The Secret Garden (1949)

After her parents die, a spoiled young orphan (Margaret O'Brien) is sent from India to live in England with a reclusive uncle (Herbert Marshall). She's terribly unhappy until she discovers a secret garden kept unseen and locked away for ten years because of a tragedy that happened there. Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett and directed by Fred M. Wilcox (FORBIDDEN PLANET). Burnett's 1911 novel has been frequently filmed. Notably in 1918 and 1993 as well as for television in 1987 and a Tony award winning musical in 1991. At the time of its original release, the reviews were discouraging and it lost money at the box office. But I found it a solid adaptation if a trifle dark and I appreciated its keeping the psychological implications of the book's narrative rather than turning it into a typical children's movie. This was the last film for O'Brien at MGM where she had been their reigning child actress since 1942. With Dean Stockwell, Gladys Cooper, Elsa Lanchester, Brian Roper, Reginald Owen, Isobel Elsom, George Zucco and Norma Varden.