Hooray for Diallywood
As movie stars track Dialwards , Mister Adam focuses in on the area ’ s long history of filmmaking ...
Local social media channels fizzed last month upon learning pop poppet turned actual actor Harry Styles and his TARDIS had landed in Powis Square . Filming for Amazon ’ s “ My Policeman ” ( the novel about a gay bobby in 50s Brighton ) was afoot . Locals of all ages and genders grabbed their cameras and offspring , gathering for a game of ‘ Where ’ s Harry ?’
This Hollywood incursion shouldn ’ t surprise , given how important the area is for cinema . Take the Western edge of Whistler Country , St Ann ’ s Well Gardens , which predates Hollywood by over a decade as a moviemaking centre . From 1897-1904 , the pleasure gardens ’ owner George Albert Smith , arguably the most important of the Brighton [ Hove Actually ] School of pioneering filmers , made movies here .
[ Dear readers : I will ignore William Friese-Greene in this article . Not just due to minimal Dials links . A plaque in Brighton ’ s Middle Street says he invented cinema there . No he didn ’ t . The first moving pictures were shot in Leeds by a French dude . Friese-Greene was primarily Londonbased at cinema ’ s inception anyway . I ’ ve made an entire YouTube video about how full of lies that plaque is . WFG mythology denigrates the achievements of the real Hove cinema pioneers . It . Must . End . Grrr .]
The much more pleasingly acronymed
GAS , meanwhile , has many cinematic firsts to his name . First colour moving images ? Check . Editing between different angles ? Using cutaways from an establishing shot ? A title card ? Copyright notice ? Yes to all of the above . Smith ’ s sheer volume of output ( 35 short films in 1897 alone ) might be a factor in how many key elements of the language of movies he established .
Initially basing his studio in the Pump Room [ which was demolished in 1935 after the well spring dried up ], GAS was mindful that clear coastal daylight made Hove rather than smoggy London a cinema hotbed . In 1901 a glass walled studio was built to house faux interior sets . Some of Smith ’ s innovations ( eg primitive colour footage ) came after he ’ d upped sticks to Southwick three years later . Filmmaking ended at St Ann ’ s Well soon after . The council acquired it as a public park in 1908 .
Fast forward 40 years and the south eastern edge of Whistlerland housed the grandly named Brighton Film Studios , operating from 1948-1966 in a former sunday school and auction house at 51 Centurion Road .
Despite its longevity it struggled . In 1950 not a single movie was produced in Brighton & Hove . Fifty years earlier , dozens ( albeit of much shorter duration ) were shot in St Ann ’ s Well Gardens alone .
Advanced cameras and lights , with the accompanying move to primarily indoor shooting , meant seaside towns no longer had any advantage . Brighton ’ s provincial set-up couldn ’ t compete with edge-of-London titans like Pinewood and Shepperton . The sun ( or lack of reliance upon it ) has sadly set upon our local film industry .
What would Esmé Collings , bitter rival of William Friese-Greene [ you said we wouldn ’ t mention him - Ed ] make of it all ? In 1896 , while living at what is now 56 Dyke Road , Esmé directed the world ’ s first ‘ adult movie ’. Of course “ A Victorian Lady In Her Boudoir ” was tame by modern sensibilities , offering a brief glimpse of bare ankle at its , er , climax .
That said , we suspect the crowd gathered a stone ’ s throw away in Powis Square recently would happily eyeball far less ( a gloved hand or flash of side-ear perhaps ) belonging to Mr Styles . With ITV returning soon for more Grace TV movies , the area is back in the film spotlight for tales of spice , vice and police at least . Welcome to life in the West Hills of Diallywood , folks x
Hit factmeup . com for more of Mister Adam ’ s local history thinkings , including a video or two about our cinematic pioneers
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