The Secret Garden (1949)

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Movie
German title The secret garden
Original title The Secret Garden
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1949
length 92 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Fred M. Wilcox
script Robert Ardrey
production Clarence Brown
music Bronislau caper
camera Ray June
cut Robert Kern
occupation

The children's film The Secret Garden is a US film drama from 1949. The literary film adaptation was based on the novel The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett . The novel has been made into films several times, including in 1993 .

action

Ten-year-old Mary Lennox lived with her parents in India , which at the time was still a British colony. Her parents had no time for her, so she grew up cared for by servants.

By a cholera - epidemic , many people are now dead, and Mary's parents. She is therefore taken to her only living relative, her uncle Craven, in England. He lives in an old, gloomy house, which consists of countless rooms, most of which are not occupied. Her uncle provides her with the essentials and puts Martha, the maid, at her disposal, but doesn't want to know anything about her. When he sees her once, he describes Mary as ugly and turns away from her.

So Mary is on her own again and is only looked after by servants . Mary is quite headstrong and likes to scare the servants around, but Martha does not put up with this and just laughs at her. Mary is not supposed to go into most of the rooms in the house, and since there are no toys in her room, all she can do is go into the garden. There she soon discovers a high wall behind bushes that surrounds another garden. The gate to this garden is locked, however. She learns that her uncle had this garden locked up 10 years ago after his wife died there.

After getting to know Dickon, the maid's brother, Mary goes with him to find the key. Finally they find it and get into the secret garden . It's still autumn, but you can imagine how beautiful it would look in spring if only it was looked after. So they set about weeding the garden.

Meanwhile, Mary has ignored the ban on searching the rooms in the house. And so she meets Colin, her uncle's son. He is in bed and cannot walk. Mary gets Colin to leave his room too, so she and Dickon can take him to the secret garden in a wheelchair. It is now spring and everything is blooming in the garden. Colin is also developing well and can finally walk again. When Mary's uncle returns in the summer after a long trip, he is initially angry that the garden is open. But when he sees Colin healthy again, he is reconciled with the past and can now love his son and niece too.

Remarks

The secret garden was shot in black and white and in color . All scenes that take place in the blooming secret garden are in color, the rest in black and white. Director Fred M. Wilcox wanted to emphasize the "magic" that emanates from the garden. In addition, Technicolor was still very expensive at that time, so that few films were shot in color. A mixture of black and white and color was used in the USA at the time in some films with fantastic themes, such as The Wizard of Oz or the Shirley Temple film The Blue Bird (1940).

Summary

construction

The plot begins with two British soldiers looking for survivors after the cholera epidemic. By talking to the soldiers, the viewer first learns something about Mary Lennox's family background. After that, the storyline largely follows Mary.

people

Mary Lennox comes from a wealthy background, but her parents never had time for her. She grew up among servants without proper contact with her peers. She is very spoiled and gets hysterical if she doesn't get her way. It is only through Martha, the maid, that she learns for the first time that not everything can go according to her will. By dealing with peers, she develops and becomes friendlier in her manners.

Colin Craven has a very similar living environment to Mary. But he withdrew even more and became sick as a result. Mary shakes him out of his self-pity, so that he literally dares to step out, and thereby gains self-confidence.

In contrast to Mary and Colin, Dickon grew up in poor circumstances. For this he has experienced family security. In addition, he is already firmly established in life and can first help Mary and then Colin with their personal development.

Reviews

Classicfilmguide.com praises the film as exceptional family entertainment that moves most parents to tears with its heartbreaking ending. The Time Out Film Guide No. 13 states that this film is reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz , but does not quite come close to this in terms of quality. Chanel4.com compares this version to the 1993 version ; the film version from 1949 does not quite come close to the remake, but offers solid entertainment. Dennis Schwartz states on Ozu's World Movie Reviews that the representation is too flashy to be completely pleasing.

literature

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