''The Chalk Garden'' is a 1964 British-American film directed by Ronald Neame. It stars

Deborah Kerr Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress. During her international film career, Kerr won a ...

and

Hayley Mills Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills (born 18 April 1946) is an English actress. The daughter of Sir John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills, she began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising ...

and is an adaptation of the 1955 play of the same name by

Enid Bagnold Enid Algerine Bagnold, Lady Jones, (27 October 1889 – 31 March 1981) was a British writer and playwright known for the 1935 story ''National Velvet''. Early life Enid Algerine Bagnold was born on 27 October 1889 in Rochester, Kent, daughte ...

Plot summary

An elderly woman hires Miss Madrigal, a

governess A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, ...

with a mysterious past, to look after her disturbed and spoiled teenage granddaughter Laurel, who has driven away many previous governesses. Laurel feels intense jealousy and resentment of her beautiful mother, who lives elsewhere with her new husband, and her grandmother has taught her to hate her mother. When Miss Madrigal arrives, Laurel tries to investigate her past and potentially expose her. Miss Madrigal had been convicted of murdering her stepsister 15 years ago and was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted and she spent years in prison. Miss Madrigal uses this painful revelation to convince Laurel and her grandmother that she was once like Laurel, and that Laurel should leave her toxic environment to live with her mother, with whom she can grow into a better person. Laurel understands Miss Madrigal's self-sacrifice as an example of love, and follows her advice to live with her mother.

Cast

as Miss Madrigal *

as Laurel *

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

as Maitland *

Edith Evans Dame Edith Mary Evans, (8 February 1888 – 14 October 1976) was an English actress. She was best known for her work on the stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning and towards the end of her career. Between 1964 and 1968, she was no ...

as Mrs St. Maugham * Felix Aylmer as Judge McWhirrey * Elizabeth Sellars as Olivia

Production

Don Hartman Samuel Donald Hartman (18 November 1900, New York - 23 March 1958, Palm Springs, California) was an American screenwriter and director and former production head of Paramount Pictures. He and Stephen Morehouse Avery were nominated for the Academy ...

acquired the story for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

and took it over when he left Paramount in 1956 to become an independent producer. Shortly before Hartman died in 1958, Paramount halted pre-production. In 1960, producer

Ross Hunter Ross Hunter (born Martin Terry Fuss; May 6, 1916 or 1920 – March 10, 1996) was an American film and television producer and actor. He is best known for producing light comedies such as '' Pillow Talk'' (1959), and the glamorous melodramas '' ...

said that he had the rights to the play, having "forced the studio to buy it." He worked with a writer to make the script "more commercial." The film was announced in May 1962 and

Joanne Woodward Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American actress. A star since the Golden Age of Hollywood, Woodward made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a charact ...

was slated to star with

Sandra Dee Sandra Dee (born Alexandra Zuck; April 23, 1942 – February 20, 2005) was an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working first in commercials, and then film in her teenage years. Best known for her portrayal of ingén ...

. Hunter wanted

Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.Obituary '' Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, she is ofte ...

for the film and had originally sought

Gladys Cooper Dame Gladys Constance Cooper, (18 December 1888 – 17 November 1971) was an English actress, theatrical manager and producer, whose career spanned seven decades on stage, in films and on television. Beginning as a teenager in Edwardian mus ...

for the role of Mrs. St. Maugham in place of

. Sandra Dee pulled out of the film when she fell pregnant and was replaced by Hayley Mills. Neame says "Except for my disappointment with the clean, white, sterile decor, the shooting period itself was most enjoyable." He left the film after handing in his cut, and was unhappy at the use of music, which he thought was overused. However he said "In all honesty, even if I’d remained on the picture, I very much doubt anything could be achieved other than what Ross wanted. He was Universal’s most successful producer and the studio would naturally back his decisions— he was where the money was."

Reception

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', critic

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

wrote: "A great deal of scrupulous cultivation and orderly shaping of the plot have been done ... Ronald Neame, who has directed the picture, and

John Michael Hayes John Michael Hayes (11 May 1919 – 19 November 2008) was an American screenwriter, who scripted four of Alfred Hitchcock's films in the 1950s. Early life Hayes was born in Worcester, Massachusetts to John Michael Hayes Sr. and Ellen Mabel Hayes. ...

, who has written the script, present us with a cozy, compact drama that follows a comfortable, sentimental line. ... There are moments, however, when the sharpness of Miss Bagnold's oblique slant on life cuts through, usually in glints of hidden mischief or in lines of slashing paradox and wit. When these come, the film sparkles briefly beyond the brightness of its Technicolored hues."

Box office

The film grossed $180,000 in its second week at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for ...

in New York City, which was a record for

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

week, and it become the number-one film in the United States. It earned

theatrical rental A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is fre ...

s of $3.25 million in the U.S. and Canada. ''Filmink'' said it "proved again that Mills didn't need the Disney name to bring in the punters."

Awards

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chalk Garden, The 1964 films American drama films British drama films American films based on plays Films directed by Ronald Neame Films set in Brighton Universal Pictures films Films with screenplays by John Michael Hayes Films produced by Ross Hunter Films scored by Malcolm Arnold Films shot at MGM-British Studios 1960s English-language films 1960s American films 1960s British films