 In the early 1930s Charles Boot, head - of a large construction company became interested in the idea of building a film studio to rival those of Hollywood. In 1934 he purchased Heatherden Hall, a large 19th century mansion situated in an 156-acre estate.
J Arthur Rank was producing religious films and distributing them through General Film Distributors, a company that he set up with CM Woolf. Dissatisfied with the service received from the twenty or so studios then available in and around London, he teamed up with Charles Boot and together they formed Pinewood Studios Ltd. Building work stated in 1935 with a new stage completed every 3 weeks. Five stages were built, three large and two small together with workshops, dressing rooms, a power house and sound department. The Heatherden Hall building was converted into administration and production offices, and the old ballroom into a restaurant. The total cost was around £1 million. RCA sound equipment had been considered first as their quote was lower than Western Electric’s. However it transpired that not all the necessary equipment had been included in the RCA price and Western Electric’s was actually lower. So WE sound-on-film equipment was installed. The first shooting started in December 1936, finishing off Herbert Wilcox’s production London Melody, after his British & Dominions studio in Elstree had been destroyed by fire earlier that year. Carol Reed’s Talk Of The Devil was actually the first feature shot entirely at Pinewood. Roll on 1998. The ‘man with the gong’ symbol, that originated in the 30s as the trade mark of General Film Distributors, disappeared and was replaced with the large red dot Deluxe logo. Several years earlier, in order to gain firmer footing in the USA, Rank had acquired the Deluxe Film Laboratories in Los Angeles and Toronto. In May 1998, at the Cannes Film Festival, an announcement was made that Rank Film Laboratories, Rank Video Services, and Pinewood Studios, along with the US Deluxe Laboratories, would all operate under the Deluxe brand. Early in 2000, the 460-screen Odeon circuit was sold off for £280 million, the Rank nightclub chain sold for £156 million, and Pinewood Studios was bought by venture capitalists 3i for £62 million. Michael Grade became company chairman of Pinewood Studios Ltd. |  In 1931 Littleton Park and its surrounding 60 acres was bought for £5000 by Scottish businessman Norman Louden with the intention of setting up a film studio.
Louden’s company, Flicker Productions, had been manufacturing flick books very successfully and he decided to start producing films for the cinema. He formed a new company in 1932 called Sound City Film Producing and Recording Studios. The authentic country house, the acres of park and woods for exteriors, and two purpose built sound stages quickly attracted producers. By the end of 1932 three short films and two features had been made. The studios became known as Sound City. By 1936 there were seven sound stages, twelve cutting rooms, three viewing rooms, workshops and the old house refurbished to provide hotel accommodation and a restaurant. That year 22 productions were completed using the studios facilities. With the retirement of Norman Louden in 1944, Sir Alexander Korda’s London Film productions, along with British Lion, bought a 74% controlling interest in Sound City Films Ltd. which included the studios, for £380,000. Fast forward to 1984. Lee International paid £3.6 million for the studios now encompassing nine stages. A considerable amount of money was invested in refurbishment and building new workshops. In 1987 the studios became part of Lee Panavision Inc. Twelve years on, buy-out specialists Candover, along with Scott Brothers, Tony and Ridley, purchased the studios and facilities in 1995 for £12 million. A new large stage was built and ‘state of the art’ post production sound facilities installed. The buyout marked significant changes in the fortunes of the studio - during Candover’s ownership, Shepperton Studios more than doubled it’s profits. And so to 2001. With cash from venture capitalists 3i, Pinewood Studios buys Shepperton Studios for £35 million. Michael Grade now heads both Pinewood and Shepperton.
BOOK DETAILS The Pinewood Story by Gareth Owen with Brian Burford (Reynolds & Hearn Lid, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-09-9) British Film Studios by Patricia Warren (BT Batsford Ltd, 1995, ISBN 0-71347559-5) |
