The Secret Garden
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The Secret Garden

Year:
Duration:
92 min
Genres:
Drama | Family
IMDB rate:
7.5
Director:
Fred M. Wilcox
Details
Country: USA
Release Date: 1949-07-22
Filming Locations: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
Cast
Actor
Character
Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell
The Secret Garden
Margaret O'Brien
Mary Lennox
Herbert Marshall
Archibald Craven
Gladys Cooper
Mrs. Medlock
Elsa Lanchester
Martha
Brian Roper
Dickon
Reginald Owen
Ben Weatherstaff
Aubrey Mather
Dr. Griddlestone
George Zucco
Dr. Fortescue
Lowell Gilmore
British Officer
Billy Bevan
Barney
Dennis Hoey
Mr. Pitcher
Matthew Boulton
Mr. Bromley (as Mathew Boulton)
Isobel Elsom
Governess
Norma Varden
Nurse
Kathryn Beaumont
Muriel (uncredited)
Leonard Carey
Charles, the Butler (uncredited)
Jimmy the Crow
Raven (uncredited)
Elspeth Dudgeon
Dickon's Mother (uncredited)
Did you know?
Trivia
The movie inspired a short-lived television series in 1952, with Brian Roper reprising his role as Dickon. The series (which was broadcast live) is believed to be lost.
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Dickon is supposed to be around the same age as Mary and Colin (10 years old), but the actor who portrayed him, Brian Roper, was about 20 years old at the time of filming. Margaret O'Brien and Dean Stockwell were also a few years older than the characters they played in the movie.
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In this film, Manchester-born George Zucco, the slimy mad doctor or smooth-talking villain of so many horror and mystery films - Prof. Moriarty in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939); Charlie Chan in Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939); The Mummy's Hand (1940); The Mummy's Tomb (1942); The Mad Ghoul (1943); Voodoo Man (1944); etc. - has one of his few sympathetic roles as the kindly Dr. Fortescue.
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Goofs
Elspeth Dudgeon who played Susan Sowerby was 78 years old, she would therefore have been well into her 60's when she gave birth to Dickon.
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In the opening title sequence of the movie, someone unlocks the door to the Secret Garden, and pushes it open, inward from the right side. In the rest of the movie, the door opens inward from the left.
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Quotes
Mary Lennox: I'll play with you some other time. I have to meet Dickon.
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Dickon: Thou's not such a bad-looking lass, at that.
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Mary Lennox: Wait a minute. Aren't you going to dress me?
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Faq
Q
Is 'The Secret Garden' available to read online?
A
Yes. The copyright has expired, and The Secret Garden is in the public domain. It can be downloaded free from Project Gutenberg.
Q
How does the movie end?
A
Dickon and Mary sneak into Colin's room in the middle of the night to tell him how his mother was killed by a fallen tree limb and how his father afterward tried to chop down the tree. Dickon warns Colin that his father promised to destroy the garden if anyone ever went into it again. Colin promises never to reveal the garden to anyone. As they talk, Sir Archibald enters Colin's room, so Dickon and Mary hide under the bed. Father announces that he's going to take Colin to Italy with him 'for a long time', but Colin refuses to go. The next day, a man from London comes to purchase the house and write out a check for it. When the man mentions the beautiful secret garden that he saw when he climbed up a ladder, Sir Archibald rushes out to the garden where he finds Mary, Dickon, and his son. Colin rises from his wheelchair and walks toward his father while begging him not to hurt the garden. Sir Archibald hugs the children, and the buyer tears up his check.
Q
Is 'The Secret Garden' based on a book?
A
The Secret Garden is a 1911 novel by English author Frances Hodgson Burnett [1849-1924], published initially in serial format in The American Magazine, starting in the autumn of 1910.The novel has been made into several movies including: The Secret Garden (1919), 'The Secret Garden' (1975 TV series), The Secret Garden (1987), The Secret Garden (1993), and The Secret Garden (1999). It was adapted for this movie by American playwright and screenwriter Robert Ardrey.
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Photos from cast
Dean Stockwell
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