The Chalk Garden
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
Wealthy Mrs. St. Maugham needs a governess for her sixteen-year-old granddaughter, Laurel. No one has ever stayed long because Laurel runs them off with her bizarre behavior. Miss Madrigal is hardly the ideal candidate as she lacks references and has never been a governess. But when she reveals that she knows a lot about gardens, Mrs. St. Maugham takes her on.Laurel notices that Miss Madrigal's clothing is all new and some of it still has price tags attached. Her room also lacks pictures of family and friends. Miss Madrigal is determined to get the upper hand, sensing that Laurel's behavior stems from a traumatic past. Maitland, the family butler, befriends Miss Madrigal and warns her to keep her door locked.Every night Laurel lights a bonfire in the garden and runs around it screaming. Mrs. St. Maugham explains that they are curing her of this by making the pile of wood smaller every time. Laurel also regularly threatens to burn down the house. She is determined to find out what Miss Madrigal is hiding, as the governess refuses to reveal anything about her past.Laurel lies about nearly everything and Miss Madrigal must sort out what is truth and what is fiction. It is evident that the girl hates her mother, Olivia, who is Mrs. St. Maugham's estranged daughter. There was a scandal when Olivia ran off with her lover, abandoning her husband and Laurel. Laurel claims that her father was so despondent that he shot himself to death in front of her. Maitland later refutes this. Laurel's father died of a liver ailment caused by too much drinking.Another of Laurel's stories involve a man who supposedly attacked her in Hyde Park shortly before her mother's marriage. Maitland explains that no one really knows what happened. Mrs. St. Maugham wouldn't allow Laurel to be examined by a doctor or questioned by the police. As far as Mrs. St. Maugham is concerned, Olivia abandoned her daughter and is an unfit mother.Slowly Miss Madrigal begins to gain Laurel's trust. They go sketching and play tennis. Miss Madrigal learns to ignore her charge's bizarre stories. Then a telegram comes from Olivia. She intends to pay her mother a visit and wants to see Laurel.It is obvious that Mrs. St. Maugham still loves her daughter, even though she is disgusted that Olivia married her lover and is now pregnant. She does not want to hear anything about her new son-in-law. Laurel knew her mother was coming and has vanished. Miss Madrigal and Maitland scour the grounds looking for her but fail. Olivia warns her mother that she wants Laurel back and if necessary will resort to legal means. After she leaves, Miss Madrigal finds Laurel on the beach, standing next to a bonfire. Laurel breaks down and sobs.Unable to sleep one night, Miss Madrigal goes to the library for a book. There she finds Maitland, who tells her his story. He and his wife owned a small hotel and the St. Maughams used to stay there. Then he, his wife, and their child were in a car crash. They were killed and Maitland had a nervous breakdown. Mrs. St. Maugham stepped in and offered him the post as butler at her country estate. She is only there four months out of the year and the rest of the time he has the place to himself.While looking at framed pictures of Mrs. St. Maugham's admirers, Miss Maitland recognizes Judge McWhirrey. She is obviously upset but won't say why. Maitland reveals that the judge is an old friend of Mrs. St. Maugham's.On a trip into the village, Maitland buys a padlock for Miss Madrigal's bedroom door. While they are gone, Laurel snoops through Miss Madrigal's belongings. She finds nothing of interest but notices a briefcase on top of the wardrobe. It is locked. Just then she hears Maitland and Miss Madrigal returning. She takes the case with her and runs to an outbuilding, where she finds a tool to break the lock. Inside are paints and a palette. The inside of the lid is nearly covered with dabs of paint but part of a monogram shows. Laurel removes the paint with turpentine and sees the initials C.D.W. Obviously not Miss Madrigal's.Laurel leaves the dinner table early to return the case to Miss Madrigal's room but it is newly padlocked. Not to be deterred, she climbs out a window, crosses the roof, and enters the bedroom. She replaces the case but on her way back slips and falls into a tree. Her dress is caught on a branch and she has no choice but to call for help. Her grandmother believes her story about just wanting to climb a tree, but Miss Madrigal saws the branch off the next morning. She knows Laurel was in her room because the case was missing and the wardrobe door was ajar.Mrs. St. Maugham has a talk with Miss Madrigal while the latter is working in the garden. Miss Madrigal says that the soil is full of chalk, which is why nothing will grow. She recommends enriching the soil so the plants will survive. As to answering Mrs. St. Maugham's questions about her past, she gives deliberately vague answers.Concerned that Olivia might actually gain custody