The Secret Garden

What’s the Story?

When her parents die, spoiled Mary Lennox (Kate Maberly) is sent from India to England to live with her uncle Archibald Craven, a mysterious and lonely man. He's rarely home, leaving Mary to the care of housekeeper Mrs. Medlock (Maggie Smith). One day, Mary finds the key to a secret garden, once the favorite place for her uncle and his wife, whom he adored. After she died, he locked it up and swore no one would go in there again. Mary decides to find the garden, but first she investigates the crying she often hears in the night and discovers her uncle's son, Colin (Heydon Prowse). He has been confined to bed all his life and is spoiled to the point of hysteria. Mary soothes him by telling him about the garden. Later, when he has a tantrum, she is the first person ever to set limits on his behavior. Mary finds the garden, and she and Colin and the maid's brother Dickon bring it back to life. As they do, Mary and Colin get stronger in body and in spirit. When Archibald returns, he meets them in the garden. They run to him, and it is clear that the garden will heal him, too.

Is It Any Good?

This is a fine adaptation of the beloved children's book. Children respond to Mary Lennox because (at least in the beginning) she is so unlikable, a relief from all the Pollyannas and Cinderellas who are rewarded for their relentlessly sunny characters and good deeds. And then there is the pleasure of meeting Colin, who is even worse, a "young rajah" who has had his every wish granted instantly and is surrounded only by those who live in terror of his hysteria.

Mary and Colin are a perfect match for each other, and the scene in which she responds to his tantrum with fury is especially moving, as is the scene in which they enter the garden together, a wonderful metaphor for all that is going on inside their spirits.