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InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOLIERS**** Held back from released in favor of his 2nd talkie "Disraeli" George Arliss is the British educated Himalayan Raja of the land of Rukh who after have three British subjects fall into his hands, when they crash landed, held them hostage to get his three murderous brothers-Moe Larry & Curly-from being executed by the British in India. Not only that the hot blooded Raja got the hots for one of his British captives the homely looking Lucilla Crespin, Alice Joyce, who compared to the women of his kingdom is as sexy looking as Cleara Bow. It's when Lucilla's ex-husband and now new lover Major Crespin & Dr. Traheme, H.B Warner, Ralph Forbes,find out what the Raja's is up to they try to contact the outside world with the help of the Raja's communication chief British turncoat Watkins, Ivan F. Simpson. That by bribing him with 2,000 pound sterling where he in fact double crosses them warning the Raja in what their up to! And in return Watkins ends up getting tied up and thrown off, by the Major & Dr. Traheme, a 500 foot cliff to his death.With the Raja and his hoods coming on the scene he shoots and kills the Major before he can send out an SOS only to later have the cavalry or RAF show up and threaten to bomb the living hell out of him and his fanatical, who think that he's God, followers. Seeing the writing on the wall the Raja meekly gives in and lets his hostages, including his future bride to be Lucilla, go free without as much as firing a shot. And at the same time him not being charged by the British for the murder of British nationalist Major Crespin. As hard as he tried George Arliss was anything but convincing as a non-British Hamalayin or Indian Raja as well as most of his followers who seemed to be mostly made up of European Hispanic and African American actors. It also didn't make any sense in Arliss attraction for Lucilla, who hated the very sight of him, who's lust for her seemed to be more forced then genuine. As for Alice Joyce who played Lucilla she seemed to have been so traumatized in her role, in having to fight off a lustful and sex crazed Arliss, that she soon retired from making films and was never seen or heard from on the silver screen again.

marcslope George Arliss, pursing his lips and sneering and maintaining a dignity-through-deviltry poise, is the Brit-hating rajah in this high-flown adaptation of a silent in which he also starred. By today's standards, it's both melodramatic and hilariously racist, with the rajah and his subjects being both polite and murderous to three Brits who have crash-landed in the Himalayas and are about to be sacrificed for the concurrent deaths of three of Arliss's subjects. H.B. Warner and Ralph Forbes indulge in amusing early-talkie overacting, and Alice Joyce at least manages some minimal poignancy as the grieving, about-to-die mother of two kids she fears she'll never see again. It's typical of this early 20th century Western-centrism that Arliss's proposition to her--become my wife, and I'll spare your life--is a fate worse than death, and that she and Forbes, the pilot who crashed, belatedly confess their love for one another, for no discernible plot reason. The early-talkie recording and pacing are uncertain, and the ooga-booga natives are offensive. But is it fun? Oh, yes, mostly for the wrong reasons.

bkoganbing George Arliss's Victorian melodramatic style of acting might put some off today. Still playing The Rajah Of Rukh in one of his stage triumphs, Arliss is still fascinating to watch. Especially as he entertains three unexpected European visitors with malice in his heart.It turns out three of his half brothers got caught in revolutionary activity against the British Raj and the more violent kind than what Gandhi advocated. Arliss takes it as a sign from his Hindu gods that Ralph Forbes, Alicia Joyce and H.B. Warner have to crash land in his remote part of India, near the Nepal border. At first he's a gracious host, but then he springs it on them that they're hostages.Ivan Simpson plays Arliss's English butler. It amuses him to have one and Simpson is in no position to complain since he's a wanted man. He's a sniveling and sneaky sort and not one to be answering a call for help with king and country platitudes. Simpson was the only other one besides Arliss to appear on Broadway with him and in a 1924 silent version of The Green Goddess.When this film came out the British public was debating the issue of giving up India. Almost singlehandedly Winston Churchill then a member of the Tory shadow government and the Beaverbrook press prevented independence from being granted sooner, not exactly Winnie's finest hour.Arliss was competing against himself at the Academy Awards as he lost to his own performance as Disraeli in Disraeli, another of his stage triumphs.Old fashioned that he is, George Arliss is still fascinating in The Green Goddess as the Rajah of Rukh.

Ron Oliver A small plane is forced down somewhere near the Himalayas. On board are an English major, his young wife and their doctor friend. The plane lands in the tiny Princedom of Rukh, ostensibly under the British Viceroy, but actually ruled by a curiously deranged old Raja. The three visitors find themselves at the mercy of the Raja and are caught up in his lustful plots & plans.This very early talkie is an interesting little curio and still fun to watch. George Arliss is a fascinatingly sardonic Raja. His every word & gesture entertain the imagination. Mr. Arliss was a very important & distinguished English actor working in Hollywood in the 1930's, although now he's sadly neglected. This was his first talkie - (but was released after DISRAELI). All of his Warner Brothers movies are very entertaining, if you can find them.In the supporting cast are Ralph Forbes as the heroic doctor; H.B. Warner & Alice Joyce as the callous Major & his estranged wife; gaunt Nigel de Brulier as a suspicious temple priest; and Ivan Simpson as the Raja's wicked butler.