of Laurel, Mrs. St. Maugham invites Judge McWhirrey to lunch to discuss the situation. Laurel suddenly asks Miss Madrigal who C.D.W. is. Miss Madrigal says the initials belong to her married sister.When the Judge arrives for lunch, Miss Madrigal is distraught and spills her wine. Laurel, sensing that Miss Madrigal has a criminal past, deliberately asks questions about famous murder trials. The Judge tells about one a number of years earlier, where the defendant was hardly more than a child. She was accused of murdering her stepsister out of jealousy. Her name was Constance Doris Wakeland. Mrs. St. Maugham tries to stop the conversation after Miss Madrigal suddenly leaves the table. Laurel realizes she has gone too far. She goes after Miss Madrigal but is stopped by Maitland. He asks if she is satisfied now that she has unmasked Miss Madrigal's secret. Laurel is very remorseful and promises not to tell anyone.Maitland tries to comfort Miss Madrigal but her concern is for Laurel. She can easily see Laurel becoming like herself if she goes on lying and acting out. Miss Madrigal is ready to leave Mrs. St. Maugham's employment but Maitland persuades her to stay. She is a different person now.Before the Judge leaves, Miss Madrigal speaks to him privately. He recognized her at lunch but could not recall where they had met. Miss Madrigal reveals that he once sentenced her to death but it was commuted due to her youth.Miss Madrigal decides to tell Mrs. St. Maugham the truth, that she came to her directly from prison. Mrs. St. Maugham is horrified that Laurel has been under the care of a felon. Miss Madrigal doesn't mince words when she says that Laurel must go to her mother. It is a good thing that Olivia still wants her. Mrs. St. Maugham says that since Olivia is expecting another child there is no room for Laurel. They do not realize that Laurel is outside the door and has heard everything. When Olivia arrives, Laurel is packed and waiting on the front steps. She tells Miss Madrigal that it is she who made her change her mind and want to go with her mother. Olivia thanks Miss Madrigal for her help. She and Laurel drive away. Mrs. St. Maugham asks Miss Madrigal to stay on, to which she replies that she will stay as long as she is wanted. Together they will work on the garden and make it beautiful. Then Mrs. St. Maugham asks if Miss Madrigal was actually guilty of murdering her stepsister. Miss Madrigal replies that if she did not tell the many learned men at the top of their profession who questioned her all those years ago, she certainly will not tell Mrs. St. Maugham.

Review: In her A&E "Biography", it was revealed that child actress Hayley Mills apparently got her first mediocre notices from critics with this film, but I do not know why.
Deborah Kerr is also very fine, cool-headed and mysteriously reserved playing the new governess in an emotionally-unbalanced household run by haughty matriarch Edith Evans.
Deborah Karr plays the role of a new/temp governess of a mean spirited child(Hayley) who can do nothing but lie.
Deborah gives a great performance here as does John Mills(Hayley's real dad) as the caretaker.
Hayley Mills is perhaps today best known, at least in America, as the teenage heroine of the series of family-oriented comedies which she made for Disney in the 1960s.
A mysterious woman calling herself Miss Madrigal arrives at the house to be interviewed for the position of governess to Laurel, the teenage granddaughter of the owner, Mrs. St Maugham.
Although Miss Madrigal has no references and no previous experience as a governess, she gets the position, largely because Laurel is such a badly-behaved child that none of the other candidates can bear the thought of looking after her.This is, however, no comedy about an amusingly naughty girl.
Laurel's mother Olivia, however, has now reappeared and is intent on reclaiming custody of her daughter, a prospect Mrs. St Maugham views with abhorrence as she regards Olivia as an unfit mother.The title "The Chalk Garden" refers on a literal level to the alkaline chalky soil in Mrs. St Maugham's garden, an unsuitable medium for growing the sort of flowers which the old lady is trying to plant, especially rhododendrons which need acid soil.
Metaphorically, it is used to suggest that Laurel, symbolically named after a plant, has also been raised in the wrong type of environment.The film was directed by Ronald Neame who was also responsible for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie".
Other colours are associated with particular characters who are often seen dressed in them- yellow with Laurel, blue with Miss Madrigal, purple (the colour of both royalty and mourning) with Mrs. St Maugham, who is both imperious and unhappy.
Apart from three silent movies in the 1910s, Edith Evans was an actress who came late to the cinema, not making her first "talkie" until she was in her sixties, but quickly carved out a niche playing haughty upper-class ladies, most famously Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest".
