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The Secret Garden (1949 film)

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For other uses, see Secret Garden (disambiguation).
The Secret Garden
Theatrical re-release poster
Directed byFred M. Wilcox
Screenplay byRobert Ardrey
Based onThe Secret Garden
1911 novel
by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Produced byClarence Brown
StarringMargaret O'Brien
Herbert Marshall
Dean Stockwell
CinematographyRay June
Edited byRobert J. Kern
Music byBronislau Kaper (composer)
André Previn (direction/supervision)
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's Inc.
Release date
  • April 30, 1949 (1949-04-30)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,432,000[1]
Box office$993,000[1]

The Secret Garden is a 1949 American drama film.[2][3] 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. A 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame TV film titled The Secret Garden stars Gennie James and Jadrien Steele. A later adaptation The Secret Garden was made starring Kate Maberly and Heydon Prowse.

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.[4]

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) 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

Production

MGM announced the film in November 1946. It was to be a vehicle for Claude Jarman Jr and was to be directed by Clarence Brown.[5]

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $610,000 in the US and Canada and $383,000 overseas, resulting in a loss of $848,000.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ Variety film review; April 27, 1949, page 11.
  3. ^ Harrison's Reports film review; April 23, 1949, page 66.
  4. ^ https://www.wbshop.com/products/the-secret-garden-mod
  5. ^ AYRES TO APPEAR IN WARNER MOVIE New York Times 13 Nov 1946: 41.
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