"The Garden of Allah" (1936)

Movie: "The Garden of Allah" (1936) A story about a Catholic spiritual struggle with a Sand Diviner foreshadowing events under an Islamic movie title and watched by a Lutheran reviewer...slight viewpoint warp there. Aside from the multi-faceted viewpoint, good movie. The movie won an honorary Oscar award for color cinematography--so in my chronological watching of movies, I've reached color films. And I can see why the award. I may be momentarily out of the loop for more recent films, but this film seems to prompt something missing from current day. It's not just a film in color. It's a film enjoying the sheer lusciousness of color. Every scene rolls in it. It's much like looking forward to the flavor of a favorite bite of food when you're hungry and haven't had it for awhile. Only, the whole film's that way. "Let's enjoy color! Just for the pure wonderfulness of it" There may be some hints still of 30s spectacle, but compared to the other movies, it's much more subdued. Music still seems slightly overdone compared to today--so still "dramatic" in places, but not as bad as before. The one surreal bit--women in the desert always look drop dead gorgeous every day of the week. It's the desert. Hello! But, it's not a depressing drama, so I don't mind. :)