The Unholy Garden (1931)

At a hotel in the middle of the Sahara Desert, an old man and his beautiful daughter try to keep the location of a hidden treasure from a collection of thieves and criminals staying at the ... See full summary »

Director:

George Fitzmaurice

Writers:

Ben Hecht (novel), Ben Hecht (screenplay),

Stars:

Ronald Colman, Fay Wray, Estelle Taylor

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ronald Colman	...	Barrington Hunt
Fay Wray	...	Camille de Jonghe
Estelle Taylor	...	Eliza Mowbray
Warren Hymer	...	Smiley Corbin
Tully Marshall	...	Baron de Jonghe
Lawrence Grant	...	Dr. Shayne
Ullrich Haupt	...	Col. von Axt
Kit Guard	...	Kid Twist
Henry Armetta	...	Nick the Goose
Lucille La Verne	...	Lucie Villars
Mischa Auer	...	Prince Nicolai Poliakoff
Henry Kolker	...	Col. Lautrac
Charles Hill Mailes	...	Alfred de Jonghe
Wilhelm von Brincken	...	Undetermined Supporting Role (scenes deleted)

Storyline

At a hotel in the middle of the Sahara Desert, an old man and his beautiful daughter try to keep the location of a hidden treasure from a collection of thieves and criminals staying at the hotel who are determined to get it. A suave gentleman thief arrives at the hotel one day with his own plan to get the loot, but complications ensue when he begins to fall for the daughter.

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Plot Keywords:

desert | adventurer | based on novel

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Taglines:

A GREAT STAR'S GREATER ACHIEVEMENT! Here is the Colman you knew in "CONDEMNED"... The Colman who startled you in "BULLDOG DRUMMOND"... Now giving you the thrill of a lifetime in a sensational story of sinners, sirens and strange adventure.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 October 1931 (USA)

Also Known As:

El paraíso del mal

Filming Locations:

Samuel Goldwyn Studios - 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

Fun Film Thanks to Colman

Unholy Garden, The (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent little pre-Code about a blind old man (Tully Marshall) and his daughter (Fay Wray) who are staying at a hotel in the Sahara. The two keep themselves locked up in their room because there's a group of criminals in the lobby trying to come up with a way to get in the room and steal what could be millions from them. A suave criminal (Ronald Colman) then shows up and tries to get into the room and the daughter's heart his own way. THE UNHOLY GARDEN isn't a very well-known film but I found it to be a pleasant time killer thanks in large part to the performance of Colman who really shines here. The story itself is a mildly interesting one but at the same time you really have to suspend some disbelief that these cut-throats wouldn't have already gotten into the room and forced they way into finding out where the money was. There's a funny sequence dealing with the old man just shooting his gun off and I'm guessing this was the writers attempt to show that the criminals couldn't get in but I'm sure they could have came up with something else. The way Colman works his way into the room was at the same time a tad bit too easy. With that said, at just 74-minutes the film goes by very quickly and a lot of this is due to the very charming performance of Colman. It's almost as if the actor knew the material wasn't the greatest so he just really went all out in terms of charm. His character makes it easy to see why the daughter would fall for him but Colman is also brilliant at showing as slick this character is. This is especially true towards the end when he tries to save the daughter by lying to all the criminals to try and protect her. Wray, who would follow this up with such titles as DOCTOR X, THE VAMPIRE BAT, MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM and of course, KING KONG, is in fine form even if the screenplay doesn't do too much justice to her. The supporting cast includes Estelle Taylor, Warren Hymer and Lawrence Grant as a doctor who has murdered his three wives. The dialogue is at times fairly risky and there are many pre-Code elements, which are another plus. Overall, while the film certainly has some flaws it's still entertaining and that's the most important thing.