Review of The Pleasure Garden (1925) by Kenneth B — 18 May 2013

Hitchcock's feature debut is an enjoyable enough film. There is no doubt that he eased into his career but this makes it clear that he always had the raw talent for the craft. The Pleasure Garden is mildly comic and mildly dramatic without either really having too much resonance.

It is interesting to to see the dog 'character' given relative prominence in certain scenes. Is it possible that Hitchcock's influence reaches back so far as to be influencing films like The Artist nearly 90 years on? Slightly frustratingly I have read (since watching The Pleasure Garden) that the BFI recently restored an 80 minute version of this film.

I watched a 60 minute cut. Perhaps one day I'll visit the longer version.