The Secret Garden: Will a Filmmaker Ever Get it Right?

My latest A-Z List is about characters who transform. The Secret Garden has lots of such characters! Before posting about a few, I am posting about the book and its movies. 

Frankly, most of the movies are fairly dreadful because they mostly miss the point. Although the book is classified (by some) as "fantasy," it isn't. Colin talks about magic, but his belief system is part of the Bohemian, pre-Progressive philosophies that show up later in the writings of people like Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Nothing "magical" happens in the book unless one counts dreams. The entire point--the entire point--is that the natural processes around Colin and Mary are precisely and exactly that: natural. 

The second point that is almost always missed is how hard Colin and Dickon and Mary work to restore the secret garden. The fact that they don't have to start from scratch is entirely due to Ben Weatherstaff having visited the garden and done a fair amount of work pruning and such over the 10-year break (which Dickon acknowledges). But there's still more to be done. 

The story is not about cutesy children "playing." They are outside doing a job. The job is what gives them a new outlook on life and burgeoning sense of purpose. 

The book also isn't Freudian despite the desperate attempts of various filmmakers to make it Freudian. Mary isn't traumatized. She is angry. Archibald Craven isn't excused as a bad father due to his terrible trauma. He just is one. He is also rather pathetic which is why Colin could want to impress his father and then move on with his life.  

The story is about children being children, not children being a mental mess.  

This past summer I watched and rewatched some of the films--

Secret Garden (1949): The best thing about this version is Dean Stockwell and Margaret O'Brien screaming at each other. They are both professionals (at age 13 and 12) and have the right look. In fact, I think O'Brien would have done a better job if she had been allowed to act as tough as Mary does in the book (she clearly had the ability) instead of descending into 1940s maudlin-triteness. Dean Stockwell has less to do but is exactly on-target. 

Secret Garden (1987): The actress who plays Mary (Gennie James) is quite good. Unfortunately, the movie is entirely ruined by the actor (Jadrien Steele) who plays Colin. 

He is just about the healthiest, sturdiest "sickly" youngster I've ever seen on television. He also looks like an English squire, on the verge of shouting, "I say--what what--bring me a brandy--what what." 

Not exactly a boy with "a sharp, delicate face, the colour of ivory, and [agate-grey] eyes too big for it," who has a penchant for philosophy and cries out when he enters the garden, "I shall live forever and ever and ever."

I couldn't help but wonder if Barret Olivier, from Neverending Story, who does a decent job as Dickon (standing in the back), was supposed to be Colin--except he shot up several feet before filming. He has the right type of face. 

Secret Garden (1993) is the best of the lot. The characters are well-cast. The children work in the garden at least. The philosophical magic is replaced with an invented ritual, but the idea is the same. The reveal is nicely done (though I still believe that the book does it best). The movie doesn't end with the bang it should, and I suspect the problem may be the book itself, not the movie. 

I review Secret Garden (2020) here. In sum, it is lush and beautiful and completely misses the point. 

The next post will address Colin's transformation.