Deborah Kerr, as Madrigal, is suitably mysterious and inscrutable in the early scenes, more passionate in the later ones after the secret of her past (I won't say what it is) has been revealed.
There is also a good contribution from Hayley's father John as the butler Maitland (who may also hide a secret of his own).
John Mills also acted with his daughter in three other films, including "Tiger Bay".Hayley Mills is brilliant as the disturbed, unhappy Laurel, one of her best roles and a more challenging one even than Gillie in "Tiger Bay" or Cathy in "Whistle Down the Wind".
This is one of a number of films in which Hayley plays a child or teenager growing up in something other than the traditional two-parent family- in "Whistle Down the Wind" she is being raised by her widowed father, in "Tiger Bay" and "Pollyanna" she is an orphan and in "The Parent Trap" she plays twin sisters whose parents are divorced.I would not rate this film quite as highly as "Tiger Bay", "Whistle Down the Wind", or "Jean Brodie", three of the classics of the British cinema.
The plot, based upon a play by Enid Bagnold, can seem a bit too neat and schematic when the secret of the mysterious Miss Madrigal's own past is finally revealed, and there is some rather trite moralising.
Much does revolve around the fact of her being estranged from her mother as the tale unfolds.This is a lovely combination of real-life father, John Mills, in a fine supporting role, and Deborah Kerr as the well-meaning but beleaguered governess.
The tangled threads of family relationships is gradually sorted out and priorities are set aright after much confusion and willfulness particularly in the obstinacy of the grandmother (Edith Evans), who performs with great dramatic vehemence near the conclusion.
Like other reviewers I have waited for years for "The Chalk Garden" to come out on DVD.
John Mills, Haley's father, is so subtle in his role as Maitland.
This is the story of a disturbed adolescent, Laurel, played with frightening conviction by 18 year-old Hayley Mills, and her battle with herself and all those who come into contact with her.
Into this incendiary climate a cool and severely beautiful new governess appears, Miss Madrigal, played to perfection by Deborah Kerr.
Laurel's grand-mother and guardian, supremely played by Edith Evans, is determinedly blinkered as to the severity of Laurel's incipient psychosis and is more concerned with the smooth running of the house, relying on her over-worked butler, John Mills, to keep tabs on the day to day chores and duties as well as being Laurel's main companion.
Hayley Mills gives an astonishing performance where the sinister and the vulnerable sides of Laurel's character are shown with great skill and emotion..
"The Chalk Garden" 1964 is the rare occasion where Hayley got to truly deliver an in-depth performance involving complex emotions and character development.
Playing opposite Deborah Kerr, Dame Edith Evans, and her father John Mills must had been a thrill for her.It seems they don't make simple straightforward drama delivered as stylish as the Ross Hunter Productions did.
Directed by Ronald Naeme (who gave us "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" 1969 and blockbuster disaster hit "The Poseidon Adventure" circa 1972), you can say it's a perfect film experience, in spite of the 'damaged' teenager fighting for love and self-esteem subject.
(Hence the 'Vault Series' with no fanfare.) Guarantee deeper appreciation of this production and the performances with repeat viewing.I'm sure I'm not the only one who very much misses the other gem of a movie with Hayley Mills acting with her father John Mills again in the 1965 "The Truth About Spring" (directed by Richard Thorpe), a fun romp and buoyantly merry (sea adventure) with James MacArthur as Spring's (Hayley's character) opposite attraction.
The TV Guide called "The Chalk Garden" a drama, and although I could never watch a drama, my attention span locked when the camera left a civilized sitting room to catch the teenage Hayley yelping around a bonfire.
Hayley mills turns in a great performance and it's nice to her fit into more mature and adult rolls since her turn in a string of Disney released films from the early sixties.
her father john mills who stars as maitland the butler also does a great performance as does Deborah Kerr who plays the title role of the governess in this psychological drama.
the plot tells the story of laurel a rather un-ruly and temperamental child who lives with her grandmother who goes through a record o 3 governesses in a week.
Deborah Kerr is the governess hired by John Mills to minister to his (real-life) daughter Hayley.
This picture falls into the "young rapscallion set right by proper English governess" genre, but the story engenders genuine emotion, and all the actors, especially Kerr and young Hayley, play their parts earnestly and convincingly..
They were in a few movies together, beginning with "Tiger Bay" in which a very young Hayley turned in what might be her best performance ever.
Edith Evans was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as the grandmother, and John and Hayley Mills played opposite each other in one of their most effective interactions on screen.
