SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

barnesgene Setting aside all the implausible elements in the story, it's a pretty good, briskly told yarn, made exciting by the way the plot actually becomes more complicated as the film careens wildly to its conclusion. So it's easy to watch, first of all, this garden of unholy criminals in the middle of nowhere working through their mutually broken honor among thieves. Pre-code, you'll find only the hint of a bosom flashing from a very minor female character. Otherwise the sexual innuendos are largely verbal. Like another reviewer, I too appreciated the hotel-in-the-desert ambiance and its effervescent symbolism. And the strangely obsequious Arab natives flitting about never intrude upon the Westerners. Meanwhile Ronald Colman and ever-pleasantly baby-fatty Fay Wray may not be the last word in chemistry, but they do get the job done nicely.

MartinHafer "The Unholy Garden" is a decent enough time-passer, but it is improved a bit because it stars the always suave and always entertaining Ronald Colman. It begins with an oasis of sin in the desert. In this far off place, various criminals from across the globe hang out here to avoid the police. But, because it's so far in the middle of nowhere, the local authorities leave the place to itself. This is where Colman and his group of 'friends' live. The group learns that a crazy old blind Frenchman is hiding out there and he's reportedly embezzled millions--millions this group of riffraff want to take. To do so, Colman pretends to be a friend to the old guy and his sexy daughter (Fay Wray). The problem is that Colman slowly starts to fall in love. What's he to do--his associates will kill him if he doesn't follow through with it but he can't bring himself to destroy Wray in the process.All in all, a decent romantic crime film--mostly because Colman was so cool and likable. It's not a film that will change your life and there were a few problems (such as the fact that Wray and her father bore no French accents), but it's very enjoyable escapism.

Neil Doyle 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.

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.