The Garden Movie Review

This is the Melanie Griffith movie very few American audiences have ever seen. At a 1977 press conference during the San Francisco International Film Festival, several catty reviewers asked why SHE had been cast. One of its creators later told me, “Everyone seems to be making fun of us for casting Melanie Griffith in the movie. But she was the best American actress who would take her clothes off that we could get!” Well, the future Oscar nominee IS pretty awful as an ersatz angel. But the real star of the film is Jerusalem, which has never been lovelier, especially with Valery Galperin behind the camera. Victor Nord's interpretation of Yoseff Avissar's whimsical script is deft and there are some good performances here, most notably by Shai K. Ophir and Tuvio Tavi.

1977 93m/C IS Shai K. Ophir, Melanie Griffith, Tuvio Tavi, Tsachi Noi, Shoshanah Duer, Seadia Damar; D: Victor Nord; W: Yosef Avissar; C: Valery Galperin; M: Noah Shariff.