_**Beautiful, reverent, awe-inspiring**_

To be honest, I remember seeing previews of this movie way back when it came out (in 1993) and thinking to myself, "WHY would anyone want to see such a film and why would anyone make it?" Well, about five years later it appeared on TV one night and I started watching, fully expecting to turn it off within 20 minutes or so. WOW -- was I ever wrong!

What I saw was beautiful and captivating, artistic and entrancing -- filmmaking of the highest order. "The Secret Garden" is a movie of such artistic quality that it ranks up there with the hallowed original "Apocalypse Now" (although they're totally different genres). It's no surprise that Francis Ford Coppola had his hand in both pics -- he was, of course, the director of "Apocalypse Now" and he's the executive producer of "The Secret Garden."

In any event, the cinematography is breathtaking and the score is awe-inspiring, ranking with the best in cinematic history.

***PLOT SPOILER***

The story's about a spoiled 10-year old English girl, orphaned in India, who comes home to live on her uncle's vast estate in the early 1900s. The girl, Mary, finds herself trapped in a mysterious, colossal manor -- almost a castle -- tyrannically managed by a life-stifling witch, Mrs. Medlock, in the frequent absence of her uncle, Lord Cravin. Because Mary is intelligent, independent and sly she is able to reconnoiter the manor and learn its forbidding secrets. The biggest secret is that her aunt died ten years earlier and her son, Colin, still lives there, albeit confined to a bed, sickly and unable to walk. Her uncle never healed from this heartbreak.

Mary discovers another secret in her explorations, a hidden garden, closed off and neglected since her aunt's death. After meeting the sickly and sad Colin, Mary inevitably finds a way to sneak him into the garden along with her pal Dickon. She senses that Colin isn't as sick as everyone is convinced; she knows the best thing would be to get him out of the dreary castle and the oppressive clutches of Mrs. Medlock. Mary and her secret garden are the keys to restoring health, life and freedom to Colin, Lord Cravin and the gloomy manor.

***END SPOILER***

"The Secret Garden" is sort of a 1990's version of the outstanding "Pollyanna" with Hayley Mills (1960). Both pics involve a young girl restoring a spirit of joy and liberty to a lifeless community. The difference is that Mary is not even remotely the "glad girl" Pollyanna. In fact, look for the hilarious line from the old gardener who responds to Mary's puzzlement concerning her lack of friends.

"The Secret Garden" is no doubt labeled a "children's film," which is a shame because it transcends such a limiting category. The ending's too quaint for my tastes but, nevertheless, this is a beautiful work of wonder and deep mystery, which can be enjoyed by people of all ages -- children and adults.

The film was shot in England and runs 101 minutes.

GRADE: A

I always remember loving the BBC's Sunday tea-time adaptation of this from 1975, and this is about as close to that as I've seen from the cinema. It's really quite a simple story of the young "Mary" (Kate Maberly) who has to go and live with her uncle (John Lynch) at his stately home after her parents are killed. He proves to be a man with demons of his own which keep him from his home more often than not, and so that leaves her in the care of the fastidious but not unkind "Mrs. Medlock" (Dame Maggie Smith). Left largely to her own devices, she manages to convince her guardian to allow her a small patch of land to plant some flowers. He agrees without realising that the area she has picked has hitherto been closed up and he is also unaware that her explorations around his home one day had seen her encounter his own son "Colin" (Haydon Prowse). He's a bedridden and spoilt young man who was very used to ruling the roost when his father was absent but "Mary" is no pushover, though, and with the help of the amiable groom "Dickon" (Andrew Knott) and unbeknown to "Medlock" the trio begin to embark on quite a life-changing series of adventure that test the mettle of just about everyone. Essentially this is a film about grief; about how people deal with it and/or run from it and ultimately how we have to face it if we are to make any progress with the lives that have been left behind. To that end, both Lennox and Prowse deliver engagingly - especially the latter when he is having one of his many tantrums. Dame Maggie brings a little kindly gravitas to the proceedings and even at it's darkest, there is still a semblance of hope prevailing through what is often quite a gloomy and lonely situation for a "Mary" who refuses to be subsumed by sadness amidst her grand but coldly austere surroundings (and a fair amount of drizzle outside, too). It's odd but I cannot imagine kids getting much from a film like this nowadays, but for adults it is quite a poignant and gently observational presentation of a story that perhaps optimistically but still quite joyously shows what can be achieved given some strength and perseverance.