Secrets of the East (Geheimnisse des Orients/Shéhérazade)

Germany/France, 1928. Director Alexandre Volkoff. 103min.

A big-budget Franco-German co-production, Volkoff’s “Luxusfilm” of the year is an exquisite fantasy of an escape into the ‘Orient’, a theme which was still going strong in both European and Hollywood cinema in the late-1920s. Over-the-top ornamental sets by Ivan Lochakoff and sensuous costumes by Boris Bilinsky are a magnificent blend of Eastern and Western motifs, from stylised Islamic and far-eastern influences to Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Expressionism. With its paradise atmosphere, the film is a fairy-tale world of fancy filled with adventure, magic, mystery and harem dancers.

With Nikolas Kolin, Iván Petrovich and Dimitri Dimitriev.

Past screenings

Birds of Paradise – London
Thursday 9 December 2010, 20:40 | BFI Southbank, NFT2
Sunday 12 December 2010, 18:20 | BFI Southbank, NFT2
With introductory remarks on Orientalism by Sarah Cheang, and live piano accompaniment from John Sweeney on Thursday 9 and Stephen Horne on Sunday 12.
Print courtesy of National Film Center, Tokyo.

Birds of Paradise – New York
Saturday 16 April 2011, 14:00 | Museum of the Moving Image