The Spanish Gardener 1956
The Spanish Gardener 1956
Not Rated | 1h 31min | Drama | 25 December 1956 (UK)
Storyline:
Rather undiplomatic British diplomat Harrington Brande (Sir Michael Hordern) takes up his new post in Spain accompanied by his son Nicholas (Jon Whiteley). The posting is something of a disappointment to Harrington, who was hoping for a promotion. That his wife had left him seems to have affected his career. Nicholas sees it all as something of an adventure, and soon becomes fast friends with the new gardener, José (Sir Dirk Bogarde). The apparently “delicate” Nicholas becomes attached to José, and Harrington’s jealousy leads him to bar Nicholas from even speaking to José. As tensions mount, another servant frames José for theft, forcing everyone to review the situation.
User review:
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.
Director: Philip Leacock
Writers: John Bryan (screenplay), A.J. Cronin (novel)
Stars: Dirk Bogarde, Jon Whiteley, Michael Hordern
Country: UK
Language: English
Release Date: 25 December 1956 (UK)
Filming Locations: Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049787/
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 693 MiB
Duration : 1 h 31 min
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 1 057 kb/s
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Better copy:
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 1.05 GiB
Duration : 1 h 31 min
Overall bit rate : 1 651 kb/s
Download: Nitroflare
It was reported at the time, 64 years ago in 1956, that before filming began, Jon Whiteley’s parents (Jon was only eleven years old at the time) were very worried about the implied sexual relationship between Jose and Nicholas in the A.J. Cronin novel and were assured by the producer, John Bryan, and the director, Philip Leacock, that this implied relationship would be removed and the film made for a family audience. The controversy centred around Chapter 15 in the novel, where Nicholas’s father, convinced that there is somethimg of a sexual nature going on between his son and the gardener, asks his doctor friend to have a man to man talk with Nicholas about it and try to get the boy to admit to it. But Nicholas won’t admit to it. Whether Jon Whiteley had the acting ability to play such a scene if it was left in the film is debatable, but he had the right director in Philip Leacock to enable him to do it. It was Leacock who had directed him three years earlier in “The Kidnappers”, for which Jon had won an Academy Award for his performance. Despite all the story editing to make the film suitable for a ‘U’ certificate, the film still comes off as ambiguous and today it looks as though the father just wants his son all to himself and is madly jealous when his son and the gardener become very close and does everything in his power to destroy the relationship between his son and the gardener, so that he can have his son all to himself again. An excellent film, with wonderful performances all round…a kind of Eternal Triangle story where the three main characters are male.
Thank you for this information 🙂
You have a great and very interesting site here. It’s obvious that you’ve put a lot of work into it and it looks like a real labour of love. I’m sure it is much appreciated by fans of these films. Most of the films featured are new to me, but they look like they deserve more exposure.
I think you should also include the earlier, 1951, film that Dirk Bogarde and Jon Whiteley made together for Rank, “HUNTED”, released in the U.K. in early 1952. It was released in the U.S. under the very odd and meaningless title “The Stranger In Between”.
I’ve just heard the very sad news that JON WHITELEY had passed away at the age of 75.
So sad 🙁 R.I.P Jon!
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18460539.jon-whiteley-ashmolean-museum-curator-oscar-winning-actor-died/?fbclid=IwAR2HANjvgX9_jmZcjejCMQVy0vpGjDb-EgscfIw92SeBClyy9akIT4So-mc
Better copy added.