{{Short description|Former film studios in Elstree, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox building | name = Imperial Studios | native_name = | former_names = | alternate_names = British and Dominions Imperial Studios | image = | caption = | location_country = United Kingdom | altitude = | building_type = Film studios | architectural_style = | structural_system = | cost = | ren_cost = | address = Imperial Place, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire | client = | owner = British and Dominions Film Corporation | current_tenants = | landlord = | coordinates = {{coord|51.6583|-0.2677|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | construction_start_date = {{start date|1929}} | completion_date = | inauguration_date = | renovation_date = | demolished_date = | destruction_date = {{end date|1936|2|9|df=y}} | height = | diameter = | other_dimensions = | floor_count = | floor_area = | main_contractor = | architect = | architecture_firm = | structural_engineer = | services_engineer = | civil_engineer = | other_designers = | quantity_surveyor = | awards = | ren_architect = | ren_firm = | ren_str_engineer = | ren_serv_engineer = | ren_civ_engineer = | ren_oth_designers = | ren_qty_surveyor = | ren_awards = | references = | website = }} [[File:1936-elstree-film-studio-fire.jpg|thumb|256px|1936. Fire destroys three stages of British and Dominions Studios. From the ''Illustrated London News'' 15 February 1936]] '''Imperial Studios''' were the studios of the '''British and Dominions Film Corporation''', a short-lived British film production company located at Imperial Place, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. The studios (one of several facilities historically referred to as Elstree Studios) were active from 1929 to 1936, when they were destroyed by fire.
The company relocated to Pinewood Studios but ceased production in 1938.
==History== British and Dominions was one of the successors to British National Pictures, which began operations in 1925 and was taken over by British International Pictures in 1927. The British and Dominions Film Corporation was formed in June 1927 by Herbert Wilcox and was registered as a public company on 13 February 1928.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wood |first1=Linda |title=British Films 1927 - 1939 |orig-date=1st pub. 1986 |date=2009|publisher=BFI Library Services |location=London |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-british-films-1927-1939.pdf |access-date=30 December 2021 |page=8}}</ref> As it had no studios of its own, its first films, which were silent, were made at Cricklewood Studios. In 1930, the company, which had been incorporated for the purpose of physically producing sound films, bought three new sound stages from British International at Borehamwood before their construction was completed. The new Imperial Studio was the first purpose-built sound studio in Europe. ''Blackmail'' (1929), directed by Alfred Hitchcock and the first British talkie, had been made at the facility before British and Dominions took it over.
Filmmakers who worked for British and Dominions included producer Anthony Havelock-Allan, who made ''Lancashire Luck'' (1937) there. Alexander Korda's London Films produced ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'', which featured an Oscar-winning performance by Charles Laughton, at Imperial Studios.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hanson|first=Patricia and Alan Gevinson|title=The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1931-1940|year=1993|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley, California|isbn=978-0520079083|pages=774}}</ref> The film's success in the United States and elsewhere persuaded United Artists and The Prudential to invest in Korda's proposed Denham Film Studios.<ref>{{cite book|last=Warren|first=Patricia|title=British Film Studios: An Illustrated History|publisher=B. T. Batsford|year=2001|pages=26, 28|publication-place=London}}</ref>
The studio was destroyed by a fire on 9 February 1936, which also destroyed three of the nine stages at the adjacent British International Studios.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fire at the English Hollywood |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1936-elstree-film-studio-fire.jpg |access-date=14 January 2022 |work=The Illustrated London News |date=15 February 1936}}</ref> British and Dominions made a substantial investment in Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, and moved production there, including the Herbert Wilcox production ''London Melody'' (1937) which was in production at the time of the fire.<ref>Warren (2001), p.82</ref> The company's last film was released in January 1938.
