THE PLEASURE GARDEN

GB
1953
38mins
Dir: James Broughton
Starring: Hattie Jacques and John Le Mesurier

Free spirits face oppression in a playful and poetic ode to desire

This artistic short is a curious little number and was winner of the Prix de Fantasie Poetique at Cannes in 1954. It is notable for being filmed within the ruined terraces and the derelict parkland of the Crystal Palace, and we are treated to a very rare and quite pleasing shot of the main station building to Crystal Palace High Level station, which itself was to close only a year after filming.

This is Farquhar Road, with Crystal Palace High Level station to the right. The curved trainshed roof over the platforms is clearly visible beyond the wall.
An excellent shot of the grand frontage to Crystal Palace High Level. Despite appearances otherwise, the station was already in a terrible state of decay, and closed in 1954 just one year after filming. It was demolished in 1961. Some excellent scenes at platform level appear in the 1958 short Amelia and the Angel (qv).