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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secre ... 1987_film)The Secret Garden is the 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame made-for-television film adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel The Secret Garden, aired on CBS November 30, 1987 and produced by Rosemont Productions Limited.
Gennie James as Mary Lennox
I did multiple searches for this and couldn't find it on here with the film name and the actress name.
1987 Made for tv version of the story. I consider myself a pretty big fan of this story and my personal ranking would be Secret Garden US Warner Bros film 1993 -> Secret Garden BBC 1975 -> This one -> Secret Garden 2020. (And there is a bbc steampunk one I'll likely never watch...23 yo Mary Lennox....nuff said)
Why? This one seems slightly higher budget than the 1975 BBC version, but the overblown melodramatic soundtrack and occasional shoddy acting pulls this one down a little. We're back in a gothic looking castle in this one "Highclere Castle was used for interior and exterior settings of Misselthwaite Manor." Book Mary herself is a complicated character. She is supposed to be both spoiled and neglected, and each girl has played her slightly differently. This particular girl plays her heavy on the spoiled. She is probably the most nasty Mary of them all.
She berates her dying mother "Mother, Sahib is dead, now I have no one dress me!" (Her Ayah/Full time Indian caretaker) Her spoiled nastiness does add an unintentional element of comedy to the whole thing I enjoyed. She's also randomly American...for some reason?
There are also random, superfluous changes to the story that I'd need to rewatch at least once more before I fully commit to them, but I'm pretty sure she has no relation Colin and Mr Craven in this film? And the bookended future Mary added nothing. In the beginning, Mary is searching for the key, and the idea of the Garden being locked back up defeats the whole purpose of the story.
This is a VHS copy, so if anyone knows of a better copy please share!
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