The Kew Bridge Studios were a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

film studio A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...

located in

Kew Bridge Kew Bridge is a wide-span bridge over the Tideway (upper estuary of the Thames) linking the London Boroughs of Richmond upon Thames and Hounslow. The present bridge, which was opened in 1903 as King Edward VII Bridge by King Edward VII and Quee ...

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, west

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

which operated from 1919 to 1924. The site had originally been a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

, but due to the rapid expansion of the British film industry after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

it switched to filmmaking as the existing studios were overspilling. The studios hosted a number of

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

film-makers during the

silent era A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

, including Walter West and

Guy Newall Guy Newall (25 May 1885 – 25 February 1937) was a British actor, screenwriter and film director. He was born on the Isle of Wight on 25 May 1885. He began his film career by acting in the 1915 film '' The Heart of Sister Ann''. In 1920 he direc ...

. The studios were hit by the rapid fall in the number of films being released due to the

Slump of 1924 Slump may refer to: *Slump (economics), better known as a recession * Slump (food), a variety of cobbler *Slump (geology), a form of mass wasting event * "Slump" (song), by South Korean boy band Stray Kids *Slump (sports), a period in which a play ...

and by competition from better-equipped studios. After the studios closed down they were converted into the celebrated

Q Theatre The Q Theatre was a British theatre located near Kew Bridge in Brentford, west London, which operated between 1924 and 1958. It was built on the site of the former Kew Bridge Studios. The theatre, seating 490 in 25 rows with a central aisle, wa ...

which occupied the site until the 1950s.Low p. 152

References

Bibliography

* Low, Rachael. ''History of the British Film, 1918–1929''. George Allen & Unwin, 1971. * Warren, Patricia. ''British Film Studios: An Illustrated History''. Batsford, 2001. Brentford, London British film studios Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Hounslow {{coord missing, London