Friday, May 29, 2009

The Garden of Allah (The Best Sellers of 1905)

A grand tale of adventure in the Sahara Desert, and a young woman who travels from England to the Middle East, this novel was the basis for the 1936 film that was produced by David O. Selznick, directed by Richard Boleslawski, and starred Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer, and Basil Rathbone. The film received two Academy Award nominations and received an Honorary Award for the color cinematography. Earlier it was filmed twice as a silent film, including a 1927 MGM production, directed by Rex Ingram, starring Alice Terry (Ingram's wife) and Ivan Petrovich. The early first silent film version starred Helen Ware, Thomas Santschi, Al W. Filson, and Eugenie Besserer.

The author is also writer of "The Paradine Case" which was later filmed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Customer Review: The Garden of Allah Revisited

How exciting to see this novel back in print. I first came upon this story while patrolling the intricate rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta during the Viet Nam War c. 1968-1969. A public library...
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