'GainsBorough Studios'

 

Gainsborough was a film studio that was active between the years of 1924-1951. It was founded by Michael Balcon and later this became the sister company of Gaumont-British studios. This film studio is based in Poole Street, Hoxton in the London Borough of Hackney. Today, apartments stand on where the famous studio was built. A London Borough of Hackney historical plaque is attached to the building to reminisce the historical film studio.
The sister studios used continental film practices. Alfred Hitchcock studied multi-lingual co-production films with UFA there after being persuaded by Balcon. He studied there before the war. Later on in the 1930's he was joined by others such as Conrad Veidt, Mutz Greenbaum, Alfred Junge, Elizabeth Bergner and Berthold Viertel and merged the two studios, making it one of the most successful film studios of its time.

It was after when Balcon left the British Arm of MGM when the Rank Organization took an interest in Gainsborough. With this connection they made popular films such as Oh, Mr. Potter! in 1937. Unfortunately, the studio underwent financial crisis so they were forced to close their Lime Grove studios and transferred to Poole Street Studios. Because of the very high chimney in the Poole studio, it was considered dangerous during World War II when bombing was prevalent. This is why the production went back to Lime Grove studios for security reasons.

Gainsborough produced costume melodramas based on popular books by female novelists between the years of 1943-1948. These included The Man in Grey, Madonna of the Seven Moons, Fanny by Gaslight, The Wicked Lady and Caravan based around a stable of British actors including Margaret Lockwood, Stewart Granger, James Mason, and Patricia Roc. The studio also made modern-dress comedies and melodramas such as Love Story, Time Flies (starring Tommy Handley, 1944), Bees in Paradise (with Arthur Askey directed by Val Guest, 1944), They Were Sisters, and Easy Money.

Later on, Betty Box (the only major female producer during this time in British Cinema) led its subsequent productions including Miranda (1948) and the Huggett family series with Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, and Petula Clark. Rank closed in 1951 due to poor performance and that the management were unhappy about the results.

BBC used the Lime Grove site in 1949 until 1991 for its TV current affairs and other programmes. The Poole Studio was left in a shabby condition after its closure in 1951. It was only used for occasional art performances, and it served as a venue for a Hitchcock final season in October 2003. In 2002 the building were cleared, and architects Munkenback and Marshall built apartments and subsequently named Gainsborough Studios. Gainsborough studios have definitely made its mark in the film making industry by making worthwhile films during its existence.