ELSTREE: THE BRITISH HOLLYWOOD. Patricia Warren (Hardback) 1983 VINTAGE

 ELSTREE: THE BRITISH HOLLYWWOD. Patricia Warren -  With Foreword by Dame Anna Neagle.

As well as being 'that solid rock on which the British film industry is based', the B.I.P. Studios at Elstree were a unique training ground for a long line of cinematographers, technicians and writers, British and American stars, producers and directors who gave and learnt their skills with affection and dedications.

The Neptune Film studios were established at Elstree before the First World War, but it was not until a canny Scots solicitor called John Maxwell bought the newly built British National Studios in 1927, renaming them British International Pictures, that the British Hollywood really took off. Around this star studio, British and American film studios and production companies - the British and Dominion, M.G.M., Blattner, Gate and so on - were to orbit through the decades.

At various times and under various names and managements, a host of famous people were to pass through Elstree's portals: Bogarde, Bergman, Buchanan Cooper, Daniels, Dietrich, Fairbanks, Flynn, Gable, Hay, Hancock, hitchcock, Huston, Leigh, Laughton, Masson, Mills, Neagle, Oberon, Pecjk, Todd, Tauber, Wilcox... and many more.

Patricia Warren recaptures the special feeliong of warmth and loyalty inspired by Elstree, from the days of the silent WHITE SHEIK and the first British talkie, BLACKMAIL, to the special effects of blockbusters STAR WARS and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and the present day. An exciting story, ELSTREE: THE BRITISH HOLLYWOOD is the first all-embracing fully illustrated account of the studios' unique film history and achievement. It will be an entertaining and valuable work of reference for the film and television industry, film student and film buff alike.

 

a Hardback published in 1983 by Elm Tree Books