With Tim Burton's reworking of Alice in Wonderland still a few weeks off before it arrives at the IMAX, the BFI have unearthed a curious little gem that catches the fantastique spirit of the Lewis Carroll classic.
The Pleasure Garden is a surreal 1957 short from US poet and playwright James Broughton. Filmed among the ruins of the old Crystal Palace, and starring comedy legend Hattie Jacques alongside her then-husband John Le Mesurier (of Dad's Army fame), this is a poetic ode to the magical qualities of desire.
Jacques plays the free-sprited Mrs Albion, who helps an assortment of characters find love amongst the trees, grasses and fields of the old Crystal Palace terraces: an artist discovers his muse in a young girl wanting to be a living work of art; a repressed girl falls for the charms of an American cowboy; two wrestlers bond over their love for the sport. Everyone finds love here – except Le Mesurier's funereal Minister of Public Behaviour, your typical local councillor wanting to put a dampener on life and liberty – proving that despite society's stupid laws, there's still a little magic left in this mad old world.
Poetic and picturesque, The Pleasure Garden is a little dated – the songs are a tad on the shrill side – but it's a lost gem worth rediscovering to see how we have moved on in the way we view art, pleasure and freedom. It's also a rare chance to see an earlier work of Lindsay Anderson, who worked as production manager on this obscurity.
Curioser still is the special feature which accompanies this new BFI release. Far from being poetic, unless you get a thrill from enormous erections (pardon the pun), comes The Phoenix Tower – a short 1957 documentary charting the construction of the BBC's Crystal Palace television tower.
Originally used as a colour test transmission for BBC2 back in 1964, it's now a fascinating historical record that will appeal to anyone interesting in engineering practices – while those who are not will get a quick lesson in jigs, floating derricks and lifting tackle as the documentary traces the construction of this giant meccano set.
And fans of the old Palace take note: the illustrated booklet included here contains a insightful history of Crystal Palace. The DVD is available through the BFI Film Store, as well as the Crystal Palace Foundation.
