The Garden of Eden

source: The Garden of Eden

The Garden of Eden is a charming but obscure silent comedy from 1928 and was an important film for both its talented director Lewis Milestone, a two-time Academy Award Best Director winner, and its beguiling star Corinne Griffith, a once-popular and now nearly-forgotten star of silent cinema. It's adapted to the screen by Avery Hopwood and Hans Kraly from the play by Rudolph Bernauer and Rudolf Österreicher. It features marvelous art-direction courtesy of William Cameron Menzies, who later became a director of films. It also stars Charles Ray as the sophisticate who falls in love with Griffith who he thinks has a title. Ray's specialty was playing country bumpkins, and this Cinderella tale offered him a chance to go against type and perhaps revive his sagging career. However, comeback attempts were hampered by the advent of the sound picture. Griffith as always shines and gives a capable and graceful performance. Her beauty has not been missed by Mr. Milestone in his direction of the scenes. Louise Dresser and Lowell Sherman do well by their parts and Edward Martindel is sympathetic as a love-sick uncle. Ray escapes his normal hick role even if the naive innocent aura still hangs over him. Structurally the film is divided into three sub-movies which could almost be played independently. The first portion is Toni LeBrun's experience at the "Palais de Paris," a cabaret that she naively thinks is an opera hall. The next movie segment concerns the wooing of Toni by rival uncle and nephew. The last section of the film is also set in the Hotel Eden, however, the plot of this section deals with Toni's wedding. On occasion, there are some visually dazzling shots, such as Toni and Richard seated at a grand piano, perfectly reflected in the raised lid, while the room slowly rotates around them. But overall The Garden of Eden is fun and moves briskly enough. The pacing is aided by a slight under cranking that provides a slightly sped-up feeling that boosts the comic effect. However, it's not overdone to the point of ridiculousness. Sadly a Technicolor dream sequence of Toni as a great opera star, prefiguring her later assumed wealth, remains unfortunately lost.

Impoverished beauty Corinne Griffith (as Toni LeBrun) dreams of becoming a famous opera singer. After getting her diploma, Ms. Griffith is accepted for an audition in Budapest. She finds figures more interested in her beauty than her singing ability. Mannish Maude George (as Madame Bauer) demands Griffith, "Show me your legs", then hires her to sing at the "Palais de Paris". There, leering patrons, like Lowell Sherman (as Henri D'Avril), admire the female form. Griffith bonds with matronly worker Louise Dresser (as Rosa de Garcer), a down-on-her-luck Baroness. When Ms. Dresser's pension check comes in, she takes Griffith on a Cinderella-like adventure; and, she meets princely Charles Ray (as Richard Dupont). Lewis Milestone (director), John Arnold (photographer), and William Cameron Menzies (designer) are responsible for some stunning, stylish work. Especially, savor Griffith's arrival at the squalid "Palais de Paris", early in the film. Later, watch for the scene with Griffith and Mr. Ray sitting at the grand piano, as the raised lid puts them in a beautiful, reflective "triangle". Star Griffith receives a lavish, loving production. The cast is very entertaining, especially Dresser and Ms. George, who more often supported Erich von Stroheim. Ray seems a little uncomfortable at times; a decade earlier, he routinely offered superior performances. Although, the story is rather routine, it's nice to have "The Garden of Eden" around; thanks to "Flicker Alley". ****** The Garden of Eden (2/4/28) Lewis Milestone ~ Corinne Griffith, Charles Ray, Louise Dresser, Maude George

