When the first film production companies were established in the 1890s, the limits of technology meant that early films were usually under a minute long.

However, the first decade of motion picture saw film transform from an amusing novelty to a well-respected, large-scale industry.

By 1910, actors were receiving screen credit for their roles and the first film stars were born. The comedies of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, the adventures of Douglas Fairbanks and the romances of Clara Bow made these performers’ faces well-known on every continent.

In 1911, the Watford Cinema Palace was opened. The cinema could accommodate 500 people and was swiftly followed by a second cinema, the Electric Coliseum, in St Albans Road.

A programme from the Plaza Cinema in Watford claimed, ‘Few things have been more rapid than the advance of the cinema. 20 years ago the Cinderella of the Arts, today it has come into its own.’ The Watford Observer agreed that it was abundantly clear that ‘pictures are not a passing phase, as was roller skating’.

Before the First World War, French and Italian cinema was globally the most popular. However, the war was to have a devastating impact on European film industries. By the 1920s, the American industry – or ‘Hollywood’, as it was becoming known – had usurped Europe’s position and was producing an average of 800 feature films a year.

In 1927, Warners released The Jazz Singer, which contains what is generally regarded as the first synchronised dialogue in a feature film.

The change was remarkably quick. By the end of 1929, Hollywood was almost all-talkie.

However, the change wasn’t easy. Artists both behind and in front of the camera struggled with the limitations of early sound equipment and were uncertain as to how to utilise the new medium.

Talking pictures first arrived in Watford in 1928 in the form of short films, with the first full-length feature to be shown in this new format arriving the following year.

During the 1930s, the contentious subject of cinemas opening on Sundays became a big issue in Watford. Debate sparked the formation of the Sunday Defence Committee in 1934, who expressed concerns about the influence of this new form of entertainment. There was particular fear of the ‘disturbing gangster element’ in films.

When Rickmansworth Odeon opened in the High Street in 1935, a public meeting followed on the Sunday debate. When one person asked, ‘Who shall rest on Sunday? That is not in the Bible. The parson works on Sunday’, a voice from the back replied, ‘That’s the only day he does.’

The issue was finally laid to rest when the public voted in favour of Sunday opening, and the popularity of films meant that, by the 1940s, there were nine picture houses in Watford and Rickmansworth.

However, during the post-war years, the film industry was threatened by television. The increasing popularity of the medium meant that many cinemas went bankrupt and closed. This was to be the fate of the Odeon in Watford, which was transformed into a dance hall before becoming a nightclub, a role it retains today as Oceana.

Despite the competition from television, cinemas experienced a brief resurgence with Bond films and late-night shows. Queues for the Odeon in Watford frequently stretched up The Parade past the Bank building.

There were still some who continued to object to cinema. When the Odeon in Watford showed The Exorcist in 1974, there were picket lines outside. Protesters claimed the film would ‘affect young people in Watford susceptible to demon power’.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was later refused a licence in Watford, and Watford Council also took the precaution of banning Monty Python’s Life of Brian in the town.

With technology taking ever greater strides, 3D films have gained in popularity since the release of James Cameron’s Avatar, which remains the highest-grossing film of all time.

Until recently, the Harry Potter series, filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, was the highest-grossing film franchise of all time. In 2015, it was surpassed by the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Since its opening as a film studio in 1994, Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden has housed a number of high-profile productions including Goldeneye, Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, and Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow. The studios are one of the largest and most state-of-the-art filmmaking facilities in the world.