Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Wonderful movie.The story of a girl who is sent to live with her uncle on his estate when her parents die. There she discovers much intrigue, family history and secrets and personal baggage. In particular, a screaming child and...a secret garden.Incredibly engaging and enchanting story. The three kids who form the main characters are quite sweet and the interaction between the three is fantastic.Add in an air of mystery and some cute and/or funny moments (look out for the goat, fox and raven...) and you have a movie where every moment is a joy to watch.The whole thing feels like a Rudyard Kipling novel (and I was surprised this wasn't based on a novel of his - India even features in the background story), with a smidgen of Edgar Allan Poe thrown in.Excellent performance by Margaret O'Brien as Mary. 12-year Dean Stockwell (whom I did not recognise for a moment) and Brian Roper are also great as the two other kids.The presence of Elsa Lanchaster tells you this is a great movie - she has the golden touch in terms of acting in classics (especially in supporting roles). She puts in a good performance here too.Great work by a raven in an uncredited role.

After a cholera epidemic wipes out her parents and most of their Indian village, spoiled and disagreeable Margaret O'Brien (as Mary Lennox) is sent home to live with her reclusive uncle Herbert Marshall (as Archibald Craven) in Yorkshire, England. Accustomed to many devoted servants, young Miss O'Brien finds the new staff lacking. They don't think to hand her a biscuit. She has to dress herself. Her melancholy uncle prefers to remain a stranger. O'Brien is locked in her room at bedtime and told she must not explore the dark, moody mansion. At night, she hears the wailing of ten-year-old cousin Dean Stockwell (as Colin Craven). Sickly and bedridden, young Stockwell fears his death is near. Allowed outside to play, O'Brien meets robust young Brian Roper (as Dickon). The local lad is beloved by wild animals and tells O'Brien about a "Secret Garden" on the estate...Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic novel has been made into several movies. Probably, none fully capture the nightmarish enchantment present in the original work. MGM and producer Clarence Brown succeed in the former, partially, by giving it a Gothic look...Dreary and majestic setting (by Edwin B. Willis) and photography (by Ray June) make several early scenes memorable, but director Fred M. Wilcox loses focus as the pace dulls and story development becomes rushed. The character "Mary" becomes less relevant and her cousin "Colin" suffers from a too-hasty resolution. While fine performers, O'Brien and Stockwell do not have the appropriate script or appearance; as well as unlikeable, they should be frail, plain and sickly. Like "Colin", the "Garden" changes too suddenly. In this instance, the switch to color photography is harsh and turgid. Set design and costuming add to the increasing artificiality. Still, the film contains many moments which faithfully evoke scenes from the book. And, the character you'd most expect them to blunder turns out to be the best, as Brian Roper's "Dickon" is appropriately amazing.******* The Secret Garden (1949-04-30) Fred M. Wilcox ~ Margaret O'Brien, Dean Stockwell, Brian Roper, Herbert Marshall

A Time when the Innocence of Childhood was Enhanced with a Dreamlike Quality that was Both Inspiring and a Bit Scary. This is a Classic Tale, Mostly Written for Kids (especially Girls), that has been Filmed a Number of Times. It Seems the Best Version is this One, Perhaps because it was made when these Children were Still able to be Children.The Move is a Wonderful Gothic, Fantasy, Semi-Horror Movie that is Thick on Atmosphere and Emoting. The Tantrum Scenes may be Dated and Somewhat Hard to Take but They are Short and the Film Moves Away to Other Things that are Poignant and Impressive.All Three Child Actors are Superb and the Adult Cast is Nothing Less. This is a Film that is Strikingly Saturated with Warmth along side a Foreboding Landscape of Suppression and Psychological Maladies. it is Quite Different in the way it Blends Hopelessness, Alienation, and Buried Desires Resurrected by the Sheer Will of the Innocents and Manifested with Spiritual Healing.A Near Perfect Movie that is a Throwback to a Different Era to be sure but Beneath the Layers of Dated Class Structure are Timeless Lessons that are Designed to Teach Children but it is the Children who End Up doing the Teaching.

It looks like there have been a gazillion version of Frances Hodgson Burnett's popular novel for children made. This one apparently is the most popular, the one most people will remember.It's a wonderful allegorical tale about how one has to give in life in order to receive. It also is about the maturing of a couple of really bratty kids.Margaret O'Brien is a child of the British Raj in India, quite used to having things her own way as her parents are a big-shot and his lady. But when both are taken away by an epidemic, she has to go back to Great Britain to live with an uncle, Herbert Marshall for whom the mildest thing that can be said is eccentric.She's given rather restrictive use of the vast house, though the grounds are her's to roam with the exception of a garden that is locked up. Many years ago Marshall's wife has died there and it's her death and the circumstances thereof that have driven him to the brink of dissolution and insanity.O'Brien also finds she has a cousin roughly her age who is bedridden with paralysis in Dean Stockwell. Stockwell has not born his affliction well and in fact is a bigger brat than she is. Dealing with him has forced her to confront her own misbehavior.A large part of Stockwell's problems are his doctor and caregiver in the persons of doctor Aubrey Mather and housekeeper Gladys Cooper. They like having him dependent on them, it increases their position in the house, as for Mather, he's making a whole living off Marshall treating his child.The younger brother of maid Elsa Lanchester, Brian Roper, also becomes a friend to both as they discover the locked up and neglected garden and use it as a playground. With the special love that children bring to something, interesting things start happening there.Most of the cast are familiar names to the American cinema, all the adults are card carrying members of the British colony in Hollywood. But Brian Roper was imported from across the pond because of the fact that he spoke with a Yorkshire brogue, he was native to that part of England. It does lend an air of authenticity to the film. Roper had a fair career for about a decade, mostly in his native country. I believe this is his one and only American film appearance.The Secret Garden is a fine adaption of the children's novel, maybe the best one ever done. The adults are hard pressed in this one to even get their innings in as the kids totally steal this film.