A young Viennese girl Toni LeBrun (Corinne Griffith), determined not to stay in her current situation, living with her aunt and uncle working in their pretzel bakery, earns a correspondence course degree as an opera singer. She decides to leave her small town life, traveling to Budapest to answer an ad from the Palais de Paris. However, the ad was a sham - a way to get girls for cheap stage shows and more, for its wealthier clientele. When she arrives, Toni is confused when the manager, Madame Bauer (Maude George), asks her to show her legs in lieu of exhibiting her singing voice; she is hired nonetheless. Still ignorant of the set- up, she refuses to wear the skimpy costume assigned and is given a white "puritan" costume instead. Before the show, the manager greets aristocrat Henri D'Avril (Lowell Sherman), giving him a "menu" of the showgirls from which to choose. When he asks if there is anyone new, he is directed to Toni's name on the program. When Toni begins her performance in earnest, the audience starts to slumber, given her conservative dress. But the manager directs a lighting change, which causes her translucent clothing become highly revealing. Through their reaction, Toni realizes what has happened and runs off the stage where she is comforted by the wardrobe woman, Rosa (Louise Dresser), the only friend she's made since arriving in the city. However, Madame Bauer is not through with Toni yet; she has arranged a rendezvous for her with D'Avril in a room off the stage. Once locked inside with Toni, he quickly tries to take advantage. She struggles against his advances which are heard by Rosa, who is able to come to her rescue. When Madame Bauer discovers that her client didn't get what he wanted, she fires Toni and Rosa on the spot. Conveniently, Rosa was about to leave on a vacation anyway and persuades the forlorn Toni to go with her. They go to Monte Carlo, but Toni is now suspicious of other people's motives. So when Rosa signs the Eden Hotel register as "Baroness & her daughter", Toni accuses her of being no better than Madame Bauer. However, Rosa has documentation which proves that she is in fact a Baroness, and tells Toni that she signed the registration that way because she wishes it were so. Hugs, kisses, etc.. Later, when Toni is playing the piano in her room, she is spotted through the window from across the courtyard by Richard (Charles Ray). In one of the many amusing scenes in the film, he tries to get her attention by signaling her, turning on & off the lights in his room. As a gag, she responds with same, causing everyone else on his entire side of the hotel to do it too. When Rosa sees it, she stops the "lightning bug" nonsense. However, Richard then decides to call Toni's room, but Rosa answers and decides to invite him over to put a stop to "it". She plays the piano while she waits for Richard to arrive. But he arrives at Rosa's door, where Toni is. Tired of unwanted suitors, she appears uninterested in his flirting, yet doesn't reveal him when Rosa returns & he hides behind a door. Colonel Dupont (Edward Martindel) arrives to call on Rosa, but is instantly entranced by Toni. In the doorway, he asks the two ladies to dinner which is witnessed by Richard, who just moments earlier had escaped from their room via another door. Upon hearing their acceptance, Richard joins them, revealing that the Colonel is his uncle. After the dinner, Richard takes Toni for a walk through the hotel's grounds and garden (the title of the film) and they fall in love, losing track of the time. The rest of the film has Toni being wooed by both Richard and his uncle with a song one of them wrote on the piano. However, there is a surprise involving D'Avril which threatens a happy ending for Toni. This silent was directed by Lewis Milestone, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).

