Denham Film Studios - History

History

The studios were founded by Alexander Korda in 1935, 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. In 1937, Queen Mary visited the studios while The Drum was being filmed.

The studios were known by various names during their lifetime including London Film Studios, the home of Korda's London Films. It was merged with the Rank Organisation's Pinewood Studios to form D&P Studios; Pinewood is just 4 miles south of Denham. Film makers were said to prefer Denham as a location, leading to Pinewood Studios being used for storage during the Second World War.

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."

Denham's final film was made in 1952, and the J. Arthur Rank Company went on to rent the facility to the United States Air Force between 1955 and 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 buildings were demolished in 1981 and the site re-landscaped as a business park.