Jezebel38 wrote:Hi John -
Firstly, I wanted to say your blog postings about the locations in THE ARTIST (which I found on another message board) really added to my enjoyment of that film! I had viewed the film once, and had only recognized the Cicada Club from photo's posted on their web site (hope to visit there sometime when I'm in LA) and then found your blog postings and marveled at all the historical places used in the film, especially The Bradbury office building!Saw the film 2 more times, and looked for all the spots you had located.
So, I am curious though; you reside and work in the SF bay area, but most of your investigative work is for Los Angeles as that is where your favorite silent comedies were filmed? I see in your earlier posts that you scan through films sometimes just looking for locations - what about San Francisco? Any interest in locations there? For example, Lon Chaney's THE PENALTY has a whole sequence which appears to be filmed on location in downtown SF. And do you also search early talkies for locations? I also got a real kick out of watching DOUBLE HARNESS (1933) as it has William Powell and Ann Harding riding around the streets of San Francisco with many landmark buildings in the background. I guess my heart is in San Francisco more than Los Angeles
Hi Jezebel - thanks, I'm glad the blog added to your enjoyment.
I had not planned to do anything about The Artist, but when I read somewhere that they had filmed at the home on Fremont Place where Mary Pickford once lived (which I knew to be across the street from where Chaplin filmed The Kid), that got me looking. Once I looked more closely, I began to realize there were all of these legitimate connections to the silent film era locations. And then by chance I had visited the Warner Bros. backlot last summer, and took a few photos that turned out to include where they filmed scenes from The Artist as well.
One challenge posting about The Artist was grabbing frame captures. I guess there are DVD copies floating out there in the hands of AMPAS and DGA members, etc., so that they can see the film before casting votes, but I had to work off of shots from the official trailers posted on YouTube. I hope to be able to find a few more discoveries once it is released on home video.
When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton said because "that's where they keep the money." That is pretty much the same response for me regarding film locations, most were filmed in Hollywood, so that is where I focused my work. I'm glad that Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd also filmed away from SoCal, as it broadens the appeal of the books, and gave me other fun places to investigate. I am very pleased with how my study of Harold Lloyd filming Speedy in New York turned out - it is almost a book unto itself, and shows how Lloyd filmed all across Manhattan and Brooklyn, with a good study of Coney Island too.
The topic of film locations is so open-ended - theoretically spanning more than 100 years, and the entire globe, that it really helps to have some outside limits. For me it worked out that my limits where (A) choosing one of the "three" comedians, and (B) focusing on their silent work. Without these limits I might have never completed a book. Sticking to silent films also makes a natural demarcation point, as exterior filming dropped dramatically with the talkies anyway. For Keaton it was also a matter of practicality. His talkie shorts were unavailable to me when I did the book, and attempting license rights to do all of the MGM films would have made the book impossibly expensive. I was given a huge discount on the normal license fees in order to include The Cameraman in my book, which I gratefully paid, because it was very important to me to include it in the book, and but it was disproportionately expensive compared to everything else.
I am naturally interested in San Francisco locations, and have studied The Penalty, and the Rudolph Valentino film Moran of the Lady Letty. As I explain in my books, Chaplin and Keaton both filmed many scenes in San Francisco, even just a few blocks apart. I was not aware of Double Harness - is it out on video? Netflix does not seem to include it. My publisher Santa Monica Press has another location book Footsteps in the Fog, that deals with the NoCal and SF locations appearing in the various Hitchcock films.
Cheers,
John