The Gate Studios

[Stephen Pickard]

Was there a mention of a The Gate Studios in Borehamwood? I have seen one film recently that was shot there, "Women of Twilight" from the early fifties. A lot of 'A' pictures had their final mixing done there in the '60's and '70's such as "Sky West and Crooked", "The Ipcress File", "Thunderball" and "The Boyfriend".

Unfortunately, the studios, which were located right by the railway station, was demolished in the last year or so.

[theuofc]

name='Stephen Pickard']Was there a mention of a The Gate Studios in Borehamwood? I have seen one film recently that was shot there, "Women of Twilight" from the early fifties. A lot of 'A' pictures had their final mixing done there in the '60's and '70's such as "Sky West and Crooked", "The Ipcress File", "Thunderball" and "The Boyfriend".

Unfortunately, the studios, which were located right by the railway station, was demolished in the last year or so.

Hello, Stephen,



Thanks for the interesting information about The Gate Studios. Such a shame they were demolished. Being situated by a railway station, Gate Studios probably faced some of the same sound difficulties that Welwyn Studios did. In the Michael Winner interview, Geoffrey Helman remembers how two of the Welwyn stages were along side the railway line and how a lookout on the roof would yell out whenever a train was coming.



Winthrop's link to the interview is still active if you care to listen to it.



BBC iPlayer - The Film Programme: 02/04/2010



Barbara

[smudge]

Yes Barbara,



Gate Studios had exactly the same problem and one poor person had to sit on the roof during shooting and warn of trains approaching the station. Wonder what he got paid?



Gate kept its cinematic connections for a good long time as it was the home of Harkness, the cinema screen manufacturers, for many years after film production ceased.



The studios were finally demolished in 2006, whereupon the 'Centenary of Cinema' commemorative plaque which was on the building vanished during that process. There is now an expensive development of flats (apartments) on the site.







Gate Studios (from the railway station) as snapped by me back in February 1989. I always used to look out for the studio's sign on the curved roof whenever I rolled into Elstree by train...



Smudge

[theuofc]

name='smudge']...............The studios were finally demolished in 2006, whereupon the 'Centenary of Cinema' commemorative plaque which was on the building vanished during that process. There is now an expensive development of flats (apartments) on the site.



Gate Studios (from the railway station) as snapped by me back in February 1989. I always used to look out for the studio's sign on the curved roof whenever I rolled into Elstree by train...



Smudge

Hi, Smudge, :-)



What a great photo of Gate Studios. I'm glad you took it back in 1989. It's sad to think it's all gone including the commemorative plaque. How disrespectful of local history to not even have saved the plaque.



Cheers for your sense of preservation and having had the foresight to take photos like this.



Best wishes,



Barbara

[smudge]

name='theuofc']Hi, Smudge, :-)



What a great photo of Gate Studios. I'm glad you took it back in 1989. It's sad to think it's all gone including the commemorative plaque. How disrespectful of local history to not even have saved the plaque.



Cheers for your sense of preservation and having had the foresight to take photos like this.



Best wishes,



Barbara

It was the intention of Elstree Screen Heritage to preserve the plaque, it just... hrmmmm...vanished! It is intended to obtain a replica for their local archive.



LOL One of my friends says I am dragging him off to take pictures of 'sheds' when I snap shots like this...



Smudge

[alan gowdy]

name='smudge']Yes Barbara,



Gate Studios had exactly the same problem and one poor person had to sit on the roof during shooting and warn of trains approaching the station. Wonder what he got paid?



Gate kept its cinematic connections for a good long time as it was the home of Harkness, the cinema screen manufacturers, for many years after film production ceased.



The studios were finally demolished in 2006, whereupon the 'Centenary of Cinema' commemorative plaque which was on the building vanished during that process. There is now an expensive development of flats (apartments) on the site.







Gate Studios (from the railway station) as snapped by me back in February 1989. I always used to look out for the studio's sign on the curved roof whenever I rolled into Elstree by train...



Smudge

The roof of Gate is just visible in the background in one location shot in School For Scoundrels (1960). I wonder if it features in any other films.

[Stephen Pickard]

name='theuofc']Hello, Stephen,



Thanks for the interesting information about The Gate Studios. Such a shame they were demolished. Being situated by a railway station, Gate Studios probably faced some of the same sound difficulties that Welwyn Studios did. In the Michael Winner interview, Geoffrey Helman remembers how two of the Welwyn stages were along side the railway line and how a lookout on the roof would yell out whenever a train was coming.



Winthrop's link to the interview is still active if you care to listen to it.



BBC iPlayer - The Film Programme: 02/04/2010



Barbara

Hello Barbara, thankyou for your reply. Like Smudge, I used to see the Gate Studios as I pulled into Borehamwood on my journey to MGM and that great photo brought a lot of memories back. I have one or two images advertising the studio in my collection of Kine Weeklys and will put them here when I get the time.

I believe the head re-recording mixer at the Gate was Maurice Askew, so if you see any films with his name you know that the film's post production was done there. I don't know the date when they ceased feature production but they continued in post production, often to pick up any 'spill over' from other studios.

[smudge]

name='alan gowdy']The roof of Gate is just visible in the background in one location shot in School For Scoundrels (1960). I wonder if it features in any other films.

There was at least one ep of H.G.Wells INVISIBLE MAN which had some action set around E&B railway station, so there might be the odd glimpse there. One of the ON THE BUSES films had a sequence shot at the adjacent gasometers, so I wonder if it could be glimpsed; I can't recall how tight the shot was framed.



Smudge

[Stephen Pickard]

[smudge]

Great cuttings Stephen - thank you for posting them.



Smudge

[Stephen Pickard]

An article on cinema screen production at the Gate Studios from Kinematograph Weekly, January 1956 :

[MikeB]

I lived in Borehamwood for some years until 2003, and commuting into London, used to pass it every day. Even by 2002 it looked a bit shabby, but its sad to see it go. I am slightly mystifed as to why you would build a studio so close to Elstree & Borehamwood Station, since by 1928 it was clear that sound was going to be important in film production!

Brings back memories, and the cuttings are fascinating. I love the GHW Productions logo, which is wonderfully over the top.