A girl is sent to live with her uncle on his estate when her parents die. There she discovers much intrigue, family history and secrets and personal baggage. In particular, a screaming child... Read allA girl is sent to live with her uncle on his estate when her parents die. There she discovers much intrigue, family history and secrets and personal baggage. In particular, a screaming child and...a secret garden.A girl is sent to live with her uncle on his estate when her parents die. There she discovers much intrigue, family history and secrets and personal baggage. In particular, a screaming child and...a secret garden.
- Mr. Bromley
- (as Mathew Boulton)
- Muriel
- (uncredited)
- Charles, the Butler
- (uncredited)
- Raven
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThere are several moments when Mary (Margaret O'Brien) refers to her servant in India. When watching the film, one hears the word "servant", but Mary's mouth is clearly forming the word "Aya" as in other versions of The Secret Garden.
- GoofsWhen Mary comes down to breakfast the first morning (after having dressed herself, possibly for the first time), her shoes are laced incorrectly, and her dress is buttoned wrong. When the camera changes angles an instant later, her dress and shoes are fastened correctly.
- Quotes
Martha: My brother Dickon will be coming up to see thee.
Mary Lennox: Your brother?
Martha: Aye, thou'll like Dickon. What a one he is for growing things and the animals. Half lives on it, he does, almost like an animal himself.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Some of the Best: Twenty-Five Years of Motion Picture Leadership (1949)
- SoundtracksHindu Song of Love
(uncredited)
Written by Lal Chand Mehra
Performed by Margaret O'Brien with singing voice provided by Marni Nixon.
It's a wonderful allegorical tale about how one has to give in life in order to receive. It also is about the maturing of a couple of really bratty kids.
Margaret O'Brien is a child of the British Raj in India, quite used to having things her own way as her parents are a big-shot and his lady. But when both are taken away by an epidemic, she has to go back to Great Britain to live with an uncle, Herbert Marshall for whom the mildest thing that can be said is eccentric.
She's given rather restrictive use of the vast house, though the grounds are her's to roam with the exception of a garden that is locked up. Many years ago Marshall's wife has died there and it's her death and the circumstances thereof that have driven him to the brink of dissolution and insanity.
O'Brien also finds she has a cousin roughly her age who is bedridden with paralysis in Dean Stockwell. Stockwell has not born his affliction well and in fact is a bigger brat than she is. Dealing with him has forced her to confront her own misbehavior.
A large part of Stockwell's problems are his doctor and caregiver in the persons of doctor Aubrey Mather and housekeeper Gladys Cooper. They like having him dependent on them, it increases their position in the house, as for Mather, he's making a whole living off Marshall treating his child.
The younger brother of maid Elsa Lanchester, Brian Roper, also becomes a friend to both as they discover the locked up and neglected garden and use it as a playground. With the special love that children bring to something, interesting things start happening there.
Most of the cast are familiar names to the American cinema, all the adults are card carrying members of the British colony in Hollywood. But Brian Roper was imported from across the pond because of the fact that he spoke with a Yorkshire brogue, he was native to that part of England. It does lend an air of authenticity to the film. Roper had a fair career for about a decade, mostly in his native country. I believe this is his one and only American film appearance.
The Secret Garden is a fine adaption of the children's novel, maybe the best one ever done. The adults are hard pressed in this one to even get their innings in as the kids totally steal this film.
- bkoganbing
- May 13, 2009
- Permalink
Details
- Runtime1 hour 32 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1