the locality of London studios
The International Motion Picture Almanack (1937)
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There are nineteen studio locations on the map above, four more on the one to the right. Both maps date from 1937. A more complete map, stretching into the 1950s, would add important studios in other locations such as Southall and Bray. If it went back to the beginnings of cinema the map would add a further ten or so studios, dotted around the suburbs.
In fulfillment of a promise made in a talk last year at Birkbeck, I am trying to find at least one image from a film made at each London-area studio that shows a street in that studio's immediate vicinity, and/or an image from a film showing the studio's premises. This has not been as easy as I thought it would be. |
The Cine-Technician (June-July 1937), p.65
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Being interested only in their relation to the places around them, I have not tried to tell the history of these studios, and haven't given many dates. Information of this kind can be found in Patricia Warren's authoritative book on British Film Studios and at the various websites devoted to studio history that I have signalled in this post.
Outside of London, studios congregated in three main areas, and I have grouped them according to shared territory, rather than the financial affiliations that at various times brought studios under the same banner. Within London an affiliation linked Shepherd's Bush and Islington and I have grouped these together. The other studios are presented in geographical isolation.
Studios in London
Cricklewood
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Above left is a photograph reproduced in The Picturegoer's Who's Who and Encyclopaedia (1933). The caption reads: 'On location in a London street. Filming a sequence at Cricklewood.' I haven't identified the film, but the location is the junction of Wotton Road and Newton Road, very close to the Stoll studios on Temple Road - the large building in this aerial photograph. The arrow indicates the location of the shoot:
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Meet Jackie Coogan (1924) - bonus on BFI edition of Shooting Stars
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Shooting Stars (1928)
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Starlings of the Screen (1925) ) - bonus on BFI edition of Shooting Stars
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Ealing
Ealing Studios, Ealing Green, London, W.5 |
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Play Up the Band (1935)
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Feather Your Nest (1937)
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Hue and Cry (1947)
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Dance Hall (1950)
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The four images above show Ealing studio buildings used as locations, in each case passing for a factory. Nearby Pitzhanger Manor supplied more elegant settings:
Dead of Night (1945)
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Who Done It (1956)
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Ealing-based productions frequently made use of nearby streets:
Look Up and Laugh (1935)
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Saint Mary's Road, W.5 - Google Street View
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Death Drives Through (1935)
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Castle Hill Parade, The Avenue, W.13 - Google Street View
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Hue and Cry (1947)
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The Grove, W.5 - Google Street View
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See here for Ealing streets in earlier Ealing films.
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Hammersmith
Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, London, W.6 |
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Daybreak (1948) - Riverside Studios in the background
Cosh Boy (1953)
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Leamore Street, W.6 - Google Street View
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Delayed Action (1954)
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St James Street, W.6 - Google Street View
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Highbury
Highbury Studios, 96a/98 Highbury New Park, London, N.5 |
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I have only seen three Highbury productions, all from 1948, and none appears to use the vicinity of the studios as a location.
Shepherd's Bush & Islington
I have not yet found any examples of films made either at Shepherd's Bush (Gaumont-British) or Islington (Gainsborough) that make use of nearby streets, though the studio buildings do appear in a couple of films.
I have not yet found any examples of films made either at Shepherd's Bush (Gaumont-British) or Islington (Gainsborough) that make use of nearby streets, though the studio buildings do appear in a couple of films.
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- Islington Studios, Poole Street, London, N.1
(technically this is in Hackney) |
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Poole Street, N.1 - Google Street View
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Where's That Fire? (1940)
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Shepherd's Bush Studios, Lime Grove, London, W.12
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Snowbound (1948) - the studio entrance
- G.B. City, Eastcote Lane, Northolt
A Gaumont-British studio lot used in the 1930s. This famous photograph from the shoot of Sabotage shows a backdrop of central London in front of some ordinary suburban houses:
A Gaumont-British studio lot used in the 1930s. This famous photograph from the shoot of Sabotage shows a backdrop of central London in front of some ordinary suburban houses:
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Marylebone
Marylebone Studios, 245 Marylebone Road, London, N.W.1 |
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Death In High Heels (1947)
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37 Crawford Street, W.1 - Google Street View
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Merton
Merton Park Studios, Kingston Road, London, S.W.19 |
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Merton Park Studios
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in The Partner (1963)
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For more on the Merton Park Studios see Black Hole's Horror in Suburbia.
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Southall
Southall Studios, Gladstone Road, Southall, Middlesex |
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Escape By Night (1953)
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The Broadway, Southall - Google Street View
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To know everything about these studios see the brilliant Southall Film Studios History Project.
