The Pleasure Garden [DVD]

I have been looking for this film ever since I read an autobiography of Hattie Jacques a year ago. Up until recently this film was not available on any format.

The biography mentions this short (its only about half an hour long) being filmed in Crystal Palace Park which is very close to where I live. Naturally I was fascinated to see what the park looked like in 1953 - not long after the Crystal Palace burned down and before a proper clear up had been undertaken.

It is very interesting to see that the park was very overgrown and there were a lot more statues lying around than there are now. In fact much of what we can see of the park is derelict. We also have a couple of street shots and that is also nice to see as you can play 'Where is that part of South London". Historically this is a nice piece of film.

As for the actual plot of the film - it is a fantasy. The park is full of people looking for love, so we have quite a few odd characters wandering around. Hattie plays the fairy Godmother who sprinkles her magic around like cupid. Her then husband, John Le Mesurier, also appears in the film as a creepy sort of character who seems to be in charge of the park in some way. There isn't much dialogue either. It really is pretty surreal - the film won a prize at a film festival for such subjects.

As a bonus on the DVD you also have "Phoenix Tower" which is how the Crystal Palace transmitter tower came about and shows us the design and construction process. This is even more interesting than the main feature! All around the base of the tower are bits and pieces of old statues which were destroyed when the Crystal Palace burned down and they certainly aren't there now. Its also very interesting to see Health and Safety at work in the 1950's (ie there doesn't seem to be any!) The film shows the tower being made in sections then painfully constructed on site bit by bit.

I wanted to get hold of The Pleasure Garden because I live in Crystal Palace and was fascinated to see a film which was shot inside the park in 1953. I am also a big fan of Hattie Jacques and wanted to see this little-known film of hers. I wasn't disappointed and the bonus film about Phoenix Tower was a welcome addition to the DVD.

This film came to my attention only through Amazon.. i had not ever heard of it before, but because of the cast Hattie Jaques etc, i bought it.
Hattie is the free spirit whereas John Le Mesurier [Hatties then real life husband] is the antithesis of fun.
It is mainly set in the ruins of Crystal Palace and the surrounding gardens still with the statues in situ, The script seems to be a very early form of 'Beatnic performance poetry' before it got too obscure.
With this film comes a fascinating piece of history. the building of the Crystal palace mast, note the lack of 'Health and safety' not a hard hat to be seen ..Oh happy days!

If you are looking for Ealing comedy..this is not it so do not buy it, if you are interested in a bit of filmed history with some different performances than those expected, buy it..
Of note..notice just how hansom John Le Mesurier was when younger!

This is a curious little art film. I think the premise of it is Britain's post-war repression in an age of austerity, with John Le Mesurier cast as a sort of all-purpose puritannical enforcer while his then-wife Hattie Jacques is cast as an indomitable erotic force. In this sense the film's allegory anticipates the next decade's pleasure principle. Everything is very stylised, with no real dialogue, and is very self-consciously 'artful,' but if you go with the dreamy atmosphere it's really quite enchanting. The picture quality is excellent, the sound a little rough and echoey. The extra documentary is also interesting for lovers of British film and TV history.