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| The daylight studios converted to arc lamps. Maurice Elvey and Victor Saville replaced wartime nostalgia with the filming of many popular books and plays. Silence gave way to “The Talkies”.
In the Thirties Michael Balcon produced the musicals of Jessie Matthews and Jack Hulbert; the comedies of Will Hay and Ben Travers' famous Aldwych farces. John Mills made his debut here in a musical "Midshipmaid" in 1932. Alfred Hitchcock made some of his earliest and best films there, "The 39 Steps" 1935 and "Sabotage" 1936. Boris Karloff came back from Hollywood to make "The Ghoul" here in 1937. Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, Paul Henreid and many others made it their stepping stone to Hollywood. Some of the greatest names in British Cinema history worked here, Michael Powell, Anthony Asquith, Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat, and Carol Reed. David Lean got his first job here, in the cutting rooms.
The Studios became a great fantasy factory; the African veld, the Swiss Alps, the Scottish Moors and Venice were re-created here. The Battle of Trafalgar was fought in its water tank; Pitt addressed a reconstructed House of Commons and the Palace of King Ferdinand of Spain was seen here in Technicolor.
In the Forties the camera crew worked on "Kipps" in 1940 wearing tin hats like a gun crew, some of the staff slept in the basement during the London Blitz making films with a strong propaganda element to entertain wartime audiences. Marcel Varnel and Walter Forde made "spy" comedies with Arthur Askey, Tommy Handley and the Crazy Gang whilst Robert Donat and Rex Harrison showed how Englishness would win the day. The marvellously successful Gainsborough historical romances which entertained the war-weary audiences began with "The Man in Grey" in 1943. It was followed by "The Wicked Lady" 1945, "Caravan" 1946, "The Magic Bow" 1946 and "The Bad Lord Byron" 1948 and many more alongside contemporary subjects such as "Love Story" and "Waterloo Road" 1944.
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