It tells the story of a girl and her brother who run away from home to live in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and discover what they think is a lost treasure.
The film was remade as 1995 television film starring Lauren Bacall[citation needed] The movie, following the plot of the book by the same name, starts with young teenager Claudia Kinkaid feeling unappreciated at her home in New Jersey, so she decides to run away, taking along her younger brother Jamie.
Mrs. Frankweiler plays cards (War) for money with Jamie, who loses 82 cents to her, while Claudia takes an extended bath.
She sends Jamie off to play cards with her butler, Saxonberg (George Rose), implying that Saxonburg could be easily defeated, in order to have some private time with Claudia.
Specific Metropolitan Museum of Art galleries included: Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it a "special kind of family film that doesn’t insult the intelligence and should be especially entertaining for kids like the heroine.