51°35′04″N0°29′56″W / 51.584569°N 0.498902°W /51.584569; -0.498902
Denham Film Studios (later dubbed Anvil Studios) was a Britishfilm production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded byAlexander Korda, inBuckinghamshire.
Notable films made at Denham includeBrief Encounter and David Lean'sGreat Expectations. From the 1950s to the 1970s the studio became best known for recording film music, including the scores forAlfred Hitchcock'sVertigo,Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, andStar Wars.
The studio buildings were demolished in 1981 and the site re-landscaped as a business park; as of 2017 it has been turned over to residential use.
The studios were founded byAlexander Korda in 1935,[1] on a 165-acre (668,000 m2) site known as 'The Fisheries' near the village ofDenham,Buckinghamshire, and designed by architectsWalter Gropius andMaxwell Fry. At the time it was the largest facility of its kind in the UK. In 1937,Queen Mary visited the studios whileThe Drum was being filmed.[2] In 1946, 'Stage One Music Theatre' opened. Designed by sound recordist and engineerCyril Crowhurst, the stage could accommodate 120 performers.[3]
The studios were known by various names during their lifetime includingLondon Film Studios, the home of Korda'sLondon Films. It was merged with theRank Organisation'sPinewood Studios to formD&P Studios;[4] 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.[5]
Some of the notable films made at Denham include,The Thief of Bagdad,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."[6] Colin Sorensen, who as a schoolboy often watched the work going on at Denham recalled the sight "of the main studio buildings, a great mass of, probablyasbestos, grey-green roofs" and the smell of "cellulose paint merged with newly cut soft wood." The proximity ofDenham Aerodrome was sometimes difficult.Mary Morris remembered that an intimate scene withLeslie Howard, forPimpernel Smith was "interrupted 22 times by aircraft noise."[7]
Denham's final film was made in 1952,[8] 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 70sRank occupied theArt Decooffice buildings and used most of thesound stages aswarehouses. Despite this, from the 1950s Denham became one of the most important centres for recording film music, the studio played host toBernard Herrmann,John Barry,Jerry Goldsmith andJohn Williams, among others.[9]
After the closing of the film studio, Stage One Music Theatre was used periodically by Pinewood Studios and Rank to record film scores, including forVertigo,The Three Worlds of Gulliver andMysterious Island. In 1966 the film production company Anvil Films moved into the large music stage at Denham. Led by Ken Cameron (brother of the famous journalistJames), Ken Scrivener, Richard Warren and Ralph May, Anvil recorded post-synching dialogue, Foley sound effects and music. By 1969, the studio claimed it was the most technologically advanced recording studio in Europe. Important films recorded during their time at the studio, includedRyan's Daughter,Jane Eyre,International Velvet,Superman,Star Wars, the TV miniseriesJesus of Nazareth,Alien andThe Empire Strikes Back. The company was forced to move in 1980 when the studio was bought by a developer.[3][10]
The buildings on the south of the site were demolished in 1980 and the area redeveloped and landscaped as Broadwater Park business park.[11] The landscaped gardens, by Preben Jakobsen and utilising spoil from the demolished buildings, are included on theRegister of Historic Parks and Gardens.[12] In 2017 theGrade II listed main studio building and surrounding land were redeveloped as luxury flats and houses. TheArt Deco main building, which included afilm processing laboratory and cinema, is the only surviving building from the original film studios.[13][14]
Made on the site during construction:
The first film to be made at the studio proper wasSouthern Roses (1936). Others included:
The last film to be made at Denham wasDisney'sThe Sword and the Rose (1953).
