From a Novel written by A. J. Cronin and a well directed film by Philip Leacock comes this endearing and touching story of a young boy named Nicholas Brande (Jon Whiteley). His father is a career English diplomat (Michael Hordern){Great acting} who has been posted to Spain in a rather secondary and disappointing position. Hardened by his lackluster assignment and in addition to his wife leaving him, he seeks solace in his young son. Unfortunately, because of his father's extremely stern behavior, his son instead finds friendship with Jose, a compassionate and understanding " Spanish Gardener " played adroitly by Dirk Bogarde. (a Marvelous role) While the Father tries his clumsy best to get close to his son, the boy instead drifts farther away. Meanwhile Garcia the chauffeur (Cyril Cusack) proves not only to be a thieving conniving drunk, but equally devious in that he arranges for Jose to be blamed for a stolen watch. The movie is a superb story of friendship, love and compassion. The Entire cast which includes Bernard Lee, Geoffrey Keen are great in creating a Classic and a must see film for Bogarde fans. Easilly recommended to all. ****

A beautifully filmed (in VistaVision and Technicolor) and very interesting character study. A sort of Eternal Triangle story where the three main characters are male. Adapted from A. J. Cronin's controversial 1950 novel of the same name, the plot concerns a middle aged diplomat at the British Consul in Madrid, Harrington Brande (Michael Hordern), who is posted to a sleepy coastal town on the Spanish Costa Brava. His wife has left him and all he has is his eleven years old son, Nicholas (played by eleven years old Jon Whiteley), on whom he dotes and of whom he is so possessive that he will not allow him to go to school or to make any friends at all, even of boys his own age. Brande wants his son all to himself. His excuse for this is that Nicholas is "delicate", having suffered a serious childhood illness and must be "protected." When Brande hires Jose (Dirk Bogarde) as a gardener for the villa, Jose and the lonely Nicholas become firm friends from their first meeting, much to the consternation of the insanely jealous Brande, who goes to much trouble to destroy the friendship between his son and the gardener.At the time, Jon Whiteley's parents were concerned about the implied sexual relationship between Jose and Nicholas in Cronin's novel and were assured by the director, Philip Leacock and the producer and screenwriter, John Bryan, that "the darker side of Cronin's novel would be omitted and the film designed for family consumption." One scene from Chapter 15 of the novel that was cut entirely from the film was where, at Brande's insistence, his friend Professor Halevy (the character changed to Doctor Harvey for the film and played by Geoffrey Keen) has a "man to man" talk with Nicholas as the boy lays on his bed in his semi-darkened bedroom and talks to Nicholas about the boy's sexual feelings and tries to get him to admit to having a sexual relationship with Jose…especially when he and Jose went fishing together in the isolated countryside…something which, much to the consternation of Halevy, who is convinced that there is something of a sexual nature going on between them, Nicholas will not admit to. Even though all this was left out of the film, the film still comes across as ambiguous and the viewer is left to put their own interpretation on the relationships between Jose and Nicholas and between Nicholas and his very possessive father.Overall, the performances are uniformly fine, only in one instance coming across as contrived…the scene where Nicholas runs into Jose's arms and sobs. Good as he was within his range, Jon Whiteley just couldn't handle this scene and comes across as the worst sounding and most unconvincing sobber in film history. Whether or not he could have handled the scene of the "man to man" talk about his character's sexual feelings and his feelings for Jose if it had been left in the film is a debatable point. Certainly, he had the right director in Philip Leacock to help him through such a scene, as it was Leacock who, three years earlier, had directed him in "The Kidnappers", for which Jon had won an Academy Award.

Cold, unfeeling British diplomat in Spain, abandoned by his wife and raising his 8-year-old son alone, has isolated the boy from other children--he even harbors the untrue notion his child is ill to keep him over-protected. The youngster wants to be just like other kids and craves friendship, soon becoming close pals with the handsome gardener his father has hired. Based on the novel by A.J. Cronin, this is odd material for the movies; although it's certainly performed well (particularly by child-actor Jon Whiteley), the relationships at hand are intricate--and the conflicts which arise are a bit uncomfortable. Director Philip Leacock establishes early on that Dirk Bogarde's athletic gardener is heterosexual (by giving him a girlfriend), although there also seem to be insinuations that the boy's hero-worship for his new friend borders on an intimate need. In this instance, some may say the father's desire to keep the two apart is rational from a concerned parent's point of view; however, the father is specifically written not to be a rational man. Becoming enraged like a jealous lover, he has the gardener arrested for stealing and sent to prison! This portion of the film is highly contrived, dismantling the subtle psychology of the situation and turning it into cheap melodrama. Worth-seeing for the acting--and the attempt alone--but the results are not satisfying. ** from ****

I watched this movie when I was a kid and it has left a very nice feeling inside me whenever I remember it.It is a very emotionally complicated movie with wonderful actors.I also very much like the acting of the boy and the gardener.The actor who plays the father is also very natural and delivers a believable and wonderful acting.The other remarkable point is the screenplay and the story which is very deep. sometimes it makes you feel satisfied and entertained sometimes it makes you cry.In all, It's a movie that you have to watch if you are a film lover.8 out of 10 is my vote.