Robert Hichens

Movies

Band of Outsiders
Novel
Cinephile slackers Franz and Arthur spend their days mimicking the antiheroes of Hollywood noirs and Westerns while pursuing the lovely Odile. The misfit trio upends convention at every turn, be it through choreographed dances in cafés or frolicsome romps through the Louvre. Eventually, their romantic view of outlaws pushes them to plan their own heist, but their inexperience may send them out in a blaze of glory -- which could be just what they want.
Call Of The Blood
Novel
A young man's passions are stirred by a beautiful Sicilian after his physician-wife is called away on an emergency.
The Paradine Case
Novel
Attorney Anthony Keane agrees to represent Londonite Mrs. Paradine, who has been fingered in her husband's murder. From the start, the married lawyer is drawn to the enigmatic beauty, and he begins to cast about for a way to exonerate his client. Keane puts the Paradine household servant on the stand, suggesting he is the killer. But Keane soon loses his way in the courtroom, and his half-baked plan sets off a stunning chain of events.
Temptation
Novel
After marrying an archaeologist, a Victorian-era woman with a sordid past realizes that she is not ready to settle down with one man.
The Garden of Allah
Novel
The star-crossed desert romance of a cloistered woman and a renegade monk.
Bella Donna
Author
That old theatrical war-horse Bella Donna (previously filmed in America by Alla Nazimova) was resurrected by Britain's Twickenham Studios in 1934. Conrad Veidt stars as sinister Egyptian Mahmoud Baroundi, who even before the film gets under way has left a long trail of ruined women behind him. His latest victim is American girl Mona Chepstow (Mary Ellis), whom Baroundi treats like dirt and makes her like it. The plot centers around a murder by poison, as evidenced by the film's deliberately exotic title. Critics in 1934 praised newcomer Mary Ellis for underplaying her role, but many film fans preferred Nazimova's arm-waving histrionics in the earlier version.
After the Verdict
Novel
A British-German silent drama film directed by Henrik Galeen
The Garden of Allah
Novel
Father Adrien had taken the vows of eternal silence, prayer and, of course, celibacy, when he entered the Trappist Monastry of Notre Dame d'Afrique in Algeria. One day, he chopped down a tree that blocked a part of the Monastery wall, but as it fell it knocked a young girl senseless. As Father Adrien bathes her face she regains consciousness and in a mischievous mood embraces him. The embrace was seen by another monk but the Monastic discipline imposed is as nothing compared to the torturing penances of mind and body which the contrite Father Adrien has imposed upon himself. In the end it is all too much for poor Father Adrien and he abandons his vows and escapes into the desert, resuming his secular name Androvsky. On the way to the oasis of Beni-Mora he encounters Domini Enfilden who has been brought up as a Catholic. Androvsky rescues Domini from a rioting crowd and she finds herself deeply attracted to him.
The Lady Who Lied
Writer
During a carnival in Venice, Horace Pierpont, a wealthy American (Lewis Stone), falls in love with Fay Kennion (Virginia Valli). Their romance is derailed when she goes over to his apartment and finds the vampy Fifi (Nita Naldi) there. Fay goes down to Algiers, where she marries a former sweetheart, Dr. Alan Mortimer (Edward Earle).
Bella Donna
Novel
Bella Donna, a seductive woman snares Nigel Armine into marriage and he takes her to Egypt to live. Tired of her simple husband, Bella becomes involved with brutish Baroudi.
The Voice from the Minaret
Novel
Lord Carlyle governs a province in India. Although he weds the beautiful Adrienne, he can't make her love him. And no wonder -- he's not only cruel, he's unfaithful. Adrienne leaves him and boards a ship with the intention of returning to England. But on the boat she meets Andrew Fabian, who is studying for the clergy. They fall in love, and he convinces her to accompany him on a pilgrimage to Damascus.
The Fruitful Vine
Novel
An old knight weds his dead friend's daughter but she gives herself to an Italian Don to bear an heir.
Barbary Sheep
Novel
Arriving with her husband in Arabia, Katherine Wyvrne is ready for romantic times in the exotic Middle East, but her aristocratic husband prefers to be out hunting "Barbara sheep" than fulfilling his wife's desires. She soon meets up with the dashing Arab chief Benchaalai and falls for his charms, but he has a much more sinister goal in mind for her than romance.
The Garden of Allah
Novel
When her mother elopes with a lover and her father dies cursing the name of God, Domini Enfilden attempts to forget her pain in Beni Mora, an oasis in the Sahara. At the desert hotel, she meets and falls in love with Boris Androvsky, a tormented man of mystery. Abruptly announcing his departure one day, Boris bids farewell to Domini in the Garden of Allah
Bella Donna
Novel
Bella Donna falls for the exotic Baroudi and plots to poison her husband.