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lrigdren
Reviews
The Secret Garden (1975)
BBC respects the book
By far my favorite version on film. Follows the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett very closely, with a few small changes, but even those maintain the character of the story, the time period, and the setting, very well. I am not as impressed by Hollywood flashiness as by respect for a much loved classic book. Care was taken here with the casting, authenticity of accents and props and settings. The story can be read on many levels - enjoyed just as a tale in its own right, or as a gentle allegory of healing and growth, where the only "bad guys" are the hard things in life or internal struggles that can be overcome. BBC did a wonderful job of keeping that sweet simplicity and subtlety, not trying to dress it up with needless melodrama as other versions have. I commend BBC for being faithful to so many classic books, which are, after all, classic for a reason.