I don't want to sound mean or be too harsh on this minor film.However, a plainly irritating, "delicate" (as his father calls him) curly blonde schoolboy and a charisma-free Dirk Bogarde, who could have at least sprung up some light accent don't make for great entertainment these days.Michael Horden, however, is perfect as the work-is-all diplomat, who's so far removed from real life by his over protection for his son, that the story becomes about him and of a spent dinosaur of imperialist bigot-ism. Every other review chants on about homophobic this and that, but, any child, boy or girl who is cocooned by an oft absent but overbearing single parent is going to find company, solace and friendship in any stranger who spends any time at all within their sight or grasp. Thus, it's perfectly natural for that child to explore beyond the strict boundaries set out - it's natural exploration. Any adult who sees a change for the better in that child is most likely to quietly encourage it.Jose (Bogarde) is just an everyday Joe and as the Spanish Gardener in question, sees the increasing injustices to the boy and then, to himself. Quietly reliable, he is the opposite to the boy's father and so they click. Interfering house staff, fed up with both master and child do them no favours. The film then proceeds in a routine manner of misunderstanding, injustice and then, not wanting to spoil the ending...The Technicolour is pallid, you don't see much of Spain and so the overall effect is a bit of a non-event but there is a story there and quite a good one at that.

The "Spanish Gardener" is a warm-hearted film that entertains, teaches and gratifies all at the same time. Dirk Bogarde is a wonderful actor who never got his due as a great interpreter of character on screen. This is a simple film, but what a film it is! Sometimes simplicity is a more powerful conveyor of truth than complex renditions that lose the audience before they can redeem themselves. So much garbage is being produced currently on film today that I wonder why filmmakers don't just sit back and learn from their predecessors, often English directors, who can teach so much just by simply observing how they craft their films?Jose helps form a bond of friendship with a young boy that cannot be broken even by the boy's jealous older father who selfishly guards his young son as a prized possession who must not have contact with anyone. This film reminds me of "A Man Without a Face" (1993) with Mel Gibson, another wonderful film.I cannot recommend this film too highly. It will warm your heart and break it too. But isn't that what films are supposed to do? Touch your heart and get at the universal emotions of people, much like a Beethoven Symphony would, to stir, conquer and triumph! This 1957 film is a victory because of fine directing, acting, story and execution of plot which allows the audience time to absorb and feel the emotions that develop within and between the characters, resolving itself towards a beautifully crafted ending.

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.

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.