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Walthamstow
Precision (280 Wood Street) Cunard then Broadwest (245 Wood Street) British & Colonial (317 Hoe Street) I.B. Davidson (588 Lea Bridge Road) |
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The Hollywood E17 Project is rich in information on the four main studios operating in Walthamstow between 1910 and 1924.
This photograph of a Broadwest film on location appears to show Chestnut Avenue, a street across the road from the studio:
This same location is also used in the Broadwest film The Adventures of Dick Dolan (1917) - see here.
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Wembley Park
Wembley Studios, Empire Way, Wembley Park, Middlesex |
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None of the few Wembley-made films I have seen ventures much beyond the studio, and certainly not into any recognisable parts of Wembley.
Studios beyond London
Outside of London, studios congregated in three main areas, and I have grouped them according to shared territory, rather than the financial affiliations that at various times brought studios under the same banner.
Outside of London, studios congregated in three main areas, and I have grouped them according to shared territory, rather than the financial affiliations that at various times brought studios under the same banner.
Denham & Pinewood & Beaconsfield (& Bray)
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Denham Studios, Denham, Uxbridge, Middlesex |
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Q Planes (1939)
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I Know Where I'm Going (1945)
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The company based at Denham called itself London Film but Denham, like most of the larger studios, was in a semi-rural setting at some distance from the city. These studios all had nearby villages and small towns as convenient locations, though they were not averse to filming in each other's vicinity. Here is the frequently filmed Village Road, Denham, in Poet's Pub, a Denham production, and in Murder, She Said, produced at Elstree:
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Murder, She Said (1961)
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And here are Denham-based production Brief Encounter and Pinewood-based production Please Turn Over on Station Road in Beaconsfield:
Brief Encounter (1945)
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Please Turn Over (1959)
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For the Denham studio history see Britmovie: Denham.
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Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire |
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the studios in the 1970s, from the Mitteleuropa site
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Heatherden Hall, Pinewood Studios
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Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines (1965)
Studios were often established in the grounds of country houses, with the house itself serving as company offices and, whenever a country-house setting was required, as convenient location. See, for example, Littleton Hall at Shepperton, Down Place at Bray and Worton Hall at Isleworth.
Pinewood's Heatherden Hall is by far the most frequently seen studio-located country house. Here are some further examples:
Pinewood's Heatherden Hall is by far the most frequently seen studio-located country house. Here are some further examples:
(The first of these is actually an Ealing-based production.)
Other studio buildings at Pinewood also served as locations, passing here as a factory in Switzerland and a fire station in the future:
Goldfinger (1964)
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Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
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In Carry On At Your Convenience (1971) Pinewood studio becomes a lavatory factory:
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Nearby streets appear frequently in Pinewood-made comedies:
94 Pinewood Green in Carry On Camping (1969)
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8 Pinewood Close in Carry On Emmannuelle (1978)
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94 Pinewood Green - Google Street View 2008
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8 Pinewood Close - Google Street View 2008
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Pinewood Green in The Fast Lady (1962)
For much more on Heatherden Hall and Pinewood Studios see the brilliant locations site Mitteleuropa.
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Beaconsfield Studios, Candlemas Lane, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire |
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Orders Are Orders (1954)
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the main studio building, now the - now the National Film and Television School
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The Fast Lady (1962)
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Burkes Road Beaconsfield
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For the Beaconsfield studio history see Britmovie: Beaconsfield.
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Bray Studios, Down Place, Bray, Berkshire
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Down Place, derelict
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The House Across the Lake (Ken Hughes 1954)
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A Case For P.C. 49 (Francis Searle 1951)
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The Four-Sided Triangle (Terence Fisher 1953)
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High Street Bray, junction with Ferry Road - Google Street View
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The Quatermass Xperiment (Val Guest 1955)
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High Street Bray - Google Street View
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(For more on the history of Hammer films at Down Place, see the FilmNav site.)
Borehamwood, Bushey & Welwyn
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- Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire
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On the Buses (1971)
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Love Thy Neighbour (1973)
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In the two examples above, studio buildings are used to represent other types of place - a bus garage and a factory.
