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The History of British Cinema: 1952

May -

British Lion sells Worton Hall Studios at Isleworth to the National Coal Board for its Central Research Laboratory. [ADD]

May -

The British Film Industry Report by Political and Economic Planning (PEP) is published. [ADD]

30/6 -

British Lion vacates Worton Hall Studios, and the National Coal Board’s Central Research Establishment moves in the following day. [ADD]

22/7 -

David Lean’s The Sound Barrier premieres at the Empire Theatre in Leicester Square, London.  [ADD]

4/9 -

Objective Burma is released seven years after it is made.   The war flick starring Errol Flynn was withdrawn from release a week after it first opened in 1945 following an outcry that no British soldiers were seen to participate in the conflict in Burma. [ADD]

23/9 -

Charlie Chaplin returns home with his wife and family to a warm welcome after an absence of 21 years. [ADD]

16/10 -

Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight premieres at the Odeon cinema, Leicester Square in London.   Claire Bloom stars opposite Chaplin as the paralysed ballerina his ramshackle comedian Calvero nurses back to health.   Silent rival Buster Keaton also makes a brief appearance. [ADD]

30/10 -

The provisions of the Cinematograph Act of 1909 are extended to moral as well as physical safety, with special restrictions on admissions of children. [ADD]

23/11 -

The Sunday Graphic votes French actress Edwige Feuillère its Star of Stars. [ADD]

1/12 -

Serge Reggiani, Claude Dauphin and Simone Signoret arrive in London to dub Jacques Becker's Casque d'or (Golden Marie). [ADD]

– Rank sells its Gate Studios at Elstree to Andrew Smith Harkness, a manufacturer of cinema screens. [ADD]

– The British Film Institute takes over the Telekinema on London’s South Bank. [ADD]

– The Crown Film Unit is disbanded. [ADD]

– Ray Harryhausen begins work on a puppet version of The Tortoise and the Hare.   He later abandons the project due to other work commitments and it is completed by two other animators in 2002. [ADD]

Other Key British Films of 1952

The History of Cinema: 1952