O Dreamland

O Dreamland
Directed by	Lindsay Anderson
Release dates	1953
Running time	12 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

O Dreamland is a 1953 documentary by British film director Lindsay Anderson.

The documentary was made in 1953 by Anderson and his camerman/assistant, John Fletcher, using a single 16mm camera and an audiotape recorder. The film was shelved until 1956 when Anderson included it as part of the first Free Cinema programme.

The black-and-white film is a 12-minute exploration of the Dreamland funfair in Margate, Kent and has no commentary but is accompanied by background noises and music.

Gavin Lambert, a key supporter of the Free Cinema movement, said of the film "Everything is ugly... It is almost too much. The nightmare is redeemed by the point of view, which, for all the unsparing candid camerawork and the harsh, inelegant photography, is emphatically humane. Pity, sadness, even poetry is infused into this drearily tawdry, aimlessly hungry world."

See also

• À propos de Nice - a 1930 French short made by Jean Vigo, who Anderson greatly admired.
• Listen to Britain - a 1942 short co-directed by Humphrey Jennings, another of Anderson's heroes, made in an impressionistic style.

External links

• O Dreamland film (12m 27s) - Watch it on Dailymotion
• O Dreamland 16mm print - bfi.org.uk
• O Dreamland at IMDb