GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

richard-1787 This is one of the early Technicolor movies. And it must be said: some of the scenes, especially those in the desert, are astoundingly beautiful. It must have left its original audiences back in 1936, accustomed to seeing black and white in the theater, literally breathless. Few movies since have been so beautiful to look at.And then there's the plot. It's pure melodrama, of a sort that was largely out of style even by 1936. The two leads, Charles Boyer and the unbelievably beautiful Marlene Dietrich, speak in a sort of breathless prose-poetry. But the story is simply of no interest. WHY must a man choose between faith and carnal/romantic love? It must be said, though: Technicolor makes Dietrich appear in literally a whole new light. In her previous, b&w movies, she often looked very beautiful but very cold. Here, where we see her beautiful blue eyes, her red hair, and her radiant skin, she looks young and warm, very human. And, as in her wedding ceremony, beautiful past all imagining.So, this movie offers a feast for the eyes. But the plot is really a waste of time.

wilderthanbilly I had read up on this movie before watching it. A lot of people said it was boring and I have to agree with them. I really enjoyed the colouring and even the title of the film. Really I should be giving this film a 3/10. But I'm going to do that. I watched this movie only because Boyer and Dietrich were in it. I'd give this movie a 10/10 solely for Charles Boyer's face because it was a masterpiece in this film. We've always been used to the black and white Boyer but this film truly brings out the fullness of his face. The tortured, painful and sometimes almost pouty made his face even better. So literally watch it for its historical significance and Boyers gorgeous face. Oh yeah, and Marlene was beautiful, as always.

blanche-2 If you did "The Garden of Allah" today, you'd have to play it for camp. As produced in 1936, it nearly is anyway.Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer, Basil Rathbone, C. Aubrey Smith, and Joseph Schildkraut star in this David O. Selznick Technicolor production. The story concerns a religious woman, Domini, who is in mourning for her father and visits the convent where she lived as a child. The Mother Superior encourages her to go out and live, as she was her father's caretaker and didn't get out into the world.She meets Boris Androvsky, and he seems even more unfamiliar with the world than she. What she doesn't know is that he was a Trappist monk and has left the order. The two fall in love and marry. However, someone eventually recognizes him, and his secret is revealed.I have to say, I feel sorry for any ex-Trappist monk running into gorgeous Marlene Dietrich, especially under a desert sky. The atmosphere of this film is very moody, the color beautiful, and the photography sensational. Filmed in California and Arizona, it looks for all the world like an exotic desert setting.Even with all this, and a young, handsome Charles Boyer, the film comes off as melodramatic and slight. Partly I blame the overly-dramatic music, but let's face it, the script isn't very good.Marlene Dietrich is very good and underplays her role; Boyer's role is really impossible. He's confused and miserable through most of it. He was an excellent actor and pulls it off, though. Rathbone doesn't have a big role, nor does Schildkraut, but they were two of the best character actors around."The Garden of Allah" is definitely worth seeing - it's wonderful to look at, and when you see the Cyndi Lauper video of "Time after Time," this is the film she was watching in the beginning of the song.

earlytalkie This film, based on an old novel and several silent treatments is dramatically pretty good, with Charles Boyer and Marlene Dietrich meeting and romancing in the desert. Tilly Losch's exotic dance is but one visual highlight in what has to be one of the most gorgeous pictures of the 1930s. The Technicolor photography at this early date is beautiful to behold and the print on the DVD has been astonishingly well preserved. What a revelation this must have been to audiences in 1936. As one of the first three-color Technicolor features, the contrast between this and the old two-color systems gives a vivid life-likeness to experiencing this film. A must for students of early color.