Dean Stockwell!? But he can’t possibly…
Oh, he plays the ten year old boy.
And I was thinking of Harry Dean Stanton.
ANYWAY.
This is a fascinating movie. It’s not that often you see a movie that doesn’t fit neatly into a genre category or where you have no idea where the plot is going. This is one of those rare movies.
It’s so weird.
The idea of a secret garden is a very powerful one. It’s like a Jung Bodyan archetype.
Margaret O’Brien is perfect as the snotty, entitled ex-colonial plunked into the British countryside.
The Secret Garden. Fred M. Wilcox. 1949.
Popular movies in April 1949 according to IMDB:
| Poster | Votes | Rating | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 2650 | 7.5 | Champion |
 | 1939 | 7.5 | The Secret Garden |
 | 941 | 7.4 | The Queen of Spades |
 | 3060 | 7.2 | Passport to Pimlico |
 | 2014 | 7.1 | The Stratton Story |
 | 237 | 7.1 | The Sky Dragon |
 | 425 | 7.0 | Mr. Belvedere Goes to College |
 | 1674 | 7.0 | Flamingo Road |
 | 930 | 6.9 | Ma and Pa Kettle |
 | 630 | 6.8 | The Crooked Way |
This blog post is part of the Decade series.