Laurel (Hayley Mills) is a willful, stubborn, and bratty 16-year-old living in a house on the chalk cliffs of Sussex in southern England with her imperious class-conscious grandmother, Mrs St. Maugham (Dame Edith Evans).
The selfish grandmother has separated Laurel from her divorced and remarried mother, Olivia (Elizabeth Sellars) because she disapproves of her actions and is determined to raise the girl as her own, telling Laurel that she was abandoned and unloved by her mother.
The other occupant of the house is Maitland (John Mills), a male servant who is privy to a lot of secrets he seems to be keeping to himself.
When Miss Madrigal (Deborah Kerr) is hired to look after Laurel (after the previous six applicants for the job fled after meeting the girl) the troubled child directs all her hostility toward her new governess, convinced that she has a mysterious past since she will talk so little about it.
Tensions are brought to a head when old Judge McWhirrey (Felix Aylmer) drops in for lunch and recalls a case he tried many years before.
Miss Madrigal
Deborah Kerr Laurel
Hayley Mills Maitland
John Mills Mrs St. Maugham
Edith Evans Judge McWhirrey
Felix Aylmer Olivia
Elizabeth Sellars Anna
Lally Bowers Mrs Williams
Tonie MacMillan
Director
Ronald Neame
Related Posts
Horror Of Party Beach, The (1964) In the same year that Dr Martin Luther King received the Nobel Prize, audiences queued up to see Horror Of…
Whistle Down The Wind (1961) A group of scruffy, adorable children, led by gumdrop-eyed Hayley Mills, discover injured escaped convict Arthur Blakey (Alan Bates) sleeping…
Girl On The Boat, The (1960) Zany British jokester Norman Wisdom tried something different from his usual slapstick with this seagoing comedy romance set in the roaring…
Pollyanna (1960) Released in July 1960, this Technicolor Disney film starred young Hayley Mills - daughter of actor John Mills - in…
Daydreamer, The (1966) It's 1801 in Odense, Denmark. Young Hans Christian Andersen (Paul O'Keefe) - known as Chris - lives with his father,…
Child In The House (1956) With her mother in the hospital and her father (Stanley Baker) on the run, 11-year-old Elizabeth (Mandy Miller) is sent…
Sparrows Can't Sing (1963) Charlie (James Booth) returns to the East End after two years at sea to find his house has been demolished…
Family Way, The (1966) This overlooked gem of 1960s film-making is a beautiful, bittersweet story of newlyweds Jenny (Hayley Mills in her first adult role)…
