Merton Park Studios

Merton Park Studios was a British film production studio located at Long Lodge, 269 Kingston Road in Merton Park, south London. In the 1940s, it was owned by Piprodia Entertainment, Nikhanj Films and Film Producers Guild.[1]

Opened in 1929, many second features were produced there,[1] and for a time it was home to Radio Luxembourg. Unlike many other studios, it remained open during World War II, producing films for the Ministry of Information. In the late 1940s the studios produced several children's films.[2] In 1958 the first Carry On movie, Carry On Sergeant, was made there.[2]

In 1950, Anglo-Amalgamated 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 (1953 to 1961, 39 half-hour features), The Edgar Wallace Mysteries (1960 to 1965, 47 hour-long features) and The Scales of Justice (1962 to 1967, 13 half-hour features) at Merton Park. The last film made at Merton Park, in March 1967, was from the Scales of Justice series, called Payment in Kind.[2]

The director Ken Hughes made his early films at Merton Park in the 1950s, and the blacklisted American director Joseph Losey made his first British movies there under pseudonyms.[2] Amongst those apprenticed for a time at the studio were the composer David Fanshawe, who trained as a film editor there, and Michael Winner.

The actor/author Stanley Morgan has a number of pages dedicated to the Merton Park films he starred in.[3][4]

After closing, the site was re-developed for housing, however, Long Lodge, an historic building fronting Kingstone Road which served as the studio headquarters, still exists.

In a 2008 made Documentary: 'Remembering Merton Park Studios' actor Clifford Earl presents memories of Merton Park Studios between the 1930s and late 1960s, with Producers, Directors and Technicians telling of their memories. (Source: Talking Pictures TV)

References
  1. Peter Morley, "Peter Morley - A Life Rewound" Part 1 Archived 2013-07-18 at the Wayback Machine (PDF) British Academy of Film and Television Arts (2006), p. 41. Retrieved September 29, 2011
  2. Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, The British 'B' Film, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 96–101.
  3. The Films of Stanley Morgan Stanley Morgan website
  4. memoirs Stanley Morgan website
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