The Road to Bray
Bray Studios will be forever associated with Hammer. Not simply because of the iconic movies, such as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958), and The Mummy (1959) that were shot within its walls over half a century ago. It’s more than that. Bray has come to represent the eccentricity, Britishness and a kind of familial identity that helped make Hammer so special.
It's a view which arguably, is a little unfair on the other bases and places used by the company after its rebirth in 1947. They, too, were vital to the organisation’s success during a period of great uncertainty, and even greater inventiveness. In this feature we look at that fledgling seat-of-the-pants era, focusing on the makeshift studios and ‘can do’ spirit that characterised Hammer’s early post-war years. It’s an account that covers both success and tragedy, as a gutsy little film company unwittingly travelled the road to Bray…
That road began in Blackpool, Lancashire, which feels vaguely appropriate. It’s a town that’s dedicated to affordable entertainment; a resort of working class razzmatazz typified by its rain-battered illuminations, Golden Mile and famous tower. The latter houses beauty, in the form of its world-renowned ballroom, and horror, courtesy of the Blackpool Tower Dungeon, an attraction which promises jump scares, theatrical terrors and ‘scary fun for all the family’. What could be more Hammer?
Whilst filming Dick Barton Strikes Back (1949) in this northern coastal town, Supervising Electrician Jack Curtis gave Hammer exec Tony Hinds the idea of renting a large country house. Films could be shot on its premises, negating the need to spend huge amounts hiring stage space owned by the more established studios.
In an interview for Little Shoppe of Horrors, Michael Carreras recalled the upshot of this idea: ‘Tackling his assignment in an unusual way, Tony rented as the studio base for the Hammer programme an unfurnished country mansion at Cookham Dean. He collected together a group of knowledgeable technicians who, under his guidance, transformed the empty house into a practical and economical working studio, as well as a very comfortable residence, complete with butler for those who wished to live on the job.’
Valentine Dyall and Julia Lang on the set of Doctor Morelle.
Dial Close, the vast, 23-bedroom property Hammer acquired, was located on Winter Hill, near Maidenhead, close to the River Thames, and in November, 1948, filming began on its premises. Its inaugural picture was Doctor Morelle (1949), an engaging little B movie directed by Godfrey Grayson. Inevitably, using the interior of a house for filming threw up conundrums due to architectural impositions which a conventional studio stage would have never have presented. As such, lighting rigs had to be specially adapted and blankets were strategically placed in oak-panelled rooms to help with the sound quality. It proved necessary to conceal and ‘cheat’ sections of some chambers and corridors, disguising them with curtains, drapes and other pieces of camouflage. Blocking had to take into account the physical limitations Dial Close imposed, although planes soaring ahead after ‘Action!’ had been called, and the noisy generators irritating local residents, proved to be issues that were harder to alleviate.
The much-used staircase, seen here in Meet Simon Cherry with (l-r) Courtney Hope, Ernest Butcher, Anthony Forwood and Zena Marshal.
Doctor Morelle (1949), followed by The Adventures of PC 49 (1949), Celia (1949) and Meet Simon Cherry (1949) were all shot at this picturesque base, and despite the headaches it gave Grayson (who helmed all but Celia, which was directed by Francis Searle) it seems to have been a period which cast and crew enjoyed. The recollections of ‘Continuity Girl’ Renée Glynne, as shared in Hammer Films: The Bray Studios Years by Wayne Kinsey, give an insight into those initially sunny days. ‘We were a very tight crew [at Dial Close] with regular directors Frank Searle and Godfrey Grayson. I remember us all going down to the river in the evenings – swimming, punting, sailing… there was a tennis court and we played lunchtime and in the evening. We stayed in the house during the week and went home at the weekends.’
On 12 February, 1949, ‘Hammer Film Productions’ was registered as a company, and it’s intriguing to speculate whether the stability that Dial Close had given the organisation was partially responsible for this step forward.
Don Stannard, seen here with Jean Lodge in Dick Barton Strikes Back.
But less than six months later, on July 9, 1949, Hammer held a party at their studios, a fête-like affair attended by over two hundred stars and crew members. Dick Barton Strikes Back had been trade shown earlier in the year and was already receiving high praise with Today’s Cinema summing up the general feeling: ‘One cannot easily envision a greater magnet for the popular public.’ It was due to hit cinemas within the following fortnight and hopes were high for the movie which starred the highly regarded Don Stannard as the eponymous agent. It had been the third in the series to be shot and more entries were already planned. Stannard attended the party and left with his wife, Thelma, music director Frank Spencer and co-star, Sebastian Cabot.
