The Secret Garden
Directed by Fred M. Wilcox
Written by Robert Ardrey from a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett
1949/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Mary Lennox: Dickon, I need you. All you have to do is listen. What good is a secret if there’s no one to tell it to?
It is an adaptaion of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s novel and might make good family viewing.
Mary Lennox’s (Margaret O’Brien) parents die of cholera in India and she is sent to live with her Uncle Craven (Herbert Marshall) in his huge creepy mansion. Her crotchety uncle wants to have as little to do with Mary as possible. Mary doesn’t care as she is rude and spoiled herself.
Eventually she locates her uncle’s son (Dean Stockwell) in the vast house and discovers he is very spoiled and manipulates people by feigning illnesses.
Dickon , brother of a housemaid, tells Mary of a secret garden behind a high wall which has no apparent entrance. A sympathetic raven finds the key. The remainder of the film is devoted to the childrens’ adventures, which humanize and humble all concerned. With Elsa Lanchester as a cheeky maid.
I’ve never read the book. Probably would have got more out of the movie if I had. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Margaret O’Brien play a brat but she is really good at it.
