Enid Bagnold’s famous 1955 play, The Chalk Garden, gets a so-so transfer to the big screen under the helm of Ronald Neame.
Grade: B (*** out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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Three great British actresses, representing different generations and different acting methods, define this melodrama, which has always been more effective on stage.
Deborah Kerr plays a governess, who’s hired by an old, eccentric matriarch (Edith Evans) to take care of her granddaughter, played by Hayley Mills. Soon, the interaction between governess and girl is tainted and haunted by the former’s memories of her past.
This intimate character study is well acted by the incomparable Evans, who received yet another Oscar nomination for playing a matriarch, Deborah Kerr, who also played the governess in “The Innocents” (1961), Hayley Mills, then very popular with young viewers after the success of “Pollyanna” and “The Parent Trap.”
The cast also includes Hayley’s real-life father, John Mills.
Detailed lot (Spoiler Alert)
The protagonist (heroine-anti-heroine) is Miss Madrigal (Deborah Kerr), a woman with a mysterious past. She is hired by an old grandmother (Evans) to look after her troubled, deceitful, and self-centered teenage granddaughter, Laurel (Hayley Mills).
Insecure, Laurel feels sexual jealousy and resentment of her beautiful and absent mother, and under her grandma’s influence, hates her.
When Miss Madrigal arrives, Laurel is intrigued by her “lack of a past,” which she tries to investigate and then exposes publicly.
Tension builds up and in the climax it is revealed that Miss Madrigal was convicted of murdering her step-sister 15 years ago and was sentenced to death, though the sentence was commuted and she’d been in prison.
Madrigal then uses her confession to convince Laurel that she should leave her Grandmother’s toxic environment and go to live with her mother where she can grow into as a normal and better person.
In the end, Laurel understands Madrigal’s genuine motivation as both an act of sacrifice and a demonstration of love, and follows her advice.
The film is uneven, despite valiant efforts of John Michael Hayes (who wrote some script for Hitchcock) to make a shapely, Understandable narrative out of Bagnold’s enigmatic slant on life and ambiguous tone. As a result, in some scenes, the dialogue is sharp, but in others, it misses Bagnold’s witty lingo in describing the mischief in the conduct of all three female characters.
Among other distinctions, this movie proved that Hayley Mills did not have to rely on Disney to have a sustained and popular career. The Chalk Garden received decent reviews, but was hugely commercial at the box-office.
Cast
Deborah Kerr as Miss Madrigal
Hayley Mills as Laurel
John Mills as Maitlan
Edith Evans as Mrs. St. Maughan
Elizabeth Sellars as Olivia
My Oscar Book:
Oscar Nominations: 1
Supporting Actress: Edith Evans
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
The winner of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar was Lila Kedrova in Zorba the Greek.
The contest that year also included Gladys Cooper for “My Fair Lady,” Grayson Hall for “The Night of the Iguana,” and Agnes Moorehead in “Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte.”
Credits:
Directed by Ronald Neame
Screenplay by John Michael Hayes, based on Enid Bagnold’s play, “The Chalk Garden”
Produced by Ross Hunter
Cinematography Arthur Ibbetson
Edited by Jack Harris
Music by Malcolm Arnold
Production: Ross Hunter Productions; Quota Rentals Limited;
Universal
Distributed by Universal Pictures (US); Rank Film (UK)
Release date: May 21, 1964
Running time: 106 minutes
Box office $3.25 million (US rentals)
