Page 38 - FILM STUDIOS CROPPED

Saved! trumpeted the its famed stage. Under Managing In the 50’s and 60’s,
Director Andrew Mitchell, himself an active producer, the studio had gone four wall and played host to various production companies until 1990.
Whereas the vast complexes at Pinewood, Shepperton and Twickenham are but single areas, there were once six separate stu- dios at Elstree. Alas, all are now gone, save one, and the Clarendon Road complex, home to the BBC’s best known soap, EastEnders.
The studio was known as British National in 1926, later becoming British International Pictures, then Associated British Picture Corporation before switch- ing titles and ownership to EMI/MGM, later still to become Thorn-EMI before purchase by the Cannon group in May 1986 and finally Brent Walker/Goldcrest. It’s a dizzying past!
Elstree has always played a major role in Britain’s film her- itage, Alfred Hitchcock made his first talkie, Blackmail on its stages. Laurence Olivier, Jack Buchanan, Seymour Hicks, Ralph Richardson, Charles Laughton, James Mason and Maureen O’Hara all made early appearances here before Hollywood beckoned.
So did many other illustrious stars of the early Thirties includ- ing the great Gertrude Lawrence, Claude Hulbert, Reneé Houston, Dame Marie Tempest, Otto Kruger, Diana Churchill, Greta Gynt, Flora Robson, Anna Neagle, Ann Todd and Robert Newton.
banner headline of the Borehamwood Times dated 22nd February 1996. After almost a full decade, the fate of the famed studio had been
decided. Following what had earli- er been only a temporary reprieve, members of the local Hertsmere Borough Council (whose modern civic offices con- veniently face the studio complex) had finally signed, set and sealed papers naming themselves as the new owners of Elstree.
It was a decisive victory for the EIstree and Borehamwood Town Council who, with the staunch support of local residents and the film community, had cam- paigned long and hard since 1988 to preserve the studio as an active filmmaking facility.
A after a long and proud his- tory of sixty-two years, this world-renowned back lot seemed destined to go dark
with seventy full-time employees being made redundant. For many, the
final nail had been driven in
to the Elstree coffin, with an
era of British film history
put up for sale and destroyed at one stroke. It
was ironic that Hollywood whizkid Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones And the Last Crusade, the eighth movie
he had shot there, was last
on the line before the dead-
line expired and the Tesco supermarket property developers moved in. Brent Walker had acquired the studio in October 1988, renaming it Goldcrest Studios (which gives an idea how stupid they must have been!) but heavy debts forced them to close the complex in 1994. Two years later the Borough Council’s offer was accepted and the new pur- chasers were determined to give Elstree a new lease of life while resuming film and TV activity on the historic fifteen and a half acre site.
The quaint Hertfordshire vil- lages of Elstree and neighbouring Borehamwood have long enjoyed their reputation as the Home of Bri tish film. International stars, pro- ducers and directors know it well. and looked forward to working on
Associated British Picture Corporation under its renowned casting director Robert Lennard, boasted an impressive roster of popular contract stars of their day headed by Richard Todd, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Sylvia Syms, Millicent Martin, John Fraser, George Baker, Peter Arne and Carole Lesley. Tony Hancock and Charlie Drake represented the comics with the Frankie Howerd farces, Up Pompeii and The Chastity Belt and the TV inspired On The Buses.
Elstree is the only major British studio built on a main thor- oughfare, Shenley Road, and includes nine sound stages, an outdoor water tank and huge back lot with woodland and lake. It is only a 40 minute drive from Piccadilly Circus and 35 odd min- utes from Heathrow.
Latterly horror supremo Hammer Films were based in the old lodge house close by the main gate and are still based in the new Elstree, although pur- pose despite the focus now for less film, more TV and commercials.
Ronald Reagan
made his British acting début in The Hasty Heart in 1949. So did a very young Audrey Hepburn playing a ciga- rette girl in Laughter In Paradise.and then The Dambusters starring Richard Todd was also shot at Elstree. More recently, conventional movie making gave way
to the advent of special effects, most notably Star Wars and the Indiana Jones series. Elstree’s brief but creatively rewarding tenure under Bryan Forbes as head of production resulted in leg- endary producer John Heyman’s classic Cannes winner, The Go Between, along with The Railway Children and The Tales Of Beatrix Potter.
Television produced the clas- sic series The Saint starring you know who and The Avengers (shame both the movie spin-offs were so dire!) They were though a sign of the changing times for Elstree as purely a film studio.
Iain McAsh talking with Claude Dauphin on the set of The Full Treatment at Elstree in 1961
EXPOSURE • 28 & 29
ELSTREE
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Stills courtesy BFI Stills & Posters/Moviestore Collection/Iain McAsh/Graffiti/Foyer/All copyright owners acknowledged where known.