This story looks at two local clubs, before and after the War, where groups of amateur enthusiasts made short movie films.
Brondesbury Cine Society
The Brondesbury Cine Society held their first meeting on 13 September 1932. It was originally called the Kilburn and Brondesbury Amateur Movie Society until the name was shortened in April 1933.
They initially met in an empty floor above an engineering workshop (no address given). Then in October 1932 they rented St Anne’s Church Hall in Salusbury Road Willesden for weekly meetings and to show their silent films. Today the building has been replaced by a modern church.
1935 OS Map showing St Anne’s
At the end of October 1932 an audience of 200 people came to see ‘Hemsby Holiday Camp’, a film made by Claude Dickins at the Norfolk camp that summer. Other films included ‘A Day at Bourneville’, ‘A Day at Port Sunlight’ and ‘The Mistake’ (no other information was given about this film). The Hampstead News reported that in addition to the films, a turn by the Batchelors’ Concert Party was much appreciated, and Mr Young of the Magic Circle entertained the audience with mystery tricks.
On 25 February 1933, 130 people saw the comedy drama ‘All is not Gold’ which was the group’s first full-length production. It was made shooting once a week over a six-week period in St Anne’s Hall, where they created both a kitchen and a pub set. Exterior footage was made on two weekends around Salusbury Road and along the Regent’s Canal towpath in Maida Vale. The film was written and directed by A.B.C. Denman. The lead was played by J. H. Young. The cameraman was A. D. Frischmann, who told a cine magazine it was shot on a Pathescope de Luxe camera with Pathescope 9.5 mm film running for 300 feet edited down from a total of 400 feet. The film won a prize at the National Amateur Film Contest.
An item in the Hampstead News, 30 November 1933, said the new studio of the group was now ready near Kensal Rise Station. This was at the rear of 100 Chamberlayne Road with an entrance in Clifford Gardens. The studio was described as 1,400 square feet, including a hall with a glass roof and parquet floor. There was a dark room and editing facilities. Meetings were held every Tuesday and Friday evenings.
In December the group were shooting scenes of a teashop in their studio, and Messrs. J. Lyons supplied the furniture, crockery and a real ‘Nippy’ waitress.
A film called ‘B’ written by G.W. Eves and photographed by B. Ludin, involved location shooting on Stanmore Common, but nothing more is known.
The project for 1934 was ‘Two Candles’ a dramatic comedy again written and directed by A.B.C. Denman. This also won a prize at the National Amateur film contest.
At their monthly meetings, in addition to their own films, the society showed films made by other amateur groups. Full membership cost 30 shillings a year (equivalent to about £115 today). Plus a levy of 6d for every meeting attended. Visiting membership of 10/6 per year, allowed attendance at projection evenings, lectures and dances. But they were not allowed to hold office or vote.
We managed to find information about some of the group.
Frederick Claude Dickens (1887 to 1972), was one of the founders of the society. In the 1930s he lived at 1 Harvist Road Kilburn. At the time of the 1939 register he was an assistant foreman inspecting shells at the Woolwich Arsenal.
Arthur Bernard Crossland (A.B.C.) Denman (1906 to 1962), was a chartered accountant. In 1935 he was living at 46 Salmon Street Kingsbury, with a office in Finsbury Circus in the City.
Albert David Frischmann (1901 to 1994), was an import-export merchant. In the 1930s he lived at 39 Parade Mansions Hendon and had a office in Fenchurch Street.
Leonard Albert Elliott (1906 to 1976), was the society secretary who lived at 40 Peter Avenue Willesden. He was an assistant manager in a publishing company.
Berend Ludin (1884 to 1961), was chairman of the society. Born in the Netherlands, he was a master furrier and in 1934 had a shop at 134 High Street Notting Hill. In 1939 he lived at 136 Holland Park Avenue. He made a film called ‘Fur’ which was shown at the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1934. He showed the Brondesbury Cine films to other amateur societies around the country.
John E. Holdroyd was a silk salesman who lived at 135 Dollis Hill Avenue. He was the first secretary of the club. When he resigned because of pressure of work, Elliott took over.
James Eldred Skewes (1904 to 1990) became chairman of the society on 4 October 1933. He was an optician with a shop at 81 Cambridge Road Kilburn, and he lived at 101 West End Lane.
George Cambridge Weston (1870 to 1954), was a chartered electrical engineer who was born in 78 Denmark Road Kilburn. He worked as a distribution engineer for the Kensington and Knightsbridge Electric Lighting Co. In 1921 he was living at 22 Springwell Avenue Harlesden. By 1939 he had moved to Ealing.
Very few women are named in the newspaper reports, apart from Miss G. Y. Wilson who was elected as a council member in October 1933. In 1934 a Grace Wilson was living at 68 King’s Road Willesden Green. This may have been her, but we could not find more information. A Miss M. St George was mentioned as an assistant secretary of the club. A Margaret St George was shown in the 1939 register at 53 Leeside Crescent Golders Green.
The last mention we could find of the society was their 1937 film ‘Consider Your Verdict’, which invited the audience to solve a mystery death. The club had definitely disbanded by the start of WWII.
Fourfold Film Society
The second of the clubs was the Fourfold Film Society. They started in December 1946 with four members and a second-hand camera. (The name may have been chosen because there were four original members).
