Customer Reviews

The Secret Garden (Widescreen/Full Screen)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really liked this DVD. But my school will be doing the musical of the Secret Garden and I thought this was it. It's not, but its is a very very good movie.

Don't listen to Steve Keohane (Mr. 3 stars) who is the typical ignorant Christian who let's their religion rule everything and would undoubtedly love for it to rule everyone else as well.

The movie was wonderful and I give it top marks!

I have to say this has got to be the best out of all the secret garden movies. The sets are breathtaking, and the garden just makes you want to wish you were there. I was amazed at how well the kids acted. I didn't even know kids could act that well. You sometimes even forgot they were children, and just payed attention to what they were saying.

When Mary Lennox, a spoiled little girl(Kate Maberly), is sent to live with her Uncle in the estate he owns called Misselthwait Manor after her parents die in a strange earthquake in India, she knows things aren't exactly in the ordinary. Someone in the castle crys out in terror all the time, and a giant garden out on the moors is locked up for who knows what reason. People are very mysterious about these two things, and no one wants to talk about it, so Mary'll just have to find out for herself with her curious mind. With the help of Dickon, and her new found friend Robin, she can unlock the secret to the garden, and to her heart.

Everything in this movie is flawless. They may not have followed the book too well, but even on its own, it made a great version. The acting was great by the adults too, especially by the always wonderful Maggie Smith, as Mrs. Medlock, and John Lynch as Mr. Craven. A timeless classic blooms to life once again.

I have to say this has got to be the best out of all the secret garden movies. The sets are breathtaking, and the garden just makes you want to wish you were there. When Mary Lennox, a spoiled little girl, is sent to live with her Uncle in the estate he owns called Misselthwait Manor after her parents die in a strange earthquake in India, she knows things aren't exactly in the ordinary. Someone in the castle crys out in terror all the time, and a garden out on the moors is locked up for who knows what reason. People are very mysterious about these two things, and no one wants to talk about it, so Mary'll just have to find out for herself. Everything in this movie is flawless. They may not have followed the book too well, but even on its own, it made a great version. The acting was great, especially by the always wonderful Margaret Smith, as Mrs. Medlock, and John Lynch as Mr. Craven. A timeless classic blooms to life once again.

Took a while to get it but it's in good shape

This 1993 Warner Bros. version of "The Secret Garden" is the best version in my opinion. It's a much more subtle piece of work than the 1949 MGM version with Margaret O'Brien. The child actors in this film are superb, as well as the adult actors. The cinematography and musical score are both beautiful. I've seen three film versions of "The Secret Garden": MGM's 1949 film, Hallmark's 1987 TV movie, and Warner Brothers' 1993 film. This last one is my favorite of the lot, and one of the most beautiful films ever made.

This film is excellently directed and gives the original story the extra grace. I read the story when I was a little boy. The garden remains mysterious to me. Now I am glad to find the garden in this film though a bit different from what I had expected. Art directing is stellar. From the onset of Indian landscape to vividness of the garden I had been awestruck.

Children actors are super as well. And supporting actors particularly Maggie Smith as the strict servant create the mood of the story well. A bit of unconvincing part is Mary's cousin Colin being too quick to walk briskly. Overall excellent artwork and directing overcedes the minor things. The use of guiding robin is also nice. And the garden is beautiful and the process of rebooming is nicely described. This should not be limited to children. Adults need such heartwarming story.

A classic movie about 3 children and the heart-warming healing power that an abandoned garden gave them.

To be honest, I remember seeing previews of this movie way back when it came out (in 1993) and thinking to myself, "WHY would anyone want to see such a film; more importantly, WHY would anyone make it?" Well, about five years later it appeared on TV one night when I was bored. I decided to give it a try, fully expecting to turn it off within 20 minutes or so. WOW -- was I ever wrong!

What I saw was beautiful and captivating, artistic and entrancing -- film-making of the highest order. "The Secret Garden" is a movie of such high artistic quality that it ranks up there with the hallowed "Apocalypse Now" (although, of course, these two flicks inhabit two opposite ends of the thematic spectrum). It's no wonder that Francis Ford Coppola had his hand in both of these pics -- he was the director of "Apocalypse Now" (duh) and the executive producer of "The Secret Garden."

Anyway, the cinematography is breathtaking and the music is wondrously outstanding.

To be brief, the story's about a young spoilied English girl, orphaned in India, who comes home to live on her uncle's vast estate in the early 1900's. The girl, Mary, finds herself trapped in a mysterious, colossal manor -- almost a castle -- tyranically managed by a life-stifling witch, Mrs. Medlock, in the frequent absence of her uncle, Lord Cravin. Because Mary is highly intelligent, independant and sly she is easily able to reconnoiter the manor and learn its forbidding secrets. The biggest secret is that her aunt died in childbirth about ten years before, but her son, Colin, still lives there, albeit confined to a bed, sickly and unable to walk. Her uncle evidently never healed from this heartbreak and this explains his frequent absences.

