Short answers, pulled from the story.
Elstree Studios are located in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, not in the village of Elstree itself. When film production began in the area in 1914, Elstree was the larger settlement, lending its name to the local railway station, telephone exchange, and civil parish before Borehamwood grew to surpass it.
Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1929, was the first British sound film. It was shot at the studios on Shenley Road in Borehamwood, which were operated at the time by British International Pictures.
Films produced at the various Elstree studios include Star Wars (1977), The Shining (1980), and the Indiana Jones franchise. Other productions include The Dam Busters (1955), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), which starred Charles Laughton.
In August 1973, incoming managing director Andrew Mitchell MBE was almost immediately ordered to close the Shenley Road studios and lay off all staff. The studios survived through significant job cuts, and their long-term survival was secured by the production of Star Wars in 1977, which brought subsequent George Lucas and Steven Spielberg productions to Borehamwood.
Paul Welsh MBE, a local writer and historian, led the Save Our Studios campaign. Hertsmere Borough Council purchased the remaining Shenley Road site in February 1996 for two million pounds and invested a further ten million pounds in renovations and two new stages. Welsh estimated that Hertsmere ratepayers received a fifteen percent annual return on that investment.
Queen filmed the music video for Bohemian Rhapsody at Elstree Studios in Borehamwood in November 1975.