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The Making Of A Thirties Film

100 Years of Elstree Studios - Part Six

It's easy to concentrate on recent happenings at Elstree Studios. Memories of film-making seem to begin at Star Wars and Indiana Jones these days. But when the Studios have been going for 100 years, there are many stories hidden away and ripe for exploration. Take this film from 1935 called I Give My Heart. One of the many 'quota quickies' filmed at Elstree, it did have some interesting features. Its stars such as Gitta Alpar, Patrick Waddington and Owen Nares are not known today, while its cinematographer, Claude Friese-Greene, was the son of film pioneer William Friese-Greene.  The director was Marcel Varnel who later made many comedy films for Gainsborough Pictures with Will Hay, Arthur Askey and George Formby.

Thanks to the Paul Welsh Archive we have a copy of Weekly Illustrated from July 1935 which features BTS shots of the making of the film in Elstree. This scene was recreating one of the first animal balloon flights in 1783 by the Montgolfier Brothers, while Louis XV and Madame du Barry looked on. The scriptwriters happily ignored the fact that Louis had died in 1774. Never mind, the shots below look like it was a fun outing for all. There is clip from the film on YouTube.