Sydenham – The Pleasure Garden (1953)

The Pleasure Garden (1953) | Sydenham

American poet James Broughton’s ode to pleasure, filmed in the ruins of the Crystal Palace overlooking Sydenham, stars a young Lindsay Anderson, Hattie Jacques and her then husband John Le Mesurier. Far from giving rise to pleasure, their marriage was torture and made them both miserable. His drinking drove her to start an affair with their driver in 1962, which led to Le Mesurier’s health deteriorating even more drastically.