Secret Garden, The (1949)

Excellent, remastered version of MGM's 1949 adaptation of the children's classic. Highly Recommended!
I have just received my newly remastered Warner Archive DVD of MGM's 1949 adaptation of "The Secret Garden", the first and, for many, the best sound version of the famous children's classic written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This black and white film with beautiful Technicolor sequences here makes its DVD debut and is very well done all round, with child star legends Dean Stockwell and Margaret O'Brien, acting at full throttle, practically striking sparks off each other in some key scenes. O'Brien plays an embittered English orphan brought from India to live at her uncle's mansion on the bleak Yorkshire moors. There, she befriends a local boy, Dickon (Brian Roper) and discovers her equally embittered, but bedridden, crippled cousin, Colin Craven (Stockwell), who isn't as much of a cripple as his father (Herbert Marshall), for his own nefarious reasons, has led him to believe he is, as well as uncovering the secret of a beautiful and magic garden that will soon change all of their...

Best telling of this children's classic
The two children steal their own movie and are clearly the stars of this lovingly told version. They are so good that the adults seem one dimensional and pedestrian. O'Brian and Stockwell are impressive and carry this film in peak form. Amazing that their performances are so well executed for their young age. Definitely the definitive version on film by far!

At last on DVD the classic Secret Garden!
At last out on DVD the classic Secret Garden from the Golden Age of Hollywood with one of MGM legandary little leading ladies. The best film verson to date of this wonderful classic book. Margaret O'Brine is at her spoiled best as Mary Lenox. Done in the grand old style of movie making with color sequences for dramatic effect this film will please children as well as their parents and delight film buff . Warner Arcives DVD super quality produces another winner! A must for all home movie libries.

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