Mary finds a secret garden in her explorations, a hidden garden closed up and neglected since her aunt's death. After meeting the sickly and sad Colin, Mary inevitably finds a way to sneak him into the beautiful garden along with her pal Dickon. She instinctively senses that Colin isn't as sick as everyone is convinced he is; she knows the best thing for Colin would be to get him out of the dreary castle and the oppressive clutches of Mrs. Medlock. Mary and her secret garden are the keys to restoring health, life and freedom to Colin, Lord Cravin and the gloomy manor.

"The Secret Garden" is kind of a 1990's version of the outstanding "Pollyanna" with Hayley Mills (1960). Both pics involve a young girl restoring a spirit of joy and liberty to a lifeless community. The difference is that Mary is not even remotely the "glad girl" that Pollyanna is. (In fact, look for the hilarious line from the old man gardener who responds to Mary's puzzlement concerning her lack of friends).

"The Secret Garden" is no doubt labled a "children's film;" this is a shame because it so transcends such a limiting category. It is a beautiful work of wonder and deep mystery which can be enjoyed by people of all ages -- children and adults. SEE IT!

The Secret Garden is without a doubt in my list of top five movies, and will doubtless remain there for the rest of my life. Why it was never a big box-office hit baffles me, as it is nearly perfect in every particular. Adults are just as able to enjoy this movie as their children are (or perhaps even more so!) and though the main character is a girl, the presence of two back-up male characters make this accessible to the reluctant boys.

Mary Lennox is a spoilt, bitter ten-year old girl living in India with her neglectful parents. After an earthquake leaves her an orphan however, she is shipped to Misselthwaite Manor, the cold, gloomy home of her uncle, still grieving over the death of his wife (Mary's mother's twin sister). There she is put in to the care of the strict housekeeper Mrs Medlock (admirably preformed by Maggie Smith) and warned not to go poking about in the endless corridors and passageways of the house. However, Mary is used to doing exactly as she pleases, and with the dual finding of a secret passage in her bedroom and the friendship of the cheerful, sweet maid Martha, Mary is soon roaming the grounds of the estate. There she meets Martha's younger brother, the kind-hearted country boy Dickon who can speak to animals and a red-breasted robin that reveals to her a garden hidden behind a wall of ivy...a secret garden.
Untangling the mystery of why this sad and beautiful garden is locked away takes Mary back to the tragic past of the house and her uncle - to when her aunt Lilias fell of a swing in the garden just before she gave birth and died, leaving Lord Archibald Craven a broken man, who cannot stand the sight of the Spring, the garden, or his son.
This son, Colin Craven is who Mary discovers one night after following the sound of his wailing. Colin is convinced he is going to become a hunchback like his father and die, but with the opening of the secret garden and its rebirth under the care of the three children means that his health gradually restores. Now all the children want is to bring his father home for similar healing, and the only way to do it seems to be to call on magical forces...

The three child actors are truely wonderful - Kate Maberly manages to make a spoilt young girl into a likeable, even relatable character and her transformation from a child who couldn't cry even at her parent's deaths to one that breaks down when she witnesses her uncle and his son walk off without her is beautifully created.
Heydon Prowse as the impatient, ungrateful Master Colin is another child starved of love, but his obession with death, germs and diseases means he is suffering more in the mind than in body. His frequent fits (or temper tantrums, more likely) means that his mother's garden (that definitly still holds his mother's spirit) can help him also make the change from unloveable and sickly to healthy and strong young boy.
However, special credit must be given to Andrew Knott as Dickon Sowerby, who brings a warmth, kindness and mischieviousness to his character that brings joy to the entire movie. He is one of the few 'good-guys' from the very beginning, and in a way the 'Samwise Gamgee' of the movie, not just because he is a kind-hearted simple gardener, but because he is the over-looked hero that ultimately saves the day by just being himself. The fact that the last scene of the movie is of Dickon travelling across the moor on his white pony is a testimony to this.
The adult cast also hold up nicely, from Martha to Mrs Medlock, to Ben Weatherstaff to Lord Craven himself. Even the actress that plays both Lilias and Mary's mother has some beautiful scenes, the most poignant being her reaching out to Mary in her dreams, and Lilias's spirit calling to Lord Craven: "I'm in the garden! With Colin!" Each performance is outstanding work.

The photography, directing and set design of the movie is also beautiful and it boasts a lovely, haunting musical score that includes the song 'Winter Light' that has also become one of my favourites. There are themes galore within the movie whether it be the turn of the seasons, the difference between the restrictions of the upper class and the freedom of the lower class, the relationships between various parents and their children, the joy and furfullment that can be found from simple pleasures, and even life triumphing over death. I even picked up on a subtle love triangle - the scene with Dickon and Mary on the swing together while Colin watches from behind the camera is an intriging one - I kinda wish that the film-makers had developed this plot thread further.

All in all, this movie has my absolute highest rating, and is as close to a perfect movie you can possibly get. Watch it, no matter who you are or what age you are.