''The Secret Garden'' is the 1987 ''

Hallmark Hall of Fame ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'', originally called ''Hallmark Television Playhouse'', is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City-based greeting card company. The longest-running prime-time series in ...

'' made-for-television

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), '' A Little ...

's 1911 novel '' The Secret Garden'', aired on CBS November 30, 1987 and produced by Rosemont Productions Limited. The film stars

Gennie James Sara Genevieve James (born December 27, 1976), billed professionally as Gennie James, is an American former child actress. James is a native of Navasota, Texas. She acted in several television movies and series between 1984 and 1988 and had the ...

Barret Oliver Barret Spencer Oliver (born August 24, 1973) is an American photographer and a former child actor. He is best known for his role as Bastian Balthazar Bux in the film adaptation of Michael Ende's novel '' The Neverending Story'', followed by role ...

Jadrien Steele Jadrien Ford Steele (born November 22, 1974 in New York City) is an American actor, author, and film director. As an author, he writes under the name J M Steele. Biography Steele graduated from Princeton University, and later obtained a master ...

Billie Whitelaw Billie Honor Whitelaw (6 June 1932 – 21 December 2014) was an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works. She was a ...

Michael Hordern Sir Michael Murray Hordern Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (3 October 19112 May 1995)Morley, Sheridan"Hordern, Michael Murray (1911–1995)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online e ...

, and Sir

Derek Jacobi Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared in various stage productions of William Shakespeare such as '' Hamlet'', '' Much Ado About Nothing'', '' Macbeth'', '' Twelfth Night'', '' The Tempest'', ' ...

. It won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1988 for Outstanding Children's Program.

Plot

The story is told as a flashback of the adult Mary (

Irina Brook Irina Brook (born 5 April 1962) is a Franco-British stage director, producer, and actress. She was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2002 by the French Ministry of Culture. In May 2017 Brook was upgraded to Officier de l'ordre des Arts ...

) returning to Misselthwaite Manor after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, during which she worked as a

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

in a hospital. She looks for the key to the secret garden, but doesn't find it, so she sits down and remembers her childhood. The main story begins in

colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spices. The search for the wealth and prospe ...

with the young, neglected, and selfish Mary Lennox (

) waking in the night to find her servants not answering and her parents having a late dinner party. The dinner guests discuss a

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting an ...

epidemic that is infesting the region, but Mary's vain shallow mother cares only about attending another party. Only moments later, Colonel Lennox collapses. The following morning, Mary wakes to find her parents dying and all their servants either dead or fled. She is discovered by English officers and is soon sent to live with a friend of the family named Mr. Craven (

), even though the two of them have never before met. Mary is sent to Misselthwaite Manor, an isolated home on the

moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinc ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. She is shocked and disappointed when the servants do not defer to her as they did in India. While adjusting to life in England, Mary meets the maid Martha (Cassie Stuart) who tells her the story of a secret

walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate ...

that was locked up, with the key thrown away, after the late Mrs. Craven died there. Mary distracts herself from her loneliness and boredom by searching for the door to this garden. Eventually, she finds both door and key, only to learn that the garden has fallen to ruin. With the help of Martha's brother Dickon (

), Mary works to revive the garden. Meanwhile, inside Misselthwaite Manor, Mary frequently wakes in the night to the ghostly sounds of sobbing. The servants insist that the sound is the wind, but one night Mary goes exploring and discovers Mr. Craven's bed-bound son Colin (

), who weeps incessantly because he is convinced he is going to die. Everyone in the house hates him and hopes he will finally die because of his bad temper. The two gradually become friends as Mary tells him about his mother's garden and how she and Dickon have been restoring it. At last Colin is curious enough that he demands to see this garden. With Dickon's help, Mary take Colin in his

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), ce ...

to visit the garden in secret. Soon Colin declares that the garden must be magic, which inspires him to take his first steps unassisted. The house gardener Ben Weatherstaff (

), who has been spying on the children, witnesses this and is amazed. Ben offers to help revive the garden as well, and Colin tries to learn to stand and walk by himself. Far away in London, Mr. Craven receives a letter from Dickon's mother Susan insisting he return to Misselthwaite Manor at once. Mr Craven arrives to discover the secret garden in full bloom, with the children gathered there. Colin rises and walks to his father for the first time, announcing that he is well now and will live forever. When the adult Mary finishes remembering her childhood, Ben Weatherstaff greets her and gives her the key to the secret garden. They discuss what happened to Dickon, who died in the war, at the Forest of Argonne. Then the adult Colin (

Colin Firth Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an English actor and producer. He was identified in the mid-1980s with the " Brit Pack" of rising young British actors, undertaking a challenging series of roles, including leading roles in '' A M ...

