Post by Admin on Mar 25, 2015 8:22:57 GMT
Denham Film Studios were a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952.
The studios were founded by Alexander Korda, on a 165 acre (668,000 m²) site near the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire. At the time it was the largest facility of its kind in the UK, but it was merged with Rank's Pinewood Studios, and closed in 1952. Pinewood is just 4 miles south of Denham. The buildings were demolished in 1981 and the site re-landscaped.
The studios were known by various names during their lifetime including London Film Studios, the home of Korda's London Films, and D&P Studios after the merger with Pinewood.
Some of the notable films made at Denham include, The Thief of Baghdad, 49th Parallel, Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, Hamlet. Bernard Miles said that "when the technicians, the electricians and carpenters and so on, on the floor, who had been watching a scene filmed, applauded, you knew it was good, because they'd seen the best." Colin Sorensen, who as a schoolboy often used to watch the work going on at Denham recalled the sight " of the main studio buildings, a great mass of, probably asbestos, grey-green roofs" and the smell of " cellulose paint merged with newly cut soft wood." The proximity of Denham Airfield was sometimes problematic. Mary Morris remembered that an intimate scene with Leslie Howard, for Pimpernel Smith was " interrupted 22 times by aircraft noise."
The J. Arthur Rank Company rented the facility to the United States Air Force from about 1955 until December 1961. In the 1960s and 70s Rank Xerox occupied the Art Deco office buildings and used most of the sound stages as warehouses.
The site was subsequently cleared and sited between the junction of the Rickmansworth Road (now the A412 North Orbital road) and Moor Hall Road towards Harefield, provided some employment. The site is now used as a business park (Broadwater Park), containing (amongst other companies) the UK Headquarters of the Robert Bosch Ltd, the UK subsidiary of the Robert Bosch GmbH Group, and the global headquarters of InterContinental Hotels Group.
As a schoolboy in the late '70's my mates and I used to ride down to the old Mansion house to play, shame it's all gone now.
This needs to be viewed at 1945 to see it as was.
The studios were founded by Alexander Korda, on a 165 acre (668,000 m²) site near the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire. At the time it was the largest facility of its kind in the UK, but it was merged with Rank's Pinewood Studios, and closed in 1952. Pinewood is just 4 miles south of Denham. The buildings were demolished in 1981 and the site re-landscaped.
The studios were known by various names during their lifetime including London Film Studios, the home of Korda's London Films, and D&P Studios after the merger with Pinewood.
Some of the notable films made at Denham include, The Thief of Baghdad, 49th Parallel, Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, Hamlet. Bernard Miles said that "when the technicians, the electricians and carpenters and so on, on the floor, who had been watching a scene filmed, applauded, you knew it was good, because they'd seen the best." Colin Sorensen, who as a schoolboy often used to watch the work going on at Denham recalled the sight " of the main studio buildings, a great mass of, probably asbestos, grey-green roofs" and the smell of " cellulose paint merged with newly cut soft wood." The proximity of Denham Airfield was sometimes problematic. Mary Morris remembered that an intimate scene with Leslie Howard, for Pimpernel Smith was " interrupted 22 times by aircraft noise."
The J. Arthur Rank Company rented the facility to the United States Air Force from about 1955 until December 1961. In the 1960s and 70s Rank Xerox occupied the Art Deco office buildings and used most of the sound stages as warehouses.
The site was subsequently cleared and sited between the junction of the Rickmansworth Road (now the A412 North Orbital road) and Moor Hall Road towards Harefield, provided some employment. The site is now used as a business park (Broadwater Park), containing (amongst other companies) the UK Headquarters of the Robert Bosch Ltd, the UK subsidiary of the Robert Bosch GmbH Group, and the global headquarters of InterContinental Hotels Group.
As a schoolboy in the late '70's my mates and I used to ride down to the old Mansion house to play, shame it's all gone now.
This needs to be viewed at 1945 to see it as was.
