Jump to: navigation, search

Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire

Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio and television studio situated in the grounds of Heatherden Hall in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of central London.

The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows, commercials and pop promos and is well known as the home of the Carry On, Superman, and James Bond film series.

Hitchcock's Films

Young and Innocent (1937)

Production of Young and Innocent moved from Lime Grove to the new Pinewood Studios facilities in March 1937.

As well as using the studio's soundstages, Hitchcock used the exterior of Heatherden Hall as Aunt Mary's house and the exterior of Stage A as the rear of the Grand Hotel.[1]

Two of the film's more memorable scenes were filmed at Pinewood — Erica's car falling into the mine and the Grand Hotel ballroom single-take crane shot.

Frenzy (1972)

Hitchcock returned to Pinewood in 1971 to film Frenzy, with Syd Cain acting as the production designer.

Although the majority of the interiors were filmed on Stages B and D, the director also made use of other locations at Pinewood, including:[2]

  • Heatherden Hall's Green Room was used as the interior of Brenda Blaney's Club
  • Pinewood exterior water tank was used to restage some of the opening London County Hall scene, including the retrieval of the body (played by stuntwoman Judith Chisholme) from the river
  • the studio's gardens were used to film the morning park bench scene where Richard Blaney tries to persuade Babs Milligan that he is innocent of killing Brenda Blaney (filmed on September 13th) — the initial establishing shot was filmed separately in Hyde Park
  • the studio's backlot was used to film shots of Bob Rusk moving Babs Milligan's body to the potato truck at night
  • an initial attempt to film the scene where Babs Milligan's body falls from the potato tuck was staged on the main road outside the studio, with stuntwoman Jenni Lefre standing in for Anna Massey (the scene was then later refilmed on Stage D with Massey's body double Barbara Wendy)

Image Gallery

Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...

Google Maps

Nearest Locations

Links

Notes & References

  1. Alfred Hitchcock's London: A Reference Guide to Locations (2009) by Gary Giblin, page 278
  2. Alfred Hitchcock's London: A Reference Guide to Locations (2009) by Gary Giblin, pages 277-79