O Lindsay

Lindsay Anderson's first film was a short about Margate's 'Dreamland' amusement park, made in Coronation year, 1953. As an inveterate user of seaside towns, I think he captures the artificiality, seediness and obsession with the macabre perfectly with its shots of animatronic torture, unhappy caged animals and miserable looking punters plodding up and down, as well as giving us occasional glimpses of something more poetic and profound behind the facade.