| The Pleasure Garden | |
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Original movie poster |
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| Directed by | Alfred Hitchcock |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon Erich Pommer |
| Screenplay by | Eliot Stannard |
| Based on | The Pleasure Garden by Oliver Sandys |
| Starring | Virginia Valli Carmelita Geraghty Miles Mander John Stuart Ferdinand Martini |
| Cinematography | Gaetano di Ventimiglia |
| Editing by | Continuity: Alma Reville |
| Distributed by | Gainsborough Pictures (UK) Artlee Pictures (US) |
| Release date(s) | November 3, 1925 (Germany) January 16, 1927 (United Kingdom) |
| Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | Silent film English intertitles |
The Pleasure Garden is a 1925 British silent film, and the debut feature of Alfred Hitchcock.
Contents |
Michael Balcon allowed Hitchcock to direct the film when Graham Cutts, a jealous executive at Gainsborough Pictures, would not allow him to work on The Rat. The story concerns two chorus girls at The Pleasure Garden Theatre, in London, Patsy Brand and Jill Cheyne. It was shot in Italy and Germany. It was based on a novel by Oliver Sandys.
Many misfortunes befell the cast and crew. This included a serious depletion of their budget when Gaetano Ventimiglia, the film's cinematographer, tried to hide the film from Italian customs officials. The trick failed, and they had to pay fines, and buy new film.
Although the film was shot in 1925, and was shown to the British press in March 1926, the film was not officially released in the UK until after The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog became a massive hit, in 1927.
Hitchcock described the casting process thus:
Michael Balcon, who had conceived the idea of "importing" American stars long before anybody else, had engaged Virginia Valli for the leading role. She was at the height of her career then - glamorous, famous, and very popular. That she was coming to Europe to make a picture at all was something of an event.[1]
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