From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1973 film)

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From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is a 1973 American children’s film directed by Fielder Cook and based on E. L. Konigsburg’s 1967 novel. It stars Ingrid Bergman, Sally Prager, and Johnny Doran, with a screenplay by Blanche Hanalis and a score by Donald Devor. The movie was released on September 27, 1973, runs 105 minutes, and was filmed in part at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Plot
Two siblings, Claudia Kinkaid (a teenage girl) and her younger brother Jamie, run away from New Jersey to New York City. They hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, sleeping in museum beds, avoiding guards, and even bathing in the fountain. They survive by taking coins from the fountain to buy food. Claudia becomes convinced that a statue of an angel in the museum is Michelangelo’s work, so she sets out to find the statue’s owner, a reclusive widow named Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Ingrid Bergman).

The children meet Mrs. Frankweiler, who welcomes them into her home. Jamie loses money in a card game with her butler Saxonberg, while Claudia enjoys a long bath. Mrs. Frankweiler and Claudia discuss secrets. She tells Claudia that she will leave the secret of the statue to her in her will if Claudia keeps it until she turns 21. Eventually, Mrs. Frankweiler decides to open her heart to the world again.

Locations and reception
Filming took place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York General Post Office, Macy’s in New York, the Erie Lackawanna Railway, and in Madison, New Jersey. Critics described it as a thoughtful family film—Roger Ebert praised its intelligent appeal for kids, while TV Guide found it mildly dry but still entertaining. The story was later adapted into a 1995 television movie starring Lauren Bacall.