The Secret Garden (1949 film) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Secret Garden |
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Theatrical re-release poster
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| Directed by | Fred M. Wilcox |
| Produced by | Clarence Brown |
| Screenplay by | Robert Ardrey |
| Starring | Margaret O'Brien Herbert Marshall Dean Stockwell |
| Music by | Bronislau Kaper (composer) André Previn (direction/supervision) |
| Cinematography | Ray June |
| Editing by | Robert J. Kern |
| Studio | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
| Release date(s) | April 30, 1949 |
| Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,432,000 |
| Money made | $993,000 |
The Secret Garden is a 1949 American drama film. It is the second screen adaptation of the classic 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. (The first was a silent version released in 1919.) The screenplay by Robert Ardrey was directed by Fred M. Wilcox. It centers on a young orphan who is thrust into the dark and mysterious lives of her widowed uncle and his crippled son when she comes to live with them in their isolated country house in Yorkshire, England.
The MGM film was filmed primarily in black-and-white, with the sequences set in the restored garden of the title filmed in Technicolor. The movie was Margaret O'Brien's final film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was released on DVD on May 7, 2013 as part of the Warner Archive Collection.
Plot
When tempestuous Mary Lennox (Margaret O'Brien), 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 (Herbert Marshall) and her ill-behaved, bedridden cousin Colin (Dean Stockwell), about her own age, at their desolate and decaying estate known as Misselthwaite Manor. Dickon (Brian Roper), 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.
Cast
- Margaret O'Brien as Mary Lennox
- Herbert Marshall as Archibald Craven
- Dean Stockwell as Colin Craven
- Brian Roper as Dickon
- Gladys Cooper as Mrs. Medlock
- Elsa Lanchester as Martha
- Reginald Owen as Ben Weatherstaff
- Isobel Elsom as Governess
- Aubrey Mather as Dr. Griddlestone
- George Zucco as Dr. Fortescue
- Lowell Gilmore as British Officer
- Billy Bevan as Barney
- Dennis Hoey as Mr. Pitcher
- Mathew Boulton as Mr. Bromley
- Norma Varden as Nurse
