THE BEGINNING
Southall Studios was founded in a converted airplane hangar in 1924 by film pioneer G.B. Samuelson.
It seems to have been little used until 1928 when "Two Little Drummer Boys",
a silent movie starring Alma Taylor, was made.
FILM PRODUCTIONS IN
THE 1930's
In the early thirties, the studios had several name changes.
In 1931, it was renamed Kingsway General Films Ltd.
In 1933, the name changed again, this time to Britone Sound Studios.
From the mid-1930s it was once again producing feature films.
In 1935 "Children of the Fog" was made starring Linden Travers,
a popular actress of the 30s and 40s.
1936 was an eventful year,
"Dodging the Dole" was produced and directed by John E. Blakeley,
founder of the Mancunian Film Corporation
and the name was changed again to Metropolitan Film Studios.
The studios were totally burned to the ground on the 29th October 1936
and were later rebuilt with three stages.
The dimensions of the three film stages were 50x75, 50x50 and 50x25.
I have been unable to confirm if the studios were closed during 1939 -1945.
There is a reference to them being used as the Lucarno Ballroom and then as
a roller skating rink in 1940.
We have anecdotal evidence that the studios were used for the war effort
like so many other enterprises. Occasionally stray planes from the Luftwaffe
would fire randomly on their way back from London: It is likely that
Gladstone Road was a target because of the nearby gasometer, engineering
works and railway.
POST WAR PERIOD
1946 : Alliance Film Studios under the producer, Sydney Box,
acquires Southall Studios. He also owned Riverside and Twickenham Studios.
1950 : Group 3 Film Productions started at Southall
with John Grierson as Executive Producer until 1954.
TV comes to Southall in 1952 with the first three pilot episodes of
"Colonel March of the Yard" starring Boris Karloff were produced.
At this time, the studio employed over 96 permanent staff.
These three episodes were featured in the 1953 compilation film
Colonel March Investigates.
Some famous faces appeared in this including
A further 23 episodes of
Colonel March of Scotland Yard
were shot in 1954.
These also had their fair share of famous names, past and present,
including
By 1956, the studios only employed 47 staff. Pearl & Dean adverts were made
here with voice-overs by Arthur Lowe. The photographic work for Boots The
Chemist was also carried out here
along with
the Colgate-Palmolive toothpaste ads.
The final project completed by Southall Studios was a sci-fi horror movie "The Trollenberg Terror".
This was first produced as a TV series.
In 1958 it was remade into a full-length feature film, also entitled "The Trollenberg Terror",
starring Forrest Tucker and Janet Munro.
This film was fairly popular for its time as the public taste for the "B" movie genre
was then at its height, particularly among dating teenagers.
From that time forward it has come to achieve a cult status among sci-fi horror fans
spanning several generations and is probably the one movie produced by Southall Studios
that most people have seen.
