Southall Studios
Interactive map of Southall Studios
General information
Status	Demolished
Type	Film studio
Location	Gladstone Road, Southall, United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°30′13″N0°23′03″W / 51.5035°N 0.3843°W /51.5035; -0.3843
Construction started	1924 (1924)
Completed	1924
Renovated	1936
Demolished	1960 (1960)
Technical details
Floor area	Approx. 7,500 square feet (700 m2) on 3 stages[1]

Southall Studios was afilm studio located inSouthall,Middlesex (nowWest London) which operated between 1924 and 1958.

The studio was a vibrant and productive part of Southall'scultural history. At its peak – in the early 1950s – the film-making facility employed almost 100permanent staff.^[2]

Some of England's best-known actors worked at Southall Studios:Richard Attenborough,Dirk Bogarde,^[3]Joan Collins,^[4] andhorror legendBoris Karloff.^[5]

In 1924, film pioneerG. B. Samuelson converted an oldaircraft hangar in Gladstone Road, Southall into afilm-making facility.^[1]

Following someshort films, Samuelson directed the studio's firstfeature film in 1928.Silent comedyTwo Little Drummer Boys^[6] starredAlma Taylor – a major British star in the 1920s^[7] – andvariety entertainerWee Georgie Wood.^[8]

Converted forsound in the early 1930s, Southall's most significant film in the studio's early years wasChildren of the Fog (1935),^[9] made by influentialGerman expressionist directorLeopold Jessner. Jessner was aJew working anonymously inexile fromAdolf Hitler's Germany.^[10] The film's Germancinematographer was also notable:Eugen Schüfftan was the inventor of aspecial effect called theSchüfftan process.^[11]

On 29 October 1936 (a Thursday), beginning around 3 a.m., a large fire caused Southall Studios to be burned to the ground. Thousands of pounds' worth of equipment was lost, andreels for two recently-completed films were destroyed.^[12] The studios were soon-after rebuilt, at a cost of £9,666^[13] (equivalent to over £570,000 in 2024^[14]). Of the few films completed at Southall before the start ofWorld War II, 1938'sBed and Breakfast is of note for being the last appearance in a feature film ofCockney silent-starMabel Poulton.^[15][16]

No filming took place at Southall for the duration ofWorld War II (1939-1945).^[1] The studio was not at first required for support of thewar effort, and anentertainments licence allowed the studio to be used as adance-hall (called theLocarno) from January to November 1940.^[17] The premises functioned also as aroller-skating rink. 400 people attended the Locarno dance-hall's Grand OpeningBall on 24 January 1940, dancing until midnight. In the summer of1940 the Locarno was twicefined for failing adequately to observe theblackout.^[13]

In November 1940, theMinister of Aircraft Production,Lord Beaverbrook, requisitioned the site,^[18] turning it over toFairey Aviation, an aeroplane manufacturer with a factory in nearbyHayes. The Locarno dance-hall was consequently relocated toEaling.^[13]

TheLuftwaffe fired on the site during wartime,^[2] but the rebuilt studio survived intact and, de-requisitioned after the war ended, the film-making facility entered into a busypost-war period.

The years following the Second World War marked "Southall'sgolden age".^[13] After 1945,Alliance Film Studios acquired the premises,^[12] and the studio entered into its most productive period, producing noteworthy films in a variety ofgenres.

Examples include: Britishfilm noirDancing with Crime (1947) withRichard Attenborough,Dirk Bogarde andDiana Dors;^[3] dramaJudgment Deferred (1952) starringJoan Collins;^[4]semi-documentarydisaster filmThe Brave Don't Cry (1952) withJohn Gregson;^[19] and "all very British" comedies,^[20] such asMiss Robin Hood (1952)^[21] andThe Runaway Bus (1954)^[22] starringMargaret Rutherford,^[23] andThe Oracle (1953)^[24] featuring the enigmaticGilbert Harding.^[25]

Controversy attended one Southall Studios production. 1948gangster filmNo Orchids For Miss Blandish^[26] attracted outrage:The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "The most sickening exhibition of brutality, perversion, sex andsadism ever to be shown on a cinema screen"; theDaily Express said "the film sets out to appeal to the prurient-minded, the twisted, the unbalanced";Labour politicianEdith Summerskill claimed the film would "pervert the minds of the British people".^[27] The president of theBBFC apologised to theHome Secretary of the day,James Chuter Ede, for having "failed to protect the public" fromNo Orchids For Miss Blandish. Notoriety contributed to the film's commercial success on initial release, but it was rarely shown again until 2006, by which time it was felt to deserve a modest PG certificate, for "mild violence and threat".^[27]

