clanciai Heartrending story of a friendship between two very honest people, a simple Spanish gardener and the young son (about 10) of the hopeless bureaucrat he is working for, who doesn't understand his own son's own good and keeps on blundering through the whole film, until it is too late to make amends, succeeding only in ruining his own life and almost his son's. But they made a great drama out of this seemingly idyllic trifle from the paradise of Costa Brava in Spain, and the acting is wonderful - all are perfect. Michael Hordern makes a very difficult part as the father, you hate his stupidity with all your heart and must understand and share the boy's very reasonable feelings in the end, Dirk Bogarde plays by understatements as usual and makes his part the more efficient for that, while the real character is Cyril Cussack as the servant in the kitchen - the man releasing the shocks.I have never seen a film made on a novel by A.J.Cronin that failed, I have said this before, they seem all to approach the level of masterpieces just by their psychology, and this is certainly no exception. The very efficient music and the wonderful colouring add to a real treat worth wasting an evening on. Almost a tenner, at least 9,5.

dbdumonteil You do not change a winning team:Dirk Bogarde and the young Whiteley shone in Crichton's "hunted" a harrowing work you should absolutely see if you have not."The Spanish gardener" is perhaps not as successful artistically and after the trick of the watch ,the movie becomes a bit "too much" ,turning José into a martyr and dad as a monster of selfishness and hatred ,although it was watered down,compared to the novel (the scenes with the so-called shrink were omitted and José survives,to make the movie "suitable for all audiences")But "the Spanish gardener " is a very endearing work,very simple,and it's this simplicity ,this spontaneity ,we are so in need today;although Bogarde is made up to look "Spanish" -he who is British to the core-,his talent marvelously survives.The young boy is equally efficient and when we share their simple pleasures of life,we are overjoyed;the father is not really bad,but he poisons his child with affection and protection ("Nicco" has a medical exam every week it seems) and the kid stands no chance to open up :an "illiterate" (not true by the way ;the gardener speaks (no accent)and writes English,which is a bit implausible)crude working man teaches a diplomat's son the outside world ,they go fishing ,they meet children with whom the brat plays cards :not only his child is "stolen" but it is by an uneducated man ,not from the high society he is part of;the father's hate knows no bounds.This moving movie is suitable for the whole family;it shows that a simple man can see clearer than a well-respected one,that humble people are sometimes happier ,and moreover,they can help their fellow men in their pursuit of happiness ;José told us so :"he is not happy".like this ....try these......Charles Crichton "hunted"(1952) Luigi Comencini 'Incompreso'(1967) and 'Voltati Eugenio"(1979)

MartinHafer Dirk Bogarde was a wonderful actor. Despite being barely known here in the States, we have begun to see more and more of his films thanks to Turner Classic Movies...and this is thrilling. However, "The Spanish Gardener" is one case where I really think he was wrong for the part. Although a fine performer, here he is miscast as a Spanish man--a Spanish man with barely a trace of a Spanish accent...and a bit of a British one! Why the studio simply didn't hire a Spanish actor is beyond me, but Hollywood also had a tendency to do this as well, so I can't just bash the British film industry.The story begins with an angry and disappointed diplomat (Michael Hordern) in the British foreign service. I say disappointed because his wife recently left him and because he was not given the choice assignment but sent to a relatively insignificant town in Spain. He is going to take his young son (Jon Whiteley) with him instead of sending him to a boarding school. However, the boy is lonely and his father a bit distant. When a new gardener is hired (Bogarde), the boy comes out of his shell and begins to idolize Bogarde--who gives the boy what he needs--his time. Sadly, instead of learning from this, the father becomes jealous and behaves in a petty fashion towards the gardener and forbids him from talking to the boy. Eventually, this leads to a collision course between the father and gardener--one that even lands the gardener in jail! Where exactly the film goes after this is up to you to see for yourself in this charming family drama.It's a shame that in these times, someone watching this sweet film might easily assume that the gardener is a pedophile--and not just a decent man trying to help a very lonely boy. Overall, it's well worth seeing and well acted throughout--even with the odd casting.

stryker-5 A minor English diplomat is posted to Catalunya in the aftermath of his collapsed marriage. He takes his young boy with him, with visions of nurturing the father-son bond. Unfortunately, Brande is a 'stuffed shirt', a cold prig of a man who fails to comprehend his son's needs. He orders the gardens of the residence to be reduced to bland English regularity, instead of leaving them as a wild, overgrown delight for a child's imagination. Jose is jobless and penniless, but the local pelota champion is a prince among men - young, handsome, charismatic and kind. When Jose is taken on as the gardener, he begins to supplant Brande in Nico's affections. A decision was obviously taken, pre-production, to dispense with Spanish accents. There is some sense in this, because it can seriously detract from the film's purpose if the actors are constantly struggling to sustain funny voices, but it does produce an odd result. Dirk Bogarde is 'darkened up' for the part of Jose and looks great, but his smooth middle-class English delivery seems incongruous in the mouth of a Catalan labourer. When Nico visits Jose's home, every generation of the extended family speaks flawless English. That would be amazing in the year 2000: how likely was it in 1956? Brande (played beautifully by Michael Hordern as a spiritual cripple) embarks on a campaign of emotional blackmail towards Nico and a policy of bullying Jose. He is incapable of seeing that this approach is doomed to failure, or that the subtly obsequious Garcia (Cyril Cusack) is the Iago to his own Othello. The ungracious refusal of Jose's fish marks the first breach of trust between father and son, but character is fate, and Brande is set on a course from which he cannot extricate himself. The confrontation between Brande and Nico on the staircase is one of the best things in the film. Young Jon Whiteley, in the part of Nico, gives an outstanding performance. Bogarde plays the accusation scene with spot-on coolness, but would the theft of a watch, even at Franco's apogee, even if it involved a foreign diplomat, merit custody, handcuffs and an armed Civil Guard escort? Would someone accused of such a minor offence really prefer to take to the hills as a brigand? Brande's Lear-like volte face in the rain-sodden mill is an affecting scene, and though the whole thing is rather far-fetched, it works as an entertaining fable.