The support buildings at Borehamwood that remained after the fire were sold off to various companies including Frank Landsdown Ltd, which opened a film vault service. The Rank Organisation bought the music stage for the production of documentary films. It later became the headquarters of the film and sound-effect library, Cinesound Effects Library Ltd.<ref>{{cite news |title=Massive collection of recordings saved |url=https://www.borehamwoodtimes.co.uk/news/39350.massive-collection-of-recordings-saved/ |access-date=13 January 2022 |work=Borehamwood and Elstree Times |publisher=Newsquest Media Group Ltd |date=22 March 2001}}</ref>
In 1944, D & P Holdings, a subsidiary of General Cinema Finance Corporation, acquired British and Dominions Film Corporation.<ref name=62acs>{{cite web|pages=52-53|url=https://memoriesofrxmp.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Rank-Organisation-ARA-1962.pdf|title=The Rank Organisation Annual Report and Accounts 1962|website=Memories of Rank Xerox at Mitcheldean}}</ref>
In 1996, a plaque was placed at the location of the former studio.<ref>{{cite web|title=British and Dominions Imperial Studios|url=http://www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk/page232.html|publisher=Plaques of London|access-date=25 January 2014}}</ref>
==Films shot at Imperial Studios==
===Produced by British and Dominions=== {{Main|List of British and Dominions films}}
===Produced by other companies=== Other companies used British and Dominions' studios to shoot the following films.<ref>Wood (2009), pp.56–86</ref>
{{columns-list|colwidth=18em| * ''French Leave'' {{resize|(D&H Productions; 1930)}} * ''The Nipper'' {{resize|(Betty Balfour Pictures; 1930)}} * ''A Warm Corner'' {{resize|(Gainsborough Pictures; 1930)}} * ''Contraband Love'' {{resize|(British Screenplays; 1931)}} * ''The Sport of Kings'' {{resize|(Gainsborough; 1931)}} * ''The Written Law'' {{resize|(Reginald Fogwell; 1931)}} * ''Tilly of Bloomsbury'' {{resize|(Sterling; 1931)}} * ''Baroud'' {{resize|(Rex Ingram; 1932)}} * ''Ebb Tide'' {{resize|(Paramount; 1932)}} * ''A Man of Mayfair'' {{resize|(Paramount; 1932)}} * ''Service for Ladies'' {{resize|(Paramount; 1932)}} * ''These Charming People'' {{resize|(Paramount; 1932)}} * ''Women Who Play'' {{resize|(Paramount; 1932)}} * ''Diamond Cut Diamond'' {{resize|(Cinema House; 1932)}} * ''Down Our Street'' {{resize|(Paramount; 1932)}} * ''Lily Christine'' {{resize|(Paramount; 1932)}} * ''Men of Tomorrow'' {{resize|(London; 1932)}} * ''Money Means Nothing'' {{resize|(Paramount; 1932)}} * ''That Night in London'' {{resize|(London; 1932)}} * ''Counsel's Opinion'' {{resize|(London; 1933)}} * ''Strange Evidence'' {{resize|(London; 1933)}} * ''Cash'' {{resize|(London Films; 1933)}} * ''For Love of You'' {{resize|(Windsor; 1933)}} * ''Going Gay'' {{resize|(Windsor Films; 1933)}} * ''No Funny Business'' {{resize|(John Stafford; 1933)}} * ''The Private Life of Henry VIII'' {{resize|(London; 1933)}} * ''The Rise of Catherine the Great'' {{resize|(London; 1934)}} * ''The Lady is Willing'' {{resize|(Columbia; 1934)}} * ''The Private Life of Don Juan'' {{resize|(London; 1934)}} * ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' {{resize|(London; 1934)}} * ''Sanders of the River'' {{resize|(London; 1935)}} * ''Flame in the Heather'' {{resize|(Crusade; 1935)}} * ''No Monkey Business'' {{resize|(Radius; 1935)}} * ''Turn of the Tide'' {{resize|(British National; 1935)}} * ''Debt of Honour'' {{resize|(British National; 1936)}} * ''Fame'' {{resize|(Herbert Wilcox; 1936)}} * ''Limelight'' {{resize|(Herbert Wllcox; 1936)}} * ''The Prisoner of Corbal'' {{resize|(Capitol; 1936)}} * ''When Knights Were Bold'' {{resize|(Capitol; 1936)}} * ''A Woman Alone'' {{resize|(Garrett-Klement Pictures; 1936)}} * ''The Three Maxims'' {{resize|(Wilcox-Cie Pathe Consortium; 1936)}} }}
==See also== * Associated British Picture Corporation * List of British and Dominions films * :Category:Films shot at Imperial Studios, Elstree * :Category:British and Dominions Studios films * Lists of productions shot at the other Elstree studios: ** List of films and television shows shot at Elstree Studios ** List of films and television shows shot at Clarendon Road Studios ** {{section link|Gate Studios#Films shot at the studios}} ** List of films shot at MGM-British Studios, Elstree ** {{section link|New Elstree Studios|List of films shot at New Elstree Studios}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Cinema of the United Kingdom}}
Category:British film studios Category:Film production companies of the United Kingdom Category:Defunct companies of England Category:Mass media companies established in 1929 Category:Mass media companies disestablished in 1936 Category:Borehamwood Category:1930s fires in the United Kingdom Category:1936 disasters in the United Kingdom Category:1936 fires Category:History of Hertfordshire Category:1929 establishments in the United Kingdom Category:1936 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Hertfordshire