Noteddocumentary-makerJohn Grierson^[28] – whocoined the word "documentary"^[29][30][31] – worked at Southall from 1951 to 1953, runningGroup 3 Films with director/producerJohn Baxter.^[32]) Grierson used his documentary/realist approach to critical and commercial success asexecutive producer onThe Brave Don't Cry (1952),^[33] a semi-documentary feature about the 1950Knockshinnoch mining disaster.^[34] Grierson & Baxter moved base from Southall toBeaconsfield Film Studios in 1953; Group 3 Films stopped production in 1955.^[35]

In 1952, Southall Studios employed almost 100 permanent staff.^[2] This was its busiest time: besides producing feature films, more work arrived in connection with the increasingly importanttelevision industry. The highest-profile television programme produced at Southall at this time wasColonel March of Scotland Yard, starringFrankenstein legendBoris Karloff as the fictional detective of the title. The 26-episode series featured some well-known actors in individual episodes. Among them,Christopher Lee^[36] andAnthony Newley.^[37] Three initial pilot episodes filmed in 1952 were compiled to make 1953 filmColonel March Investigates.^[5]

In the second half of the 1950s, employment at the studio showed a downward trend. In 1956, there were 47 permanent staff:^[12] half the 1952 figure. Worthwhile film and television work continued to be produced there.Crime filmKill Me Tomorrow (1957), for example, starred seasonedHollywood actorPat O'Brien.^[38] The 1955 launch in Britain ofcommercial television stationITV brought in a new source of income: makingtelevision adverts.^[1] But Southall's end was nigh: the studio would close before the end of the decade.

Southall Studios ended on a high note. The final project to be completed there wasscience-fiction/horror filmThe Trollenberg Terror (1958).^[39] First produced at Southall as atelevision series in 1956-1957,^[40] the full-length feature (re-titledThe Crawling Eye in the USA) would go on to achievecult classic status.^[2] More than twenty years later, acclaimed directorJohn Carpenter acknowledgedThe Trollenberg Terror as an influence on his 1980supernatural horror filmThe Fog.^[41]

Some actors who went on to attain distinction in science-fiction made films (in other genres) at Southall in its golden age: the first and the thirdDoctor inDoctor Who:^[42]William Hartnell^[43] andJon Pertwee;^[44] and the actor who played the firstKlingon in the originalStar Trek,John Colicos.^[45][46]

Five "Bond girl" actresses worked at Southall Studios before going on to appear in theJames Bond films:^[47]Lois Maxwell^[38] (Miss Moneypenny, 1962-1985);Honor Blackman^[48] (Pussy Galore, 1964);Eunice Gayson^[49][21] (Sylvia Trench, 1962 & 1963);Zena Marshall^[50][51] (Miss Taro, 1962); andShirley Eaton;^[43] (golden girlJill Masterson, 1964).

Several regulars of the much-lovedCarry On films^[52][53] worked individually at Southall Studios:Sid James,^{[21][54][55][56]}Charles Hawtrey,^[57][58]Joan Sims,^[59]Kenneth Connor,^[60]Peter Butterworth,^[61] andEsma Cannon.^[62]

John Schlesinger – later an eminent,Oscar-winning director^[63] – worked twice at Southall Studios as a young actor.^[64][65]

Freddie Mills – the ex-boxer^[66] whose mysterious 1965 death continues to attract lurid speculation^[67] – acted in two films at Southall Studios in the 1950s.^[68][38]

Southall Studios sadly closed in 1959. The film-making facility wasdemolished in or around 1960, and no trace of it remains.Film buffs visiting the site in the years following demolition found anindustrial estate where the studio once stood.^[2]

• Eros Films
• Group 3 Films
• Tempean Films

• History Project

• British film studios
• 1930s fires in the United Kingdom
• 1936 disasters in the United Kingdom
• 1936 fires
• Southall
• Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Ealing
• Media and communications in the London Borough of Ealing

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