SECRET GARDEN SCREENING

My friend Jessie couldn't have made me happier when she told me she got the The Secret Garden dvd from her fiancee for an early Christmas present.  Huge brownie points for David!  I'm so excited to watch it with her tomorrow night.  It's even the "right" version - the 1987 Hallmark Channel version I grew up watching.

If you're not already familiar, the film is based on the old-fashioned children's book of the same title by Frances Hodgson Burnett, one of my old-fashioned children's novelist idols.  A summary:

Mary Lennox (Gennie James) is a spoiled young British girl orphaned by an Indian epidemic. She is sent to Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire to live with a distant relative, Archibald Craven (Derek Jacobi), and there she becomes obsessed with a secret, overgrown garden. With the help of a local boy, Dickon, the garden and everyone around them--including Craven and his frail son, Colin--come to life again. Filmed on location at scenic Highclere Castle in Newbury, this Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program. Although it can't top the 1949 version with Margaret O'Brien (or Agnieszka Holland's 1993 version), younger viewers may prefer this more straightforward retelling, whereas adults are sure to appreciate the fine performances by Jacobi and Billie Whitelaw (Mrs. Medlock). Colin Firth (Bridget Jones's Diary) appears briefly as the adult Colin in this timeless, uplifting story for all ages. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Did you read that closely, ladies and gentlemen?  COLIN FIRTH.  You're welcome.