Filming had begun at the end of June 1949 of Walt Disney’s ‘Treasure Island’ at Denham Film Studios with some location work in Devon and Cornwall

In fact for the scenes when the pirates landed on Treasure Island the actual grounds of Denham where it sloped down the the River Colne was used as this exotic island – and when seen on the Technicolor screen it looked perfect.

At the end of July 1949 during a very hot spell of weather the very clever craftsmen at Denham had dammed the RIver Colne, cleared the rushes away, hauled in sand and hung long, twisting vines from the trees.

Most startling of all was the introduction of a number of 40 ft high Palm Trees – artificial of course but realistic. This followed work on the removal of the rushes by the lakeside and then the importing of tonnes and tonnes of sand for the beach

Credit for this wonderful setting goes to the craftsmen who worked tirelessly on the project under the guidance of production designer Thomas Morahan

These were great memorable scenes

ABOVE =- We can see where the tonnes of sand had effectively utilised

What great fun – and hard work – it would have been to have been there during this week of filming

I have been away for much of January 2026, so this Blog has been somewhat neglected but I am now back and continuing with the very detailed reporting of this film’s production. More to come