly' was also acknowledged with a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but she lost to actress Katina Paxinou for her performance as Pilar in, For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Watson died on June 25, 1962, after suffering a heart attack at age 83.

Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942).

Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942). Adventure film. Director: John Cromwell. Cast: Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Elsa Lanchester, John Carradine and Roddy Mc Dowell. This period swashbuckler film is based on the adventure novel Benjamin Blake by Edison Marshall, who also wrote The Vikings (1958).

In England, a kindly gunsmith Amos Kidder takes responsibility for his grandson, Benjamin Blake, after both his unwed parents died.. Their lives are turned upside down, when Benjamin's uncle, Sir Arthur Blake, who inherited title and lands from his brother,forces him to live with him as a servant.

Ten years pass and Benjamin vows to avenge himself against his cruel a uncle. During this time, Benjamin, works as a grooms man and falls in love with his cousin Isabel. On the evening, Benjamin tells Isabel that he is running away, he makes her promise to wait for him. Arthur catches them together and he beats Benjamin.

Later that night, Benjamin confronts Arthur, who holds a gun on him. Benjamin escapes with his life and stows away aboard the Tropic Star. Benjamin is befriended by Caleb Green, who tells him about a tropical island where they can find pearls.

Later, they both desert ship and swim to the island. My favorite part of the movie is when, Benjamin and Caleb enjoy their peaceful lives while they collect pearls with a native woman, called Eve by Benjamin.

 

The couple live as husband and wife, over time Benjamin, becomes homesick and makes plans on returning home to claim his birthright.. What will he find when he returns to home to England?

SON OF FURY, is a wonderful classic adventure film. One of Tyrone Power's best films. Gene Tierney, although very beautiful.. really did not look like a native girl. Alfred Newman's score is also a big part of the movie..

John Carradine (February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was best known for his roles in horror films and Westerns as well as Shakespearean theater. Was one of the most prolific character actors in Hollywood history. He was married several times, had several children and was the patriarch of the Carradine family acting dynasty. It includes four of his sons and four of his grandchildren.

first film credit was Tol'able David (1930), but he claimed to have done 70 pictures before getting billing. Carradine tested, along with Conrad Veidt, William Courtenay, Paul Muni, and Ian Keith, for the title role in Dracula, but all contenders lost out to Bela Lugosi. Carradine would later play the Count in the Universal Studios Dracula sequels House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula.

Lugosi and Carradine both also tested for the monster role in Frankenstein (1931). By 1933, he was being credited as John Peter Richmond, perhaps in honor of his friend, John Barrymore. He adopted the stage name "John Carradine" in 1935 and legally took the name two years later.

By 1936, Carradine had become a member of John Ford's stock company and made 11 pictures with Ford, including his first important role, as Preacher Casy in The Grapes of Wrath (1940). Other Ford films in which Carradine appeared include: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Stagecoach (1939), both with John Wayne.

He also portrayed Aaron in, The Ten Commandments (1956). Carradine did stage work, which provided him with the opportunity to work in dramas. He toured with his own Shakespearean company in the 1940s, playing Hamlet and Macbeth. His Broadway roles included: Ferdinand in a 1946 production of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, the Ragpicker in a 13-month run of Jean Giraudoux's The Madwoman of Chaillot, Lycus in a 15-month run of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and DeLacey in the expensive one-night flop Frankenstein in 1981.

He also toured in road companies of such shows: Tobacco Road and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, in which he was properly emaciated as the cancer-ridden Big Daddy, a part, he said, which Tennessee Williams wrote for him. Carradine claimed to have appeared in more than 450 movies, but only 225 movies can be documented (his count is closer to fact if theatrical movies, made-for-TV movies and TV shows combined).

He often played eccentric, insane or diabolical characters, especially in the horror genre with which he had become identified as a "star" by the mid-1940s. He occasionally played a heroic role, as in The Grapes of Wrath, in which he played Casy, the ill-fated "preacher", and he occasionally played a sympathetic role, as in Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake, in which he played Blake's shipmate, who escapes with him to a tropical island full of riches.

He appeared in dozens of low-budget horror films from the 1940s to finance a touring classical theatre company. He sang the theme song to one film in which he appeared briefly, Red Zone Cuba. He also made more than 100 television appearances, including CBS's My Friend Flicka and Place the Face, NBC's Cimarron City as the foreboding Jared Tucker in the episode "Child of Fear" and on Overland Trail in the 1960 episode "The Reckoning," and on ABC's Harrigan and Son and The Legend of Jesse James.

Carradine also made recurring appearances as the mortician, Mr. Gateman, on CBS' The Munsters. In 1985, Carradine won a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance as an eccentric old man who lives by the railroad tracks in the Young People's Special, Umbrella Jack. In 1982, he supplied the voice of the Great Owl in the animated feature The Secret of NIMH.

One of Carradine's final film appearances was Peggy Sue Got Married in 1986. Carradine's last released film credit was Bikini Drive-In, released years after his death. Carradine's deep, voice earned him the nickname "The Voice". He was also known as the "Bard of the Boulevard," due to his idiosyncratic habit of strolling Hollywood streets while reciting Shakespearean soliloquies, something he always denied.