However, the best psychological jousting and interplay of the movie is that between the Hayley Mills and her new governess, played by Deborah Kerr.The movie is set on the steep chalky-white cliffs of Southern England where an elderly lady, Mrs. St.
Maugham (Edith Evans), lives with her 16-year-old granddaughter, Laurel (Hayley Mills), after Laurel's mother had divorced her father and the father died.
Maugham is in the process of hiring a new governess, Miss Madrigal (Deborah Kerr), while fighting with her daughter, Olivia (Elizabeth Sellars), over legal custody of Laurel.
Maugham and is hired as Laurel's governess.The situation that Miss Madrigal walks into is very unconventional.
Laurel tries to play private detective by looking for incriminating evidence against Miss Madrigal.
Laurel also notices that Miss Madrigal never locks her door for privacy until Maitland suggests it and buys a good padlock for her.
Laurel's curiosity gets the best of her, and she breaks into Miss Madrigal's room to try to find something on her.
This seems to be troubling to her since she sees some of her own past in Laurel— something that shows Laurel's need to be loved and manifests this need by controlling people—keeping them away.Things come to a head when Mrs. St.
Judge McWhirrey's description is very upsetting to Miss Madrigal and eventually leads to the final outcome of the movie.While watching this movie, it is very easy to forget that John and Hayley Mills were a real-life father and daughter team.
At times, Hayley seems like she is overplaying her role, as she might have in a Disney movie, but there can be nothing subtle about Laurel, and she can't be played subtlety.
The scene on the steps (near the end of the movie) where Maitland and Laurel confront each other is powerful stuff and deserves nothing but kudos from the father-daughter acting duo.
John Mills, father of Haley (actor-director), Deborah Kerr, and Haley Mills; all great as well.
The entire cast give what are arguably their best screen performances, which is saying something since we are talking about Edith Evans, Deborah Kerr, Hayley Mills and John Mills.
And I guess Deborah Kerr's performance four years earlier in Jack Clayton's THE INNOCENTS contributed for her to obtain this governess character again.
Known for Imitation of Life (1959), Madame X (1966), Airport (1970) and the disastrous musical remake of Lost Horizon (1973), Hunter originally had Sandra Dee in mind for the part of Laurel, and Hayley Mills' comes across as wholesome if slightly more troubled than the mischievous Mary Clancy she played in The Trouble with Angels.
Deborah Kerr applies for a job as a governess to a very difficult young girl, Hayley Mills.
Hayley's grandmother Edith Evans doesn't know how to handle her intense moods and pyromania, and Deborah Kerr instantly sees a kindred spirit in the lost little girl.
Hayley makes it her mission to discover secrets about her new governess and to drive her away, and she tries to recruit the butler, John Mills, to join her mission.
While Deborah Kerr and Hayley Mills give excellent performances enshrouded in deceit, mystery, and deep-seated pain, it's the scenes between father and daughter that steal the show.
This is a very odd and obscure film, but with major star names like John Mills, Hayley Mills, Edith Evans and Deborah Kerr, it's hard to understand why it's very little known.
The plot tells the tale of a troubled (i.e, bratty) teenager who scares off all her governesses until the enigmatic Miss Madrigal comes to stay.
A small scale battle of wits begins to play out, until the situation reaches a climax and various secrets are revealed.So basically we have a two-hander between Deborah Kerr as the governess/substitute mother figure and Hayley Mills as the annoying daughter, which would seem to categorise this as a soap opera, and really thats all it really amounts too.
The film benefits mainly from the performances of it's two leads, with Kerr poker-faced and icy as the governess, and Hayley Mills skillfully managing not to alienate the viewers affections with her portrayal of the out of control girl.
Based on a play by Enid Bagnold, THE CHALK GARDEN is the story of the need to bring love - real love - to children.
Deborah Kerr is Miss Madrigal, a newly hired nanny/companion at the home of Mrs. St.
Maugham (Edith Evans), a wealthy and slightly eccentric old woman who has been at war with her daughter Olivia (Elizabeth Sellars) for some time.
Olivia has a daughter Laurel (Hayley Mills) who has emotional problems, and whom Mrs. St.
Laurel appreciates having a new person to toy with, and opens up to an extent (revealing a love of old murder cases), but she is trying to find out the secret that Madrigal is holding back on - which she assumes can prove quite wounding if exposed, and she would love to expose it.At points the secret comes near to the surface, but it keeps getting closed as quickly as it seems to appear.
In the meantime Madrigal tries to get her employer see the need for Laurel to have her mother back into her life, and even gets Olivia into the house at one point.
