In this film, Manchester-born George Zucco, the slimy mad doctor or smooth-talking villain of so many horror and mystery films - Prof. Moriarty in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; Charlie Chan in Charlie Chan in Honolulu; The Hunchback of Notre Dame; The Mummy's Hand; The Mummy's Tomb; The Mad Ghoul; Voodoo Man; etc. - has one of his few sympathetic roles as the kindly Dr. Fortescue.
There are several moments when Mary (Margaret O'Brien) refers to her servant in India. When watching the film, one hears the word "servant," but Mary's mouth is clearly forming the word "Aya" as in other versions of The Secret Garden.
Though a noteworthy MGM adaptation of the acclaimed 1909 childhood tale by Frances Hodgson Burnett, this film, complete with three Technicolor sequences, failed to garner a contemporary New York Times review.