The Unholy Garden

The acting style is dated, the production is low-budget, the characters are cartoonish, and the story is quite silly... but there is something about this movie I adore. There's no comparing Colman in RAFFLES to this role in THE HOLY GARDEN, as other reviewers have done - in the former, he's distinguished, elegant and urbane, an adorable, tame scoundrel any woman would be quite safe to be around (except for her heart, of course), but in THE UNHOLY GARDEN, the undercurrent of sexuality in his character will be a shock to anyone who is used to Colman in much less sensual, much more gentle roles. I'm used to seeing Clark Gable get this physical and sexual with his leading ladies, but Ronald Colman? Awesome! The dress-hooking scene with Estelle Taylor is delicious... If you are a Colman fan, you will adore this movie. If you're not, you may be one by the end - but don't expect to see him in other films in a role quite like this. In addition - lots of laugh-out-loud lines. What a shame the rest of the movie isn't as good.

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.

The suave criminal Barrington Hunt heads for a hideout in the Sahara Desert. In the crumbling old moorish palace he meets a gang of desperados and the divine Camille. A plan intended to relieve Camille of her hidden loot misfires when Hunt begins to fall for her ....

Ronald Coleman plays his stock role of gentleman thief, and Fay Wray is Camille. Wray was a busy star at the time, averaging seven features per year between 1927 and 1934, though of course her name will always be associated with "King Kong", made two years after this crime thriller. "Don't worry - I'm rather good at this," says Coleman as he takes the wheel of Elize's sporty open-top car. He might have been talking about his handsome roue performance. In a long crescendo, the film builds towards the climax of the kiss in the ruined mosque. Coleman is very effective as the cad who is ennobled by love, and his look of regret as Camille leaves is harrowing. If Wray is guilty of an overly declamatory acting style, it can be conceded that this was the vogue of the time. Estelle Taylor as the sexy Elize has a voice that grates, but her performance grows on the viewer as the film progresses.

George Barnes' photography is beautiful, with Coleman backlit at crucial moments, almost like a saint with his halo. The set of the 'palais royal' is superb, deliciously seedy and rambling. There are nice glimpses of desert dunes, and the moorish architecture has an authentic look.

"The place is crawling with lizards," we learn, and this could just as well describe the human inhabitants of the palais royal. Fortunately for Camille, Hunt is cunning enough to outwit the pack of villains who haunt this remote lair. Hunt is able to turn his wasted life into something good and useful in a heroic gesture of self-denial.

Criticisms are limited to minor implausibilities. In such a forsaken spot, would the men all be clean-shaven every day? And would de Jonghe dress formally for Christmas Dinner? Would a disgraced German wear a military uniform out here?

Verdict - Stylish adventure, with Coleman at his most urbane

This is a pretty oddball film, plot-wise and characters. I've seen it a few times now and still can't make up my mind on how good it is - or not. It is dated of course, but who cares when you can be ogling Fay Wray at her peak!

Just how unlikely is the basic situation - a hotel in the middle of the Algerian desert full of cut-throats and thieves plus one trigger-happy old blind man and his beautiful daughter sitting on but protecting a useless fortune for years. The brainy fugitive rascal Colman appears and the cut-throats' plans to rob the old man suddenly coalesce and are dependent upon our dashing anti-hero finding the loot for them. All of the characters without exception are dislikeable but I'm afraid I don't know how faithful this is to the original book, or whether it was simply designed for the movie that way.

Never mind, Colman uses the opportunity splendidly to woo Wray, and the two couldn't look more beautiful as when splashed by the Goldwyn moonlight - others would have burst into song! He later goes Noble in a tortured climax, but hey that's Love!

To the Faithful: well worth watching - after "Raffles" it's definitely my next favourite Goldwyn Colman potboiler. To the Unbeliever: you won't get it, wait for a violent remake.

RONALD COLMAN spent a fair share of his early career as a criminal on the loose. RAFFLES and THE UNHOLY GARDEN are some prime examples. Unfortunately, neither one of these films is rated high on any list of Colman's film resume.

THE UNHOLY GARDEN gets its title from the swarm of criminals and thieves residing at a seedy hotel in the Sahara Desert, where a beautiful young girl (FAY WRAY) is trying to keep her father's hidden wealth from the prying hands of a bunch of hoods determined to get their hands on the loot. Along comes gentleman RONALD COLMAN, himself a thief, who charms the girl but makes the mistake of falling in love with her. He finds his conscience before the final reel.

It's all played in a wildly overacted fashion with actors given to the kind of emoting that went out with silent pictures. Colman is credible in the lead but everyone else seems to be playing to the balcony.

The plot is similar to many other such crime capers, one in particular being a film made around the same time called SAFE IN HELL, whereby a young woman runs away from authorities to a South Seas island and must stay at a run-down hotel surrounded by unsavory criminals.

Nothing distinctive here about the story's treatment. Its only interest is giving the viewer a chance to see the young Ronald Colman playing a romantic lead.