The Spanish Gardener (1956)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Cold, unfeeling British diplomat in Spain, abandoned by his wife and raising his 8-year-old son alone, has isolated the boy from other children--he even harbors the untrue notion his child is ill to keep him over-protected. The youngster wants to be just like other kids and craves friendship, soon becoming close pals with the handsome gardener his father has hired. Based on the novel by A.J. Cronin, this is odd material for the movies; although it's certainly performed well (particularly by child-actor Jon Whiteley), the relationships at hand are intricate--and the conflicts which arise are a bit uncomfortable. Director Philip Leacock establishes early on that Dirk Bogarde's athletic gardener is heterosexual (by giving him a girlfriend), although there also seem to be insinuations that the boy's hero-worship for his new friend borders on an intimate need. In this instance, some may say the father's desire to keep the two apart is rational from a concerned parent's point of view; however, the father is specifically written not to be a rational man. Becoming enraged like a jealous lover, he has the gardener arrested for stealing and sent to prison! This portion of the film is highly contrived, dismantling the subtle psychology of the situation and turning it into cheap melodrama. Worth-seeing for the acting--and the attempt alone--but the results are not satisfying. ** from ****

The "Spanish Gardener" is a warm-hearted film that entertains, teaches and gratifies all at the same time. Dirk Bogarde is a wonderful actor who never got his due as a great interpreter of character on screen. This is a simple film, but what a film it is! Sometimes simplicity is a more powerful conveyor of truth than complex renditions that lose the audience before they can redeem themselves. So much garbage is being produced currently on film today that I wonder why filmmakers don't just sit back and learn from their predecessors, often English directors, who can teach so much just by simply observing how they craft their films?Jose helps form a bond of friendship with a young boy that cannot be broken even by the boy's jealous older father who selfishly guards his young son as a prized possession who must not have contact with anyone. This film reminds me of "A Man Without a Face" (1993) with Mel Gibson, another wonderful film.I cannot recommend this film too highly. It will warm your heart and break it too. But isn't that what films are supposed to do? Touch your heart and get at the universal emotions of people, much like a Beethoven Symphony would, to stir, conquer and triumph! This 1957 film is a victory because of fine directing, acting, story and execution of plot which allows the audience time to absorb and feel the emotions that develop within and between the characters, resolving itself towards a beautifully crafted ending.

I just want to correct a little misstatement made by FAC ([email protected]) in his (or her) well written Spanish Gardiner comment. He (or she) mistakenly says Spanish Gardiner and How Green Was My Valley were novels both written by A.J. Cronin. In fact, the latter was written by Richard Llewellyn.Spanish Gardiner also made a strong impression on me, since I was at the age of the boy in the film when I saw it first in a cheap black and white copy, at a garden cinema in Izmir, in the Fifties. Dirk Bogarde had been my hero then due to the Spanish Gardiner in which he was unjustly treated and along with it his other two films in both of which he died. (In A Tale of Two Cities he was the first character I watched being beheaded by the guillotine. In The Singer Not The Song, he was a handsome, malicious, romantic villain wearing black from top to hills and paying for his sinful deeds at the end.) I was very sorry for Bogarde at that time. I thought however he was a bandit villain (in The Singer Not The Song) he should marry beautiful Mylene Demongeot. (Oh! How could I have forgotten her for so many years!) COSKUN BUKTEL

Nicholas is a `sensitive' British pre-teen, an overprotected only son who is forced by circumstance to accompany his unfamiliar father to a new posting as Ambassador to a Spanish region.The residential estate's handsome gardener, Jose (played by Dirk Bogarde), takes the boy under his wing, teaching him to enjoy his physicality, the beauty of nature and the joy of life itself.Even though the father appreciates the burgeoning health and happiness in his son, he allows jealousy and internalised homophobia to determine his actions.In a dramatic conclusion father, son and friend all prove their integrity and devotion.Over the years, each time I've seen this film I'm amazed by its beautiful colour and enthralled the interplay of the characters. I get a greater feeling of the father as a self-loathing homosexual - but there is no evidence that this is the case. Certainly the audience must expect an accusation of paedophilia - but when Jose is accused of stealing and imprisoned, then that still gets him out of Nicholas' life. The Spanish Gardener is, above all, a fine film about the value of `mentoring'.