Themes: Cinderella Stories, Mischievous Children, Fantasy Lands
Main Cast: Margaret O'Brien, Herbert Marshall, Dean Stockwell, Brian Roper, Gladys Cooper, Elsa Lanchester
Release Year: 1949
Country: US
Run Time: 92 minutes
Plot
The oft-filmed Frances Hodgson Burnett novel The Secret Garden was given the usual plush MGM treatment in 1949. Tempestuous orphan girl Mary Lennox (Margaret O'Brien) is sent to live with her reclusive, long-widowed uncle Archibald Craven (Herbert Marshall). The embittered Craven has an invalid son named Colin (Dean Stockwell), with whom the troublesome Mary constantly clashes. Her only real friend is neighbor-boy Dickon (Brian Roper). Things soon change after Mary discovers the key to the Craven household's garden, which has been locked up and neglected since the death of Craven's wife. Through the influence of the Secret Garden, Mary learns to think of others rather than herself, Craven drops his curmudgeonly veneer, and Colin's health slowly but steadily improves. In the tradition of The Wizard of Oz, the sequences taking place in the Secret Garden are lensed in Technicolor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The Secret Garden's many film adaptations demonstrate that this is a fertile source that thrives on screen, and the 1949 version is one of the best. While the use of color only in the "garden" sections is perhaps more jarring to modern audiences, it still creates a marvelous effect. Indeed, Ray June's stunning cinematography -- both in color and in black-and-white -- is one of this Garden's assets, creating a stark, Gothic feeling initially that gradually melts into lighter, more inviting shades (and color tones, of course) as the presence of Mary Lennox brings light and color into the drab and oppressive world of the Craven household. A great deal of credit for the film's success goes to Robert Ardrey's superior screenplay, which adeptly finds the appropriate cinematic form for Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic book. Ardrey's script, like the book, also isn't afraid to be a bit "dark" for a family film, one of the reasons this Garden appeals as much to adults as to children. Fred Wilcox's direction is smooth and on-target, creating high points, while letting the in-between moments feel like transitions rather than waiting periods. And the cast is a dream, with Margaret O'Brien in superb form, Dean Stockwell in perhaps even better form, and spot-on performances from Herbert Marshall and Brian Roper as well. Plus, one gets the chance to see Elsa Lanchester in one of her loveliest performances, playing a normal woman rather than one of the eccentrics or neurotics with which she is so often identified. Garden is simply a jewel of a film. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Urie McCleary - Art Director, Walter Plunkett - Costume Designer, Fred Wilcox - Director, Robert J. Kern - Editor, Bronislau Kaper - Composer (Music Score), Andre Previn - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jack Dawn - Makeup, Ray June - Cinematographer, Clarence Brown - Producer, Richard A. Pefferle - Set Designer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Arnold A. Gillespie - Special Effects, Warren Newcombe - Special Effects, Robert Ardrey - Screenwriter, Frances Hodgson Burnett - Book Author
The MGM release was filmed primarily in black-and-white, with the sequences set in the restored garden of the title filmed in Technicolor.
Plot
When tempestuous Mary Lennox, born in India to wealthy parents, is orphaned by a cholera epidemic, she is sent to live with her reclusive and embittered Uncle Archibald Craven and her ill-behaved, bedridden cousin Colin at their desolate and decaying estate known as Misselthwaite Manor. Dickon, the brother of one of the house maids, tells her of a garden secreted behind a hidden door in a vine-covered wall. When a raven unearths the key, the two enter and discover the garden is overgrown from neglect since Craven's wife died there in an accident. They decide to keep their discovery a secret, and begin to restore it to its original grandeur. Under the influence of the Secret Garden, Mary becomes less self-absorbed, Colin's health steadily improves, and Archibald's curmudgeonly personality fades away.
