Merton Park Studios, opened in 1929, was a British

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

production studio located at Long Lodge, 269 Kingston Road in

Merton Park Merton Park is a suburb in the London Borough of Merton. It is situated between Colliers Wood, Morden, South Wimbledon and Raynes Park. It is 11 miles (11.7 km) southwest of Charing Cross. The area is part of the historic parish of Merton i ...

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

. In the 1940s, it was owned by Piprodia Entertainment, Nikhanj Films and

Film Producers Guild The Film Producers Guild was a collective of documentary film companies in England. Peter Morley"Peter Morley - A Life Rewound" Part 1 (PDF) British Academy of Film and Television Arts (2006), pp. 41-42. Retrieved September 29, 2011 It was fo ...

. Peter Morley
"Peter Morley - A Life Rewound" Part 1
(PDF) British Academy of Film and Television Arts (2006), p. 41. Retrieved September 29, 2011 Many second features were produced at Merton Park, and for a time it was the base of

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

. Unlike many other studios, it remained open during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, producing films for the Ministry of Information. In the late 1940s, the studios produced several children's films.Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, ''The British 'B' Film'', Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 96–101. In 1950,

Anglo-Amalgamated Anglo-Amalgamated Productions was a British film production company, run by Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy, which operated from 1945 until roughly 1971 (after which it was absorbed into EMI Films). Low-budget and second features, often produced at M ...

began making films at Merton Park. From 1957 to 1959, they produced an average of one second-feature a month there. They produced the crime series ''

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

'' (1953 to 1961, 39 half-hour features), ''The

Edgar Wallace Mysteries The ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'' is a British second-feature film series mainly produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated. There were 48 films in the series, which were released between 1960 and 1965. The series was screened as ''The E ...

'' (1960 to 1965, 47 hour-long features) and '' The Scales of Justice'' (1962 to 1967, 13 half-hour features) at Merton Park. The first film in the

Carry On Carry On may refer to: * ''Carry On'' (franchise), a British comedy media franchise *Carry-on luggage or hand luggage, luggage that is carried into the passenger compartment * ''Carry On'' (film), a 1927 British silent film * ''Carry On'' (novel), ...

series, ''

Carry On Sergeant ''Carry On Sergeant'' is a 1958 British comedy film about National Service starring William Hartnell, Bob Monkhouse and Eric Barker; it is the first in the series of ''Carry On'' films, with 31 entries released from 1958 to 1992. The film wa ...

'' (1958), was shot there. The last film made at Merton Park, in March 1967, was from ''The Scales of Justice'' series, called ''Payment in Kind''. The director

Ken Hughes Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in t ...

made his early films at Merton Park in the 1950s, and the

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...

American director

Joseph Losey Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American theatre and film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Blackliste ...

made his first British movies there under pseudonyms. Amongst those apprenticed for a time at the studio were the composer

David Fanshawe David Arthur Fanshawe (19 April 1942 – 5 July 2010) was an English composer and self-styled explorer with a fervent interest in world music.''The Times'' obituary 9 July 2010. His best-known composition is the 1972 choral work '' African Sanctu ...

, who trained as a

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film which increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The film edit ...

, and director

Michael Winner Robert Michael Winner (30 October 1935 – 21 January 2013) was a British filmmaker, writer, and media personality. He is known for directing numerous Action film, action, Thriller films, thriller, and black comedy films in the 1960s, 1970s and ...

. The actor/author Stanley Morgan has a number of pages dedicated to the Merton Park films he starred in.memoirs
Stanley Morgan website After closing, the site was re-developed for housing and the

sound stages A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a soundproof, large structure, building, or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or ...

were demolished. However, Long Lodge, an historic building fronting Kingston Road which served as the studio's administrative headquarters, still exists. In a 2008 documentary, ''Remembering Merton Park Studios'', actor Clifford Earl presents memories of Merton Park Studios between the 1930s and late 1960s, with producers, directors and film technicians who worked there telling their stories. (Source: Talking Pictures TV)

References

External links

List of Merton Park films
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

British film studios Film production companies of the United Kingdom {{film-studio-stub