Elstree-based productions in need of country-house splendour often filmed at nearby High Canons House:
Elstree-based productions in need of country-house splendour often filmed at nearby High Canons House:
The Elstree studios are in Borehamwood, not Elstree. Both Borehamwood and Elstree have provided locations:
Dandy Dick 1935)
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St Nicholas, High Street, Elstree - Google Street View
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Sons of the Sea (1939)
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Manor Hotel, Barnet Lane, Elstree
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Manor Hotel
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in A Clockwork Orange (1971)
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The Scamp (1957)
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205 Shenley Road, Borehamwood - Google Street View
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On the Buses (1971)
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Rossington Avenue, Borehamwood - Google Street View
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- Bushey Film Studios,
Melbourne Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire |
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The first studio was built in 1913 in the garden of the house of Sir Hubert Von Herkomer (right). Almost all of the house had gone by 1940, but film production continued here sporadically until the 1980s. I haven't yet found a film made at Bushey that shows the site or any of the vicinity. |
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This is Derek Pykett's photograph of the still surviving glass studio, built in 1913 and now converted to offices:
Derek Pykett, British Horror Film Locations (Jefferson NC: McFarland, 2008), p.137
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Welwyn Studios, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire
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the studios, then
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and now
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The Night Has Eyes (Leslie Arliss 1942)
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Digswell House, Knightsfield, Welwyn Garden City
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For the studios' history see Britmovie: Welwyn
Shepperton, Walton-on-Thames, Teddington,
Twickenham & Isleworth
Twickenham & Isleworth
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Shepperton Studios, Littleton Park, Shepperton, Middlesex
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Littleton Park House, Shepperton Studios
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Walton-on-Thames
- Hepworth Studios, then Nettlefold Studios, Hurst Grove |
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Cecil Hepworth, Came the Dawn: Memoirs of a Film Pioneer (London: Phoenix, 1951)
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The Rosary, Hurst Grove, in Tubby's Rest Cure (1916)
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Rescued By Rover (Cecil Hepworth 1905)
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Manor Road, Walton-on-Thames - Google Street View
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Psychomania (Don Sharp 1973)
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Hepworth Way, Walton-on-Thames - Google Street View
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For the history see Britmovie: Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames
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Teddington Studios, Broom Road, Teddington
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Teddington Lock in Crime Unlimited (Ralph Ince 1935)
For the studios' history see Britmovie: Teddington
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Twickenham Film Studios,
St Margaret's, Twickenham 
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The Phantom Fiend (1932)
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St Margaret's Road, Twickenham - Google Street View
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Undercover Girl (1958)
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Kelvin Drive, Twickenham - Google Street View
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Au Pair Girls (1972)
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Twickenham Film Studios - Google Street View
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Isleworth - Worton Hall Studios, Worton Road, Isleworth, Middlesex
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The Last Days of Dolwyn (1949)
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The Late Edwina Black (1952)
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In this post I have been testing the proximity principle, whereby a studio-based production in need of an exterior will go no further than the nearest exterior that suits. Over time applications of the principle will add up to a document of the studio's vicinity. Initial results suggest that the practice differs according to the location and size of the studio. The period of activity is a factor, as well as the type of film with which a studio is associated. Productions at very early studios such as Cecil Hepworth's in Walton-on-Thames almost invariably stayed within a small radius of the production base. A comparable attachment to the vicinity is clear with later, larger establishments at e.g. Elstree, Denham, Pinewood and Beaconsfield, though greater resources and mobility mean that the spread of locations is wider.
When a country studio needed an urban location it usually had the space on the backlot to build it; urban studios tended to have less space but had the real city at their immediate disposal (see e.g. Marylebone). Of course productions based at Pinewood or Denham could as readily film in real city streets, and productions based at Shepherd's Bush or Islington could construct city streets in the studio. And they could mix the two. Here is London in the Pinewood production London Belongs To Me (1948). The first is a set and the second is a real street - that's the Balham Odeon, on Balham Hill Road, S.W.12:
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And here is London in the Islington production Good Time Girl (1948):
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The second of these is a set, the first is, I think, real - St Martin's Kennels and Aviaries and Aquatic Nurseries were at 49 Monmouth Street, W.C.2.
At neither of these two studios are productions tied to a particular vicinity when it comes to showing London. The proximity principle generally holds good for studios in rural and suburban settings. For studios closer to the centre of the city it applies only sometimes, and only to smaller-scale operations, such as Hammersmith or Marylebone.
The rudimentary state of my researches so far allow only for such tentative conclusions. If I get any further the fruit will be, I hope, a set of nice maps showing the catchment areas of those studios for which locality is significant.
At neither of these two studios are productions tied to a particular vicinity when it comes to showing London. The proximity principle generally holds good for studios in rural and suburban settings. For studios closer to the centre of the city it applies only sometimes, and only to smaller-scale operations, such as Hammersmith or Marylebone.
The rudimentary state of my researches so far allow only for such tentative conclusions. If I get any further the fruit will be, I hope, a set of nice maps showing the catchment areas of those studios for which locality is significant.
(I have discussed elsewhere the locality of early studios in Muswell Hill and Whetstone. I hope eventually to look at the vicinities of early studios in South London, when I can drag myself over there.)
(For many of the identifications in this post I am indebted to the contributors to the Reel Streets and Britmovie sites.)