Flyerplesys
Perfectly adorable
Doomtomylo
a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Scotty Burke
It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
gridoon2018
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.
LeonLouisRicci
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.
blanche-2
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.
Spondonman
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.