The Pleasure Garden

The film takes a look at the world of showgirls in the "wild" 20's and tells a story of love, sex, passion, infidelity and murder. After much confusion and errors the real two lovers find each other. Hitchcock has adapted the novel by Oliver Sandys with emotion and suspense. This very first work of Hitchcock is an exciting thriller with high tension guaranteed to the end.

"The Pleasure Garden" was actually Hitchcock's second film, but the first to be completed. Hitchcock's first film, "Number 13 ", could not be completed because the production company went bankrupt. "The Pleasure Garden" became a later highly regarded and critically acclaimed film. In the beginning a Co-producer had to be found, because nobody in Britain had agreed to provide money for a film of a novice director. As a sponsor then a German production company, the Munich Lichtspielkunst Emelka was found and the film was made as german production at Munich-Geiselgasteig. The outdoor shots were later taken in Italy. Movie premiere, and with it the first performance of a Hitchcock film ever, was on the 3rd of November 1925 in Munich.

The film has different names in various countries. The original UK title is "The Pleasure Garden". In France the film is known as "Le jardin du plaisir", in Germany the name of the movie is "Irrgarten der Leidenschaft", in Austria it's "Der Garten der Lust", in Italy it's "Il labirinto delle passioni" and "Il giardino del piacere", in Sweden it's "Lustgården" and in Spain as well as in Argentinia the move is known as "El jardín de la alegría".