The Secret Garden is a 1993 fantasy drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland, executive-produced by Francis Ford Coppola and distributed by Warner Bros. under their Family Entertainment imprint. Starring Kate Maberly, Heydon Prowse, Andrew Knott and Maggie Smith, the film's screenplay was written by Caroline Thompson, based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It also marked the film debuts for Maberly, Prowse and Knott. The novel was previously adapted in 1919 and 1949.
Set in the Yorkshire Moors in Northern England, Yorkshire's Allerton Castle was used for most of the exterior shots of Misselthwaite Manor (the primary location of the entire story), as well as the interior shots. The film was critically and commercially successful, grossing around $40 million worldwide. Dame Maggie Smith was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and young lead actress Kate Maberly received a "Special Achievement Award For Outstanding Performance" at the 1994 London Critics Circle Film Awards. American actress Kirsten Dunst auditioned for the role of Mary Lennox.
Filming locations
thumb|Exterior of [[Allerton Castle in Yorkshire, northern England]]
Yorkshire's imposing Allerton Castle was used for most of the exterior shots of Misselthwaite Manor, and some of the interior was also used. Interiors of the former Midland Grand Hotel in London were used for filming as well, notably the scenes on the grand staircase.
Soundtrack
The film features the end credits song "Winter Light" performed by Linda Ronstadt, which is based on two themes from the score by Zbigniew Preisner. However, this song was not included in the film's original soundtrack release, but was in Ronstadt's eponymous album Winter Light. Sarah Brightman and the youngest member of Celtic Woman, Chloë Agnew, covered it for their albums Classics and Walking In The Air respectively. The soundtrack, released by Varèse Sarabande, contains the original score.
Release
The film was released in the United States and Canada on 13 August 1993. It grossed $31.2 million in the US and Canada. Internationally, it grossed $8.8 million for a worldwide total of $40 million. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, calling it "a work of beauty, poetry and deep mystery, and watching it is like entering for a time into a closed world where one's destiny may be discovered." Desson Thomson of The Washington Post praised the acting by young actors, calling their acts "quite proficient and un-sappy too", but adding, "it's not their fault if they too often seem like chessmen being moved around on the director's board, composed into picturesque tableaux". Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote that "[the film is] executed to near perfection in all artistic departments", and called it "[a] superior adaptation", mentioning that "[the adaptation] of the perennial favorite novel will find its core public among girls, but should prove satisfying enough to a range of audiences".
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C+" and called it "earnest, heartfelt, and, for all its lavishness, rather plodding". Janet Maslin of The New York Times called this new adaptation of The Secret Garden "[an] elegantly expressive, a discreet and lovely rendering of the children's classic by Frances Hodgson Burnett".
Trevor Johnston of Time Out said that "With well-judged performances played straight, and topical subtexts (Green consciousness, the dysfunctional family), this 'children's' film sets no age limit on its potential audience".
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="width:100%;"
! scope="col" |Award
! scope="col" |Date of ceremony
! scope="col" |Category
! scope="col" |Recipient(s)
!Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |
|-
! scope="row" |BAFTA Awards
|15 April 1994
|Best Actress in a Supporting Role
|Maggie Smith
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |Evening Standard British Film Awards
|1993
|Best Technical or Artistic Achievement
|Stuart Craig
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |London Film Critics' Circle
|1994
|Special Achievement Award
|Kate Maberly
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |Los Angeles Film Critics Association
|11 December 1993
|Best Music Score
|Zbigniew Preisner (also for Three Colors: Blue and Olivier, Olivier)
|
|
|-
! scope="row" |Political Film Society Award for Democracy
|1993
|Political Film Society Award for Democracy
| rowspan="2" |The Secret Garden
|
|
|-
! rowspan="4" scope="row" |Young Artist Awards
| rowspan="4" |5 February 1994
|Outstanding Family Motion Picture: Drama
|
| rowspan="4" |
|-
|Best Youth Actress Leading Role in a Motion Picture: Drama
|Kate Maberly
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Motion Picture: Drama
|Andrew Knott
|
|-
|Heydon Prowse
|
|}
Home media
The Secret Garden was released on VHS and LaserDisc in the United States on 15 February 1994. It was originally released on VHS in the UK on 1 August 1994 and was re-released on 15 December 1997 by Warner Home Video. The DVD was released by Warner Home Video in 2005.