There are conflicting reports of exactly what followed but it’s known that Stannard was driving and the tragic accident occurred not far from Dial Close, on the road leading into the village of Cookham. Although the car’s passengers escaped largely unharmed on a physical level, Stannard was killed instantly when his vehicle overturned.
The following month, local residents complained about excessive noise and the general disturbances created by onsite filmmaking, such as the use of arc lights in the evening. Perhaps execs felt it was time to move on, and Hammer upped sticks, bidding farewell to their first Thames-side home.
Production on The Man in Black, the first Hammer film shot at Oakley Court, began on August 8, 1949.
Oakley Court became their ‘new Dial Close’ and The Man in Black (1949), Room to Let (1949), Someone at the Door (1949), What the Butler Saw (1950) and The Lady Craved Excitement (1950) were all shot at this imposing Victorian country house in Berkshire. A sprawling, historic estate in the hamlet of Water Oakley, it boasted a number of outhouses which Hammer soon converted to, amongst other things, a screening theatre, storage facilities and odd job rooms. It worked well as a base, and indeed, long after Hinds, Carreras and company had departed, movies including The Old Dark House (1963), And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973) and Murder by Death (1976) were filmed there.
Again, crew members later recalled the Oakley Court era with affection, noting how gothic the building felt, and even claiming to have been plagued by bats in their bedrooms whilst staying there overnight – surely a sign of things to come!
In 1950 another change of base was required, and reporting on the move at the time, The Cinema Studio noted ‘[the company’s] last ten productions have been so successful, with seven having had circuit deals and three more yet to be released, that they decided to step up production whilst ensuring that the high-level of quality and entertainment was maintained, if not further improved.’ This necessitated a relocation, and sticking to the method that had already proved successful, they once again eschewed traditional studio facilities.
The Man in Black: Joan (Hazel Penwarden) feels her father’s loss but knows he’d have wanted her to carry on, regardless.
Their new home would be at Gilston Park, a country club in Harlow, Essex. Meanwhile, filming on The Lady Craved Excitement, the final Hammer picture to be shot at Oakley Court, began with location work in February, 1950. A light crime-comedy starring Hy Hazell, Michael Medwin and Sidney James, it was directed by Francis Searle. Shooting at Oakley Court itself commenced March 6, 1950 and wrapped on the last day of the month.
Another era had ended. Yet the prologue to another had been unknowingly written. Francis Searle had an old friend who lived in a flat in the nearby building, Down Place. As his acquaintance was away for a while, he’d allowed Searle to briefly film some material for The Lady Craved Excitement there… It was the first Hammer material recorded at the location that would soon become known simply as Bray.
Although the majority of The Dark Light was filmed on location off the coast of Portsmouth, it was also the last Hammer feature shot at Gilston Park.
Gilston Park proved to be another short-lived centre of operations, with filming on Black Widow (1951) beginning on April 17, 1950. Three more Hammer pictures - The Rossiter Case (1951), To Have and to Hold (1951) and The Dark Light (1951) were also shot behind its striking façade. The last of these, a thriller directed and written by Vernon Sewell, was the first film produced by the then 23-year old Michael Carreras. The production wrapped on August 19, 1950, after which Hammer relocated to premises they would ultimately call home for many more years to come.
But by that point, or at least by late 1950, Hammer had largely evolved into the organisation that would see such stellar success in the decade ahead. James and Michael Carreras, along with Tony Hinds, were established as the company’s guiding triumvirate. Other significant players, included writer and director John Gilling, Jimmy Sangster, responsible for so many classic scripts, future DoP Moray Grant, makeup artist Phil Leakey, editor James Needs and both ‘mainstay’ and notable actors, such as Michael Ripper and Andrew Keir were already familiar faces in what could be loosely, and perhaps a little sentimentally, called ‘the Hammer family’.
The succession of unique, improvised studios since that seminal suggestion in Blackpool, 1948, had helped give Hammer an identity. Not in gothic thrills, but as a company that could survive in the tough would of film production; a studio that could pivot and grow; a creative hub that could spot opportunities and deliver movies the world wanted to watch. The Hammer House of Horror had yet to be built. That would come. But its foundations were already in place, lain in riverside country houses throughout those hectic, halcyon and at times, hellish early years in Dial Close, Oakley Court and Gilston Park.
You can read more about Hammer’s early days in The Genres that made Hammer - Part One: An Origin Story and The Genres that made Hammer - Part Two: Rebirth and Radio Activity. And to keep up-to-date on everything relating to the Hammer of today (and tomorrow!) you simply sign up to the newsletter now!