What result is too much even for the young girl, who learns that some matters should remain secrets.I saw this fine film at Radio City in 1964, but I imagine my parents took me and my sister there because Hayley Mills was given star treatment in the newspapers for this film.
That she had started her career with TIGER BAY (also with her father John and Holst Bucholst) regarding a young girl helping a young man trying to avoid arrest for murder was relatively unknown - that film, like THE CHALK GARDEN, was made in England.
Only Hayley's American films like THE PARENT TRAP (again with Disney) were for kids.
Films like THE CHALK GARDEN did not sugar coat the subject matter, and so they did not do as well with American audiences as British ones.
Evans (after a great West End stage career) began really coming into films in the late 1940s, but in sharp character roles like in THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST or TOM JONES or THE QUEEN OF SPADES.
John Mills is excellent as usual in his role of the wiser but (by social situation) quieter butler (who finally does get his moment to tell off Laurel).
Enid Bagnold's play, directed for the big screen by Ronald Neame in 1964, is a touching story about a mystery woman, Madrigal (Deborah Kerr) who answers an ad for a companion for a teenage girl.
But this is no prim and proper young English lady - Laurel (Hayley Mills) is a troubled youth who resides with her wealthy grandmother (wonderfully portrayed by Dame Edith Evans, who plays a crusty aristocratic Briton like no one can), and who spins lies, sets fires and steals without a thought to consequences.
Miss Madrigal attempts to bring Laurel's mother, Olivia (Elizabeth Sellars) back into the picture, but this only adds to the tension within the household.
Maitland (Sir John Mills), the butler, seems to have an uncanny understanding of all the goings on and a wry sense of humor that most likely keeps him from blowing a gasket.Laurel begins to unravel Madrigal's secret, which comes full circle when a distinguished judge and family friend comes for a visit.
Hayley and her late father act marvelously together, and Kerr embodies her role with such mystery, knowledge and concern that you never feel any malice for her, even after her past is revealed.An expressive musical score, lovely cinematography, both on location in England and at London's Pinewood Studios, as well as the intrigue surrounding Kerr's character make for a fantastically rich viewing experience..
The Chalk Garden is directed by Ronald Neame, has a screenplay by John Michael Hayes which is based on the play by Enid Bagnold and stars Deborah Kerr, Hayley Mills, John Mills, Felix Aylmer, Elizabeth Sellers and Edith Evans.Miss Madrigal(Deborah Kerr)is appointed governess to troubled teenager Laurel(Hayley Mills), she is the latest in a long line of governesses the others having been driven away by the girls terrible behaviour.Laurel lives with her grandmother Mrs. St Maugham(Edith Evans)and their loyal butler Maitland(John Mills).Laurel is a deeply troubled girl who lies, makes up terrible stories and snoops on Maitland and Miss Madrigal to try and learn their deepest secrets, she has discovered Maitland's, will she find Miss Madrigal's?
Hayley gives what may just be her best performance, she is so good at conveying the complex nature of this troubled young woman.The entire cast are superb but the greatest praise has to go to Hayley as the uncontrollable Laurel, she steals every scene she is in and it's wonderful to see her work again with her father, I wish they had made more films together.
Deborah is excellent as the mysterious woman with a secret who may be the only person who can help Laurel.
John Mills is very good as Maitland a man broken by a tragic event in his past who tries to protect Madrigal from Laurel's snooping.
It focuses on Laurel, a troubled 16-year-old who moved in with her grandmother, Mrs. St.
Maugham hired various governesses to deal with Laurel; but the young girl quickly drove them away.
Maugham hires Miss Madrigal as the new governess, the tables are turned.
Olivia, Laurel's mother, plans to reclaim custody of her daughter; but Mrs. St.
It appears that there is in Laurel's view of Madrigal an element of admiration that she had not felt for her other governesses.
Maugham, and Deborah Kerr (nominated for five Academy Awards from 1953-1960) as Madrigal, were ideal for the roles of the aristocratic elderly British lady and the reserved governess.
Many actors could have portrayed an English butler, but, as Maitland, John Mills could also draw on varied talents to toss off insouciant comments to potential governesses and Mrs. Madrigal, and even engage in a physical confrontation with Laurel.
The great gamble was to cast Hayley Mills as Laurel.
Other cast members had years of experience and had played similar roles in the past.
In this reviewers' opinion, it is perhaps her best on-screen performance, and should be required viewing for those who think Mills could portray only Pollyanna-type characters.