The Garden of Eden (Silent) (DVD)

Toni LeBrun is a small-town girl with a big voice who dreams of becoming an opera star. She travels to Budapest in hopes of getting a job at the Hungarian Opera House - but only a sleazy cabaret will have her. Humiliated after the boss tricks her into appearing on stage in her underclothes, Toni quits in a huff. She is taken in by Rosa, the wardrobe lady, who is secretly a baroness in exile. The two move into a hotel room in Monte Carlo, where Toni poses as Rosa's daughter. Posturing as royalty, she entertains multiple gentleman suitors - but it's only a matter of time before their money runs out and the deception is discovered. It'll take a real-life Prince Charming to rescue Toni from a life of poverty and pain...

This charming silent romantic comedy, a variation on the classic Cinderella story, is deftly directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Lewis Milestone. An early triumph for the acclaimed director, in the following years he would direct such classics as All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), The Front Page (1931) and Of Mice and Men (1939). Cute-as-a-button ingenue Corrine Griffith, nicknamed "The Orchid Lady of the Screen", was exceedingly popular during the silent era. Though she more often appeared in serious dramas like Black Oxen (1923), The Garden of Eden "display(ed) Miss Griffith's beauty and her neat sense of fun to their very best advantages" in the words of Joe Franklin. Lowell Sherman, who later became a director and made fine pictures like She Done Him Wrong and Morning Glory (both 1933) is perfectly oily as a well-heeled seducer who is always trying to see Ms. Griffith in a state of undress. Add on stunning art deco sets designed by William Cameron Menzies, and The Garden of Eden is a sumptuous delight.

• silent