The Garden of Eden (Deluxe Edition)
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®-winningAll 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