The Unholy Garden

I taped THE UNHOLY GARDEN (1931) off TCM a while back and I don't remember why. I probably wanted to see Ronald Colman and Fay Wray together in what seemed like a rare pre-Code film. The tape sat on my shelf for a while before I finally decided to give it a look, and I was pleasantly surprised. This is a great little movie from the wild world of early talkies.

Colman, ever charming and sophisticated, plays an notorious international criminal who holes up in a desert inn. There he meets a cast of unsavory characters of dubious repute. When it's discovered that the cranky blind man upstairs has stashed away a fortune, Colman agrees to win over the old man and his daughter (Fay Wray) in order to locate the loot.

The motley group of thieves and murderers is played by Kit Guard, Henry Armetta, Ullrich Haupt, Mischa Auer, Lawrence Grant, and Warren Hymer. Grant in particular leaves an impression as a Vincent Price-y doctor character, the cool-headed intellectual of the group. (The brief conversation Grant has with Colman about his three dead wives is a delightful bit of black humor.) There's something about these characters in this secluded setting that reminds me of SAFE IN HELL (1931).

RAFFLES (1930) meets SAFE IN HELL (1931), perhaps?

This film has an interesting pedigree, written by the prolific Ben Hecht (UNDERWORLD, SCARFACE, THE FRONT PAGE, NOTHING SACRED, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, NOTORIOUS, KISS OF DEATH, etc.) and his frequent writing partner Charles MacArthur.

This is a quick little film (75 minutes long), and it's enjoyable all the way through. The cast (also including a sultry Estelle Taylor and Tully Marshall as the dotty old man) is full of interesting characters, all staying together at the inn.

A kind of romance blooms between Colman and Wray, who is young and lovely, but cut off from the world by her reclusive father. Colman is her window into Paris and the glamorous outside world. The film mixes romance and caper thrills while cultivating an atmosphere of danger. Certain scenes give the film a dark pre-Code edge. (In one scene Wray tells Colman what kind of life awaits her at the inn among the cutthroats. She wants to "start" with him, so she could have something nice to remember later on.)

When things start to heat up, will Colman go through with his plans to swipe the cash? Will he double-cross the gang of crooks? Will he rescue the damsel and ride off into the sunset? Will he be tracked down by the French police?

At 75 minutes, THE UNHOLY GARDEN is exciting, creepy, oddly charming, sexy, spooky, and even a little sweet. Ronald Colman is a dashing hero, even when he's playing an outlaw. Fay Wray is very lovely and sympathetic. This little-known pre-Code flick should interest any fans of early talkies. Check it out if it comes your way.

Poor early talkie. Ronald Colman is fine as a gentleman bank robber, Estelle Taylor (as a vamp) outshines Fay Wray (as a good girl), but what really makes this film insufferable are the supporting characters, the crooks: they are all boring and overacted. I did not care for a minute whether they would get the loot or not, which is a problem, because that's the plot of the movie. The African desert looks more like studio backdrop. *1/2 out of 4.

Setting aside all the implausible elements in the story, it's a pretty good, briskly told yarn, made exciting by the way the plot actually becomes more complicated as the film careens wildly to its conclusion. So it's easy to watch, first of all, this garden of unholy criminals in the middle of nowhere working through their mutually broken honor among thieves. Pre-code, you'll find only the hint of a bosom flashing from a very minor female character. Otherwise the sexual innuendos are largely verbal. Like another reviewer, I too appreciated the hotel-in-the-desert ambiance and its effervescent symbolism. And the strangely obsequious Arab natives flitting about never intrude upon the Westerners. Meanwhile Ronald Colman and ever-pleasantly baby-fatty Fay Wray may not be the last word in chemistry, but they do get the job done nicely.

Ronald Coleman Must have Thought when Sound Arrived in Hollywood that He Would Become an Even Bigger Star. What With a Voice that Could Melt Steel and the Coldest Femme Fatale Along with the Drop Dead Looks that Made Him a Silent Star. A Whole New World Would Open Up for the Likable Actor to Conquer.

It was Not to Be. Given Atrocious Projects He Very Quickly Became Box-Office Poison and Although He Continued Working for Decades, His Star was Never Again as Bright as During the Silents. The Double Life (1947) is a Welcome Exception.

In this Flop, Written by Ben Hecht and Co-Starring Fay Wray, a Very Busy Actress During this Period, Coleman is the Whole Show Surrounded by Unlikeable Clichéd Characters in a Dull, Dusty Setting.

The Film Never Really Clicks but is Mildly Engaging and Estelle Taylor as a Slinky Bad Girl Showing Some Pre-Code Vampiness, is a Highlight. But Warren Hymer as Coleman's Sidekick is a Distraction and Way Over the Top.

Overall, Pre-Code Fans Won't Find Much Here to Get Excited About and the Movie Mostly Just Lies There as the Desert Setting Isn't Very Exotic or Interesting. Worth a Watch for Pre-Code Completists, Fans of Coleman and Wray but Others May Find it Very Creaky. Not the Best Work of the Two Stars or Writer Hecht.

Ronald Colman and Fay Wray star in "The Unholy Garden," a 1931 film that is darn strange.

A fugitive from justice (Colman) winds up at a hotel in the Algerian desert where all the other thieves and killers hang out. Among them is lovely Fay Wray and her blind father. Word is the old man is hiding a great deal of money, and the thieves want it. Colman manages to become their leader, but his agenda is somewhat different from theirs.

Ronald Colman is delightful as Barrington Hunt, escaped con - fast talking, debonair, and charming. Wray is beautiful as the vulnerable, despairing Camille de Jonghe, who feels that her life will never change.

The atmosphere is marvelous - one really feels like they're in an Algerian hotel where danger lurks. Worth seeing for Colman and Wray.