The Spanish Gardener – 1956 | 91 mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Philip Leacock’s absorbing character study based on the novel by A.J. Cronin dissects the father/son relationship of a minor foreign diplomat with academic qualifications but lacking in human understanding. Beautifully photographed by Christopher Challis and backed by composer John Veale’s airy score, this was Bogarde’s second film with young Jon Whiteley, they previously appeared together in Hunted (1952), and director Leacock maintains his tradition of eliciting sparkling performances from child players. The story’s oft-discussed homosexual subtext remains extremely well concealed.

Set on the Costa Brava in Spain, a gentle Spanish gardener, Jose (Dirk Bogarde), befriends Nicholas (Jon Whiteley), the frail 10-year-old son of the household and in doing so falls foul of the boys father, a failed diplomat tortured by his own marital and career inadequacies. The impressionable Nicholas feels smothered by his father’s (Michael Hordern) overbearing possessiveness and forges a bond with the gardener who takes him under his wing. Feeling rejected, the boy’s father takes advantage of Jose being framed for the theft of a watch by slimy chauffer Garcia (Cyril Cusack) to have the gardener imprisoned and separated from his son. En route to court via rail, Jose escapes from his captors and flees to the hills – the boy and his guilt-ridden father follow.