The Secret Garden Reviews

Twelve-year-old Margaret O'Brien stars in this strange, wonderful little film as an orphan sent to live in a spooky Victorian mansion with her grouchy uncle (Herbert Marshall). Uncle Archibald Craven has grown cold and uncaring ever since the death of his wife in the estate garden, and he refuses to allow anyone near the area. He also keeps his son, Colin (Dean Stockwell), a virtual prisoner upstairs, convinced that the paralysis of the boy's legs is incurable. The arrival of Mary Lennox (O'Brien), however, begins to change things. She finds the key to the locked garden and secretly tends to the long-dormant flower beds. Aided by a neighbor boy, she soon transforms the sickly brown garden into a lush, green hideaway into which she and her pal sneak Colin for daily visits. Soon, the garden isn't alone in experiencing the life-giving magic of Mary's presence. Most of the film is in black and white, but the sequences in the revived garden are in Technicolor. This moving tale of the redemptive power of friendship is as touching for adults as it is for kids.