Endings and Relationships
It seems that on a few threads here as well as for the '93 version of Secret Garden that a lot of people are confused about the various relationships and endings between the book and the movies. They are all a little different. Here they are accurately:
The Book ...... Mary's father and Colin's mother are brother and sister. Their mother's weren't related by blood. This does still make them cousins but at that time and place in society it wasn't as frowned upon as it is now. The book ends with the servants watching Colin, Mr. Craven, Dickon and Mary coming down the hill from the garden and amazed at the sight of Colin walking. Nothing is said of what happens in the future or who Mary ends up with (if it's either).
The 1987 film ...... Mary and Colin aren't related at all. Mary's family was friends of Colin's (it was either by grandfathers or fathers). At the end it shows Mary coming home from being a nurse in the war. She sees Colin, in army uniform, and they embrace and it's clear that they are together. They do speak of Dickon, and it's mentioned he died in the war but in a forest among the trees and animals.
The 1993 film ...... Mary and Colin's mothers were twin sisters (identical I believe). So they are still cousins. But the ending is similar to that of the book although it hints that Dickon does not end up with Mary. It shows him riding off on his horse while Mary, Colin, and Mr. Craven dance together. The last scene is of a girl (hinted at being Mary although she is a little older) walking out of the garden, the door wide open. She says something along the lines of, "The garden is always open now." It doesn't show anything about where they end up in the future though.
I hope this helps out a little.