The Secret Garden (1949 film)
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The Secret Garden is a 1949 American drama film, the second screen adaptation of the classic 1909 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 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 release was filmed primarily in black-and-white, with the sequences set in the restored garden of the title filmed in Technicolor.
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[edit] Plot synopsis
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.
[edit] Principal cast
- Margaret O'Brien . . . . . Mary Lennox
- Herbert Marshall . . . . . Archibald Craven
- Dean Stockwell . . . . . Colin Craven
- Brian Roper . . . . . Dickon
- Gladys Cooper . . . . . Mrs. Medlock
- Elsa Lanchester . . . . . Martha
- Reginald Owen . . . . . Ben Weatherstaff
- Isobel Elsom . . . . . Governess
[edit] Principal production credits
- Original Music ..... Bronislau Kaper (Composer); Andre Previn (Direction/Supervision)
- Cinematography ..... Ray June
- Art Direction ..... Cedric Gibbons
- Set Design ..... Richard A. Pefferle
- Costume Design ..... Walter Plunkett
- Makeup Design ..... Jack Dawn
[edit] External links
Image:United States film.png American films of the 1940s |
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| 1940 •1941 •1942 •1943 •1944 •1945 •1946 •1947 •1948 •1949 |
Fred M. Wilcox | |
|---|---|
| 1940s | Lassie Come Home • Courage of Lassie • Three Darling Daughters • Hills of Home • The Secret Garden |
| 1950s | Shadow in the Sky • Code Two • Tennessee Champ • Forbidden Planet |
| 1960s | I Passed for White |
| Short films | Joaquin Murrieta |
