Imperial Studios | |
---|---|
Alternative names | British and Dominions Imperial Studios |
General information | |
Type | Film studios |
Address | Imperial Place, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 51°39′30″N0°16′04″W / 51.6583°N 0.2677°W |
Construction started | 1929 |
Destroyed | 9 February 1936 |
Owner | British and Dominions Film Corporation |
Imperial Studios were the studios of the British and Dominions Film Corporation, a short-lived British film production company located at Imperial Place, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. The studios (one of several facilities historically referred to as Elstree Studios) were active from 1929 to 1936, when they were destroyed by fire.
The company relocated to Pinewood Studios but ceased production in 1938.
British and Dominions was one of the successors to British National Pictures, which began operations in 1925 and was taken over by British International Pictures in 1927. The British and Dominions Film Corporation was formed in June 1927 by Herbert Wilcox and was registered as a public company on 13 February 1928. [1] As it had no studios of its own, its first films, which were silent, were made at Cricklewood Studios. In 1930, the company, which had been incorporated for the purpose of physically producing sound films, bought three new sound stages from British International at Borehamwood before their construction was completed. The new Imperial Studio was the first purpose-built sound studio in Europe. Blackmail (1929), directed by Alfred Hitchcock and the first British talkie, had been made at the facility before British and Dominions took it over.
Filmmakers who worked for British and Dominions included producer Anthony Havelock-Allan, who made Lancashire Luck (1937) there. Alexander Korda's London Films produced The Private Life of Henry VIII , which featured an Oscar-winning performance by Charles Laughton, at Imperial Studios. [2] The film's success in the United States and elsewhere persuaded United Artists and The Prudential to invest in Korda's proposed Denham Film Studios. [3]
The studio was destroyed by a fire on 9 February 1936, which also destroyed three of the nine stages at the adjacent British International Studios. [4] British and Dominions made a substantial investment in Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, and moved production there, including the Herbert Wilcox production London Melody (1937) which was in production at the time of the fire. [5] The company's last film was released in January 1938.
The support buildings at Borehamwood that remained after the fire were sold off to various companies including Frank Landsdown Ltd, which opened a film vault service. The Rank Organisation bought the music stage for the production of documentary films. It later became the headquarters of the film and sound-effect library, Cinesound Effects Library Ltd. [6] In 1996, a plaque was placed at the location of the former studio. [7]
Other companies used British and Dominions' studios to shoot the following films. [8]
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian–born British film director, producer, and screenwriter, who founded his own film production studios and film distribution company.
Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios have been located in the area since 1914 when film production began there.
The British National Films Company was formed in England in 1934 by J. Arthur Rank, Lady Annie Henrietta Yule of Bricket Wood, and producer John Corfield.
London Films Productions is a British film and television production company founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda and from 1936 based at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire, near London. The company's productions included The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), Things to Come (1936), Rembrandt (1936), and The Four Feathers (1939). The facility at Denham was taken over in 1939 by Rank and merged with Pinewood to form D & P Studios. The outbreak of war necessitated that The Thief of Bagdad (1940) be completed in California, although Korda's handful of American-made films still displayed Big Ben as their opening corporate logo.
MGM-British was a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer initially established at Denham Film Studios in 1936. It was in limbo during the Second World War; however, following the end of hostilities, a facility was acquired in Borehamwood, which remained in use until it was closed in 1970.
Alfred Junge was a German-born production designer who spent a large part of his career working in the British film industry.
Gate Studios was one of the many studios known collectively as Elstree Studios in the town of Borehamwood, England. Opened in 1928, the studios were in use until the early 1950s. The studios had previously been known as Whitehall Studios, Consolidated Studios, J.H. Studios and M.P. Studios.
John Loder was established as a British film actor in Germany and Britain before migrating to the United States in 1928 for work in the new talkies. He worked in Hollywood for two periods, becoming an American citizen in 1947. After living also in Argentina, he became a naturalized British (Argentinian?) citizen in 1959.
Ian Dalrymple was a British screenwriter, film director, film editor and film producer.
Herbert Sydney Wilcox CBE was a British film producer and director.
Herbert Smith was a British film producer and director. He produced 69 films, for Denham Film Studios and British Lion Films from 1933 to 1963, including the war film They Were Not Divided in 1950.
Julius Hagen (1884–1940) was a German-born British film producer who produced more than a hundred films in Britain.
London Melody is a 1937 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Tullio Carminati and Robert Douglas. It was made at British and Dominions Imperial Studios, Elstree and Pinewood Studios by Wilcox's independent production company and distributed by J. Arthur Rank's General Film Distributors. It was also released with the alternative title Look Out for Love.
Walter Charles Mycroft was a British journalist, screenwriter, film producer and director. In the 1920s he was film critic of the London Evening Standard, and a founder of the London Film Society, before joining the film industry.
Walter Percy Day O.B.E. (1878–1965) was a British painter best remembered for his work as a matte artist and special effects technician in the film industry. Professional names include W. Percy Day; Percy Day; "Pop" or "Poppa" Day, owing to his collaboration with sons Arthur George Day (1909–1952) draughtsman, Thomas Sydney Day (1912–1985), stills photographer and cameraman, and stepson, Peter Ellenshaw, who also worked in this field.
Hollywood and the United Kingdom are connected via the American industry's use of British source material, an exchange of talent, and Hollywood's financial investment in British facilities and productions. The American studios have had their own bases in the UK in the past, such as MGM-British, and Warner Bros. owned shares in the now long disestablished British distributor Warner-Pathé, once part of the Associated British Pictures Corporation. The U.K. has had major production studios in the United States such as Trilith Studios.
Ludwig Blattner was a German-born inventor, film producer, director and studio owner in the United Kingdom, and developer of one of the earliest magnetic sound recording devices.
Elstree Studios on Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire is a British film and television production centre operated by Elstree Film Studios Limited. One of several facilities historically referred to as Elstree Studios, the Shenley Road studios originally opened in 1925.