Lewis Milestone's nearly-forgotten 'The Garden of Eden (1928)' is an endlessly-pleasant romantic comedy, featuring Corinne Griffith, a major actress of the silent era who has since fallen largely into obscurity. By 1928, Milestone was already an established director, having won his first Oscar for 'Two Arabian Knights (1927),' a war-time comedy; his second award would come for the classic WWI drama 'All Quiet on the Western Front (1930).' Even just from the latter film, one can deduce that Milestone had an incredible flair for visual storytelling, and few will ever forget that poignant image of a soldier's hand reaching out for the quivering wings of a butterfly. 'The Garden of Eden,' despite a considerably less epic storyline, nonetheless boasts equally impressive photography, courtesy of cinematographer John Arnold. Furthermore, a completely unpretentious, if occasionally incredible, screenplay from Hanns Kräly, based on a play by Rudolph Bernauer and Rudolf Österreicher, ensures likable characters and amusing comedic situations. This isn't a forgotten masterpiece, but it is nonetheless a delightful little find. Toni LeBrun (Corinne Griffith) is an aspiring opera singer who, having tired of making pretzels for her aunt and uncle, strikes out for Budapest for a new life. However, the Palais de Paris nightclub isn't quite as prestigious as she had expected, and the vampiric owner (Maude George) exploits Toni's naiveté to spice up her seedy burlesque house. It is through this job that she meets Rosa (Louise Dresser), an old baroness who improbably works fifty miserable weeks a year to enable an extravagant two-week splurge of her yearly pension. The usual romantic hijinks follow as Toni falls for the dashing Richard Dupont (Charles Ray), despite the competing interests of his aged uncle, and that tiny complication whereby she neglected to mention that she wasn't really the baroness' daughter. There's plenty of hiding-behind-doors gags, the sort that you'd probably find in a Marx Brothers comedy. My favourite scene involves a playful game of "flick your light switch" between the two flirting would-be lovers that turns the entire building into a Christmas tree of flashing lights. Griffith is gorgeous in the main role, and her character sympathetic, despite being, at times, somewhat befuddling. Just when you think she's been totally charmed by her male suitor, Toni rather rudely snubs him, and you can't tell whether she's playing hard-or-get, or is simply in denial. She even twice replies "no!" to the minister's proposed marriage vows, before inexplicably changing her mind at the last moment. Also memorable is the prelude to the wedding ceremony, which sees the bride strutting down the stairs, half-dressed, all to the tune of the wedding march. Despite being a silent film, 'The Garden of Eden' places considerable emphasis on music, and Milestone uses imaginative visual techniques to simulate the musical notes. Additionally, for the 2002 Flicker Alley DVD release, composer Robert Israel has written an excellent music score that, unlike the bulk of silent film accompaniments, actually takes note of what is happening in the story. A two-strip Technicolor dream sequence, featuring Toni as the opera singer she imagines herself becoming, is considered lost.

Garden of Eden, The (1928) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Lewis Milestone directed this film shortly after winning his Best Director Oscar (the first in history). A country girl (Corinne Griffith) goes to Budapest to become an Opera star but she soon ends up working in a sleazy nightclub where the women are exploited. This is a pretty good, if routine, early drama that features a very good performance by Griffith but the thing has one familiar act after another, which is the reason it's not a total success. The film is pretty heavy on the sexual side of things as there are a couple scenes where Griffith has to strip down. We don't see any actual nudity but the film was pretty controversial back in the day for what it does show including a strip down at the end of the film as well as her wearing a see through gown towards the start of the film. The supporting players also offer fine performances but the film tends to drag towards the end.

This is a delightful film based upon a play by Avery Hopwood, an adaption of a work by Rudolph Bernauer and Rudolf Oesterreicher, featuring a radiant and vivacious Corinne Griffith as Toni LeBrun, a would-be diva who is adopted as ward by a baroness (Louise Dresser) who takes her to Monte Carlo where romantic adventures then take place. The work is directed by Lewis Milestone, one of the few Americans who may be described as a cinematic auteur, predicated upon his clear stylistic methods, in evidence here in this leisurely paced effort, in particular with clever establishing, long and detail shots used in the seamless decoupage typical of silent filmmaking at its best, and certainly present in this influential picture. The keen expressivity of art director William Cameron Menzies and the technically flawless cinematography of John Arnold are absorbed by Milestone as this trio combine in presenting a stream of interesting imagery, some of which has been copied but not bettered in the sound era. A highly polished supporting cast backs Griffith, notably Charles Ray as her romantic favorite, Lowell Sherman as a knavish would-be nobleman, Maude George, who portrays an androgynous stage manager and Dresser in a typically well-defined performance as Toni's adoptive mother. Rosa Rio, at the Wurlitzer, plays the original score with a great deal of wit and neatly interpretive passage-work; a perfect aural mating with a sublimely visual feast.