) enters the garden, having been wounded and released from the hospital. He says he has asked Mary to marry him before, but she never answered. She says she has been waiting for him to ask her in their garden. Colin proposes again, and Mary accepts. The film actually caused confusion to some, as at the end of the movie, adult Colin proposes to Mary and the two share a kiss. In the novel, the two are said to be cousins, and Archibald Craven is Mary’s uncle, which made viewers question the morality of the kiss. In this version, they are not cousins, and are very explicitly written as such.

Cast

as Mary Lennox :*

as Adult Mary Lennox *

as Dickon Sowerby *

as Colin Craven :*

as Adult Colin Craven *

as Mrs. Medlock * Cassie Stuart as Martha Sowerby *

as Ben Weatherstaff *

as Archibald Craven * Lucy Gutteridge as Mrs. Lennox *

Julian Glover Julian Wyatt Glover (born 27 March 1935) is an English classical actor with many stage, television, and film roles since commencing his career in the 1950s. He is a recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award and has performed many times for the ...

as Colonel McGraw *

Margaret Whiting Margaret Eleanor Whiting (July 22, 1924 – January 10, 2011) was an American popular music and country music singer who gained popularity in the 1940s and 1950s.Mapes, Jillian.Margaret Whiting, Iconic Standards Singer, Dies at 86. ''Billboard' ...

as Nurse Boggs * Philip Locke as Pitcher *

David Waller David Waller (27 November 1920 – 23 January 1997) was an English actor best known for his role as Inspector Jowett in the British television series ''Cribb''. He also appeared as Stanley Baldwin in ITV's ''Edward & Mrs Simpson'' (1978), and in ...

as Dr. Craven *

Pat Heywood Patricia Heywood (born 1 August 1931 in Gretna Green, Dumfriesshire, Scotland), is a Scottish character actress who has appeared in stage productions, films and television. She is married to Oliver Neville, the former principal of the Royal Acad ...

as Mrs. Sowerby *

Carmel McSharry Carmel Evelyn McSharry (18 August 1926 – 4 March 2018) was an Irish character actress, best known for her roles as Beryl Humphries in ''Beryl's Lot'' (1973–77), a daytime ITV serial, and as Mrs. Hollingbery in ''In Sickness and in Health''. ...

as Mrs. Gordy *

Tony Selby Anthony Samuel Selby (26 February 1938 – 5 September 2021) was an English actor. He was best known for his roles as Clive Mitchell in ''EastEnders'', Corporal Percy Marsh in '' Get Some In!'', and Sabalom Glitz in ''Doctor Who''. Life and c ...

as Sergeant Barney *

Alison Doody Alison Doody (born March 9, 1966) is an Irish actress and model. After making her feature film debut as Bond girl Jenny Flex in ''A View to a Kill'' (1985), she went on to play Elsa Schneider in ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (1989). O ...

as Lilias *

Edward Tudor-Pole Edward Felix Tudor-Pole (also known as Edward Tenpole, though he introduced himself as "Ed" on several episodes of '' The Crystal Maze''; born 6 December 1955) is an English musician, television presenter and actor. Originally gaining fame in t ...

as John *

Stephen Dillane Stephen John Dillane (; born 27 March 1957) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Leonard Woolf in the 2002 film '' The Hours'', Stannis Baratheon in ''Game of Thrones'', and Thomas Jefferson in the 2008 HBO miniseries ''John Ad ...

as Captain Lennox *

Dominic Hawksley Dominic Hawksley is a British actor who appeared in ''Death Machine'' and ''Entropy''. His voice work includes '' Midnight Club: Street Racing'', '' Midnight Club 2'', and the '' Max Payne'' wherein he appears in the first game as the mob leader ...

as Soldier

Production

Filming

Highclere Castle Highclere Castle is a Grade I listed country house built in 1679 and largely renovated in the 1840s, with a park designed by Capability Brown in the 18th century. The estate is in Highclere in Hampshire, England, about south of Newbury, B ...

was used for interior and exterior settings of Misselthwaite Manor.

Soundtrack

The film uses Chopin's Nocturne no. 19 as its main theme.

Sequel

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Secret Garden 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame episodes 1987 television films 1987 films Films based on The Secret Garden Films scored by John Cameron 1980s children's fantasy films