William Friese-Greene - After Death

After Death

In 1951 a romanticised account of his life, starring Robert Donat, was filmed as part of the Festival of Britain. Unfortunately, The Magic Box was not premiered until the Festival was nearly over, and only went on full release after it had finished. Despite the all-star cast and a great deal of publicity, the film was a costly box office flop, no attempt being made to describe his inventions in any detail, some of which were completely omitted. Carpenter and Herbert have written, "He was the subject of a romantic and unreliable biography, Friese-Greene, Close-Up of an Inventor which was then turned into an even more misleading film The Magic Box." The film also claimed that he had originated the use of perforated film in projection of moving images, which was untrue.

Despite a campaign for its retention for use as a Museum of Cinematography by, among others, Bristol photographer Reece Winstone, Friese-Green's birthplace was demolished by Bristol Corporation in 1958 to provide parking space for six cars.

Friese-Greene's former home in Brighton's Middle Street was refurbished in 2006 and is now home to the offices of Realmac Software, a software company. The building bears a plaque (in a format designed by Eric Gill in 1924) commemorating Friese-Green's achievements. The plaque was unveiled by Michael Redgrave, one of the stars of The Magic Box, in September 1957. A modern office building a few metres away is named Friese-Greene House. Other notices include the 1930s Kings Road, Chelsea, London, Odeon Cinema, with its iconic facade, which carries high upon it a large sculptored head-and-shoulders medallion of "William Friese-Greene" and his year of birth and death. There is a bronze statue of him at Pinewood Studios.

In 2006 the BBC ran a series of programmes called The Lost World of Friese-Greene, presented by Dan Cruickshank about Claude Friese-Greene's road trip from Land's End to John o' Groats, The Open Road, which he filmed from 1924 to 1926 using the Biocolour process. The original print of Claude's film was subjected to computer enhancement by the British Film Institute to remove the flickering problem.