A nature and mediation film, it was, as the Herald’s Dennis Taylor wrote, “his love letter to the paradise that has been his home since 1969.” 3-D full-length movie with locations from Monterey to Big Sur.
Produced and directed by John Harris.
Filmed entirely on the Monterey Peninsula, a docudrama relating to the teachings of Dr. Wayne Dyer; Three individuals are in desperate need of new direction and meaning in their lives.
Portia Di Rossi, Maury Sterling, & Edward Kerr
Michael A. Goorjian Films
His other Peninsula movies in the 1950s were “Fast and The Furious” and “The Monster From the Ocean Floor.”
Sally Fraser
Roger Corman, King of the B Movies, Films
$2 million budget; Drama about three young marines’ adventures on love and war; The story was based on Monterey author Anton Myrer’s second novel, :The Big War;” Filmed entirely on the Monterey Peninsula, including Fisherman’s Wharf, The Ghost Tree on the 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach and the Beach and Tennis Club at Pebble Beach; Ted Balestreri, then a freshman at Monterey Peninsula College and now co-owner of the Sardine Factory on Cannery Row in Monterey and other restaurants, had a bit part, a speaking role in three scenes, as Hunter’s younger brother on a fishing boat; Loval extras in the film included Brenda Buerger (daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Newton Buerger of Pebble Beach who was a stand in for Miss Lang), Tom Coble, Ken Greene, Gregorio Cueto and Jill Livingston (then the 4-month-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Livingstone of Carmel; Jill’s twin sister might also have been in the film).
Robert Wagner, Bradford Dilman, Jeffrey Hunter. Hope Lange & Dana Winter
20th Century Fox Films
Grade-B western about a gunslinger out for revenge; Scenes filmed along the Monterey Peninsula Coastline, including the Lone Cypress in Pebble Beach.
Sterling Hayden,Pamela Duncan, Mary Beth Hughes, & Ted De Corsia
Carl G. Hittleman and Allied Artists Films
Made by the King of the B Movies, independent filmmaker Roger Corman, who used the Peninsula for this and two other movies before he gained his full stature in Hollywood; The other two Peninsula-made films were “Fast and the Furious” (1954) and “Road Racers” (1959).
Anne Kimball, Stuart Wade & Wyatt Ordung
Wyatt Ordung Films
20th Century Fox; Domestic drama about an officer wounded in Korea who marries his Japanese nurse and takes her home to California; Scenes filmed on the Monterey Peninsula, including Point Lobos, and in Salinas, including the first-ever filming of a movie from a helicopter.
Don Taylor, Shirley Yamaguchi, & Cameron Mitchell
King Vidor Films
Comedy about a magazine photographer who interviews a woman who has written an anti-men book and breaks down her romantic resistance; Scenes filmed at the Pine Inn in Carmel and the nearby coastline.
Joan Caufield & David Niven
Frank Ross, and United Artists Films
20th Century Fox; Drama about a journalist who poses as a jew to write about anti-semitism; Oscar winner for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress (Miss Holm); Also nominated for Oscars were the Screenplay, Film Editing, Peck, McGuire and Revere; Scenes filmed at various Peninsula locations.
Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, Celeste Holm, & Anne Revere
Elia Kazan Films
Story about a Marine Major who looks put after his Captain on Guadalcanal and in Australia; Scenes filmed along the coast in Del Monte Forest, including Fanshell Beach, Bird Rock and the 14th Hole of The Cypress Point Golf Course.
Pat O’Brien & Robert Ryan
Harold D. Schuster Films
Suspense drama about a sedate young girl who marries a playboy and comes to suspect that he’s trying to murder her; Based on a novel, “Before the Fact,” by Francis Iles; Hitchcock redid the finish, making a sudden switch to a happy ending to please studio bosses; Joan Fontaine won the 1941 Best Actress Oscar and the New York Film Critics Award and the film was nominated for Best Picture and for the Musical Score by Franz Waxman; Background scenes for key elements in the movie filmed along the coastline between Carmel and Big Sur, which stood in for England (A potential land development deal very near Bixby Creek Bridge goes sour and Hitchcock’s bif finish is played out above the rocky coastline closer to Carmel; There is footage of motoring up and down the scenic coastline.
Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant, & Nigel Bruce
Alfred Hitchcock, and RKO Films
Considered Chaney’s best performance; John Steinbeck morality tale about an itinerant worker who looks after his mentally retarded cousin; Oscar nominee for Best Picture and Musical Score.
Lon Chaney Jr., Burgess Meredith, & Betty Field
Lewis Milestone and Hal Roach Studios Films
Miss Garbo’s last dramatic picture in which she played the polish mistress, Marie Walewska, of Napoleon, and the story was about their doomed affair; Oscar nominee for Best Actor (Charles Boyer) and Art Director; Background shots (involving none of the starts) filmed on the Monterey Peninsula , with Point Lobos standing in for the Island of Elba.
Greta Garbo, & Charles Boyer
Clarence Brown and MGM Films
A romantic romp about the adventures of a tomboy in New York City; Scenes filmed along the coast south of Carmel, including Point Lobos.
Janet Gaynor & Warner Baxter
Harry Lachman and Fox Films
A “Talkie” remake of a 1919 silent film; Story about a group of con artists who encounter a man with the power to work miracles; Background scenes filmed at Point Lobos, 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach and elsewhere on the Monterey Peninsula; None of the stars were on the peninsula for the initial filming, and local residents L.B. Woods, C.H. Dixon and Harvey Murphy were used as doubles for the actors, including Bosworth (Wood was his double) and Morris; A few additional Peninsula scenes were filmed later and Bosworth accompanied the film crew, headed by O.W. Roberts; The balance of the movie was filmed at the Paramount Ranch near Hollywood; Paramount was lured to the Peninsula by Jean Juillard, who was president of the San Carlos Hotel Co. and a former assistant manager