Ray Charles Video:

		List Price: $19.95		Label: Flicker Alley Salesrank: 104758 Released: November 6, 2002
		Our Price: $169.39
		Used Price: $44.95
		MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
An absolutely terrific silent comedy, wittily played and polished like a gem. Jazz-age cutie Corrine Griffith stars as a showbiz-minded girl who leaves her humble family of bakers ("I could never be satisfied making pretzels all my life") in Budapest. In a hilarious sequence, she tries her hand at hifalutin "opera singing" while employed at a distinctly questionable cabaret in Paris. Somehow this leads to impersonating royalty at a fancy hotel in Monte Carlo, with the expected confusions and complications. The delightful blend of sophistication and slapstick recalls the comedies of Ernst Lubitsch, but it was directed by Lewis Milestone, best known for the Oscar®-winning All Quiet on the Western Front, made two years later. Adding fun is the delightfully debauched presence of Lowell Sherman, a popular actor and director of the era (and a lounge lizard before his time), as a tuxedo-clad baron on the make. --Robert Horton

The Garden of Eden (Deluxe Edition) Reviews:
Lewis Milestone at the height of his silent-era powers.
2009-06-30 - The Garden of Eden (Lewis Milestone, 1928)

Lewis Milestone was one of the first great superstars of the sound era, thanks to All Quiet on the Western Front. And as he got older, he got better, directing the best film of his career (and one of the best ever made), Ocean's Eleven, at the very end of it. His incredible success in the talkies tends, these days, to eclipse his equal success during the silent era as well; The Garden of Eden is one of the fruits of that success, and a juicy one it is indeed.

The lovely Corinne Griffith (who would be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar the year after this) was one of the brightest stars of silent films, though her career went into decline with the advent of sound. Here she plays Toni LeBrun, an aspiring opera singer who goes to Budapest to pursue her dream, but finds herself working in a cabaret instead. (These opening moments alone are well worth the price of admission, especially for filmmakers; what passed for exploitation in 1928 manages to be both sexy and tasteful viewed eighty years later.) One of the club's patrons comes onto her, and she turns him down; she is fired, along with a wardrobe mistress (Louise Dresser, best remembered these days for 1933's State Fair) who helped her out. In one of those convenient turns, the wardrobe mistress turns out to be an expatriate baroness, and can introduce Toni into the highest circles, where she meets two men who compete for her hand, the dashing Richard (silent-era superstar Charles Ray) and his boring, stuffy uncle, the Colonel (The Gay Diplomat's Edward Martindel). Romance is in the air!

The script, based on a stage play, is both tight and funny, with drama in all the right places (though modern viewers will probably not find the suspense working, as many of these techniques have been used to exhaustion in the intervening years). The acting is understated enough not to look like German expressionism on film, as many silent movies do, and the pace is top-notch. Milestone's superstar status began, it would seem, a great deal earlier than we think today. ****


DEFINITELY DELUXE!!!!!
2009-05-04 - The Garden of Eden is just that. It's a great restoration of what exists of the film. Very highly recommended. The shorts are quite good, although I have a problem with the logo "LMI" which runs throughout both of them. I understand the logo was required in order to use the shorts on this DVD, but I just feel the use of a logo under any circumstances is unacceptable. I would have preferred different shorts which did not require the use of a logo. As a rule, if I know in advance a DVD uses a logo, I will not buy it. The feature itself is logo free. The 1 star deduction is only because of the logo ruining the shorts.

you said it, Graceann!
2006-07-11 - I was going title my review "A Sheer Delight," but in another critique listed here Graceann beat me to it! So I can only second that assessment!

I recently attended a library-sponsored film series, where the speaker said he hadn't programmed comedies because they don't age well and he doesn't find them funny. Well, that film expert hasn't seen *Garden of Eden* (nor, apparently *Gold Diggers of 1935*).

I was interested in this film because I'd researched the career of Lewis Milestone years ago, and also because my Amazon travels have introduced me to the hitherto unfamiliar Lowell Sherman--who, when directing himself in one early talkie, seemed a mirror of John Barrymore, only to turn out to be Barrymore's real-life brother-in-law. Sherman is a tad more youthful in this late silent, but his sound films allow him to use his voice to considerable comedic effect.