This would have been one of my recommendations if it had nothing else but Corinne Griffith starring in it. She is, as usual, marvelous. And beautiful. And charming. As usual. But in addition, it is magnificently directed by Lewis Mileston. He has created a visual masterpiece of the silent cinema. I remember some of my film school classmates (too many years ago) being so impressed by "The Scarlet Letter," and exclaiming how modern it looked. Too many people think movies went from "The Great Train Robbery" to Chaplin shorts to "The Jazz Singer." They just don't know how films evolved. Later silent films often used a very mobile camera that made them more "movies" than many early talkies. "The Garden of Eden" is a prize example of how to enhance a story with visuals. Milestone used pictures to make this motion picture tell the tale, although there were lots of intertitles. (Another example is "Lady Windermere's Fan," based on a story by the very verbal Oscar Wilde but still made enjoyable to watch by director Ernst Lubitsch's photographic technique.) "The Garden of Eden" is fun, well acted, beautifully directed, and more than worth the hour-and-a-half it takes to watch.

This is a sweet little comedy from 1928 starring Corrine Griffith. She plays Toni, a young girl that leaves home in search of a career as an opera singer. However, when she arrives at the theater that promised her a job, she finds that it's really a sleazy cabaret and she is manhandled by one of the patrons after she performs. She fights back and both she and her older friend, Rosa, are fired. Instead of going looking for a job, Rosa insists that Toni come with her on vacation as her guest. However, Rosa is a seamstress and Toni has no idea HOW they can afford to stay in the swanky hotel she takes them to. Rosa signs in as a baroness and Toni as her daughter. It turns out Rosa didn't lie too badly, as she really is a poor baroness and she adopts Toni. A short time later, Toni meets a nice rich guy and, after initially disliking each other, they fall in love. Shortly afterwards, he asks her to marry him. The only problem is, Toni hasn't told her about herself--he thinks she's a rich lady. How this is all worked out is pretty cute and pretty sweet. All-in-all, this is a wonderful little romance highly reminiscent of some of the Hollywood romances of the 30s and 40s. Nice acting, direction and writing make this one of the brighter films of the silent era. A SPECIAL NOTE: This DVD was released by Flicker Alley--a company I have never heard of in my life. Despite this, it is about the best packaged silent film I have seen in ages. The print is absolutely top-notch, plus the film comes with two short subject films--both of great historical value and with accompanying notes. This is a tremendous value and I strongly recommend it. I hope all future films I see from Flicker Alley are of such stellar quality.

A pretty amazing artifact of the pre-code area, Garden of Eden features Corrinne Griffith as an opera singer wanting to make it big. She leaves a note to her Mom and Dad Bakers ("I don't want to make pretzels any more!" and heads of to Budapest (!!) to a theater who she got a telegram from. Little does she know that the telegram is from a speakeasy joint with dancing girls, headed by a lesbian manager! After being fooled by wearing a see through dress and pawed by one of the fans, her and a sympathetic dressmaker hightail it out of there. The first half, quite amazingly, is VERY similar to 'Showgirls', so much that I am sure that Paul Verhoeven watched this film for ideas. We almost take a 180 degree turn as the action switches to Monte Carlo, to this Parlor Room comedy. The woman, in a hardly believable turn of events, uses her war pension every year to stay at one of the swankiest joints in Monte Carlo, and spends the next 50 in squalor in Budapest. This, I think, is a woman in serious need of an accountant. Anyways, her and the girl sign in as Mother and Daughter (somehow, in the 2 weeks they stay there, she legally adopts her), and the girl is wooed by 2 suitors. The rest is pretty much of the "hiding behind doors when he's not supposed to" Three's Company company variety. But the end wedding scene is a whooping hi-light, when the lead actress rips off her wedding dress and hightails it out of there as the wedding march plays! Pretty amusing, nicely directed and beautifully photographed. Check this one out if you can!