Their first public meeting was held on 14 April 1948 in the Hodford Road Methodist Church Hall in Golders Green. Today, this is Trinity Church at 90 Hodford Road NW11.
The society president was Denys Alwyn Davies who lived nearby at 106 Hodford Road. He was a tailor and furrier manager, and also a local councillor.
At the end of April 1948 Denys Davies spoke to a reporter from the Hampstead News and said they were trying to contact ‘Sylvia’, a 20 year old model who had played the part of an artist in their first colour film and then disappeared. Davies said, ‘we are a friendly lot, and never thought of calling her anything else but Sylvia’. They did not know her surname but believed she lived in Swiss Cottage or St Johns Wood. Davies had very good links with the paper who published the story under the title ‘Where is Sylvia’. Despite the appeal, nothing happened and it seems the mysterious Sylvia was never found.
In July 1948 the society showed three of the original Brondesbury Cine Club films; ‘Two Candles’, ‘Consider Your Verdict’, and ‘Interlude’, at the Midland Arms Church Road Hendon. There was an open house for former members of the old society who were asked to contact Denys Davies.
The first major Fourfold production was a road safety film called ‘Time to Consider’. During 1948 it was shown across the country and in several other countries. It won a prize at an International competition for amateur films in France.
In October 1948 the group made a mobile cinema van by adapting an old station wagon to tour the district to attract membership. When it parked opposite the Hendon Central Library they attracted a large crowd to watch the film clips.
In January 1949 their second film was ‘Account Settled’ which took 15 months to complete. Directed by Denys Davies, it was written by 24 years old shopkeeper George Bunce, who also played the lead role. Other cast members were Miss Winifred Brock a 25 years old social worker of Adelaide Road Hampstead, William Jackson a sales representative from Chalcot Crescent Regents Park, John Hartland 28, a film projectionist from Childs Hill, and Stella Jamalker from Golders Green. Scenes were shot in Golders Green, Hampstead and Northolt and London (Hendon) Airports. The plot involved smuggling uranium from London to Paris. Footage was also shot on the Paris Metro where it was illegal to film without permission. The film won a silver cup in London and was chosen to represent Britain at an international film festival in Italy.
At the annual meeting in April 1949, Denys Davies was re-elected president, and Miss Katie Lunniss of 16 Chalcot Crecent was elected vice president. The chairman was Cliff Saunders who said the society had grown from four original members to 80, and was now one of the largest in the country. Members of a general committee were named as Miss K. Bates, Mr John Tarland, Mr D. Currie, Mr F. Silver, and Miss Lilienthal.
The club provided a good social setting for young people, and John Harland, the Fourfold projectionist who lived at 13 Crewys Road married Kay Martin, the social secretary, who lived at 168 Haverstock Hill, in June 1949.
At a meeting in September 1949 the group watched Eisenstein’s masterpiece ‘Battleship Potemkin’. It was reported that five units of the society had been working on films over the summer. These included a gangster drama, a farce with some old fashioned custard pie throwing, a surrealist film, and a puppet-human production.
In October 1949 the Fourfold meetings had moved to the Unitarian Church Hall in Hoop Lane Golders Green.
The society’s film ‘Meet Me at the Local’ looked at the work of local newspapers. It was made at the London Counties Newspaper works at 161 Tottenham Lane N8. The Hampstead News which was published by Baines and Scarsbrook at 75 Fairfax Road South Hampstead, and other local papers were printed there. The film was very successful and won the 1949 Institute of Amateur Cinematographers gold cup for the best documentary film.
In 1950 Donald S. James wrote and directed ‘How to catch a Burglar’ a burlesque of the American gangster film where crime does not pay. It received a honourable mention in the American Cinematographers amateur category. In his 1960 book, ‘Tackle Movie Making this Way’, Tony Rose praised the film; ‘In its own light-hearted comedy class I don’t think it has ever been surpassed, and considered purely as a piece of film craft it is worthy of repeated study’.
In July 1952 they made the comedy ‘Sweet Repose’ with Gay Murray of Howitt Road as the lead. The camera operators were both women, Miss Margaret Gibson of Mortimer Crescent Kilburn, and Miss Beatrice Jones of Parliament Hill.
In December 1952 the society held their fourth Xmas party when about 40 people attended the pirate-themed meeting at the Methodist Church Hall.
After a year’s work, a psychological thriller called ‘The Unsuspected’ was completed at the end of 1953. They used actors recruited from local drama groups and the film was directed by 27 years old electronics engineer David Jones, with his assistant Charles Aldridge a cigar lighter salesman of 20 Compton Road Kensal Rise. The cameraman was Michael Herman, a furrier from Gresham Gardens Golders Green. Location shooting was done in a Paddington back street and a local Golders Green café. The film cost £60 and had a running time of 30 minutes.
By early 1954, the society had finished ‘Appleford Races’ which they shot at the steam tractor races at Appleford in Oxfordshire. It was directed by David Jones and Charles Aldridge. They planned to show it to the group in February. However, the Fourfold Film Society closed for some unknown reason before that happened.
We have searched the newspapers, and found that the Hampstead News regularly reported the two local cine clubs. Our account shows how successful the young film makers were. Unfortunately, we were not able to find any online clips of their films which sound fascinating.
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