Watching this silent, I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions. And just when it looks like they're about to repeat a joke from an earlier plot segment, they take the story into new territory. I fear I'm of an age and temperament that doesn't equate "film comedy" with the current American trend in bodily function humor. In contrast, this film manages to be just plain funny from start to finish--and risque on its own terms.

If in the future I organize my own library-film-society series on the movie musical, I'll open with *Garden of Eden*--yes, a SILENT musical! Abetted by an excellent music accompaniment on this DVD.

One final observation: contemporary audiences might find the color short subject "The Toy Shop" disturbing, which is more of a commentary on our own "sophisticated decadence" than on the admitted sentimentalism of that earlier time.

Splendid Romantic Comedy
2006-05-23 - The Garden of Eden referrs to the outside of a prestigious hotel where most of the action in this film happens. However, in order to get there, we must backtrack. The film begins with Corinne Griffith, a girl named Toni with ambitions to become an opera star. She leaves her family to go to Budapest and is reduced to appearing in a cheap showgirl act. After being fired for being unwilling to comply to a wealthy man's advances, she and seamstress friend Rosa (Louise Dressler) team up together as mother and daughter. It is revealed that Rosa is really a Baroness and the two plan to live a life of luxury for a couple of weeks on her annual pension. In the process, Toni falls in love with an enthusiastic man (Charles Ray). It seems that the story will end there, in a typical halo of happiness, but an unexpected twist continues the story.

This film is a delightful romantic-comedy. What makes it exceptional is the artistic aspects. Lewis Milestone has directed a truly beautiful film here with fun traveling shots, playful use of deep focus, and glorious halos of light around the stars. The print is slightly scratched, but the images are clear and crisp. Griffith does a splendid job in the starring role; her subtle acting style does not degrade the film at all. Robert Israel has composed a fitting music score for this release.

Included are two short subjects. The first is The Toy Shop, a two strip technicolor film about a little girl's dream inside a toy shop on Christmas. The print is fuzzy and it seems it was included because of the lost color dream sequence from The Garden of Eden. The second short is called Hollywood The Unusual, evidence of why Hollywood is so alluring to tourists. It roams over the various styles of buildings ranging from English, French, Spanish, Middle Eastern, Aztec, African, and the Egyptian and Chinese designs for Grauman's famous theaters. The film is clear and beautifully restored.

This DVD is truly worth the money.

A Stylish and Enjoyable Silent
2006-05-10 - This beautifully produced and sophisticated film starring the lovely Corinne Griffith made in that period just before sound pictures would overtake silent art remains as fresh and entertaining today as it was when introduced to the moviegoing public of the age.

Lewis Milestone, like King Vidor, Frank Borzage, Cecil B DeMille, and Allan Dwan, would bridge that gap between silent and sound film and be successful at both. Perhaps best remembered today by noir buffs for "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" and film buffs in general for "All Quiet On the Western Front," he should also be remembered for "The Garden of Eden."

A lovely score which is integral rather than distracting and some stunningly stylish art direction from the great William Cameron Menzies add just the perfect touch to the duo of Corinne Griffith and Louise Dresser. The film very much has the look of those glossy Paramount productions from the early 1930's when it ruled Hollywood.

Toni LeBrun (Corinne Griffith) is shocked when she shows up at a Paris cabaret for what she thinks is a job singing opera. Her first shock will come when she meets Madame Bauer, a woman who dresses more like the other gender. She bills Toni as the "pleasant embarrassment" for her decadent male patrons. A trick with the lighting will show off Toni's beautiful legs but prove the last straw for Toni and Madame Bauer's assistant, played winningly by Louise Dresser.

Dresser is actually a Baroness with a pension who only works at the cabaret in Paris so she can travel to Monte Carlo for two weeks of the year and live like royalty at The Garden of Eden Hotel. She will take Toni under her wing as a mother would which brings about some funny and romantic complications in Monte Carlo.

To reveal more would not be prudent but suffice it to say many sophisticated comedies of the 1930's owe a great deal to "The Garden of Eden." Milestone's direction is flawless and Corinne Griffith is as well. Her performance is quite natural and full of humor and honesty. She is both sweet and hilarious, and a truly great star.

This was one of the great silents and deserves to be remembered. Milestone's film is itself a milestone for many such films of the sound era which would follow in its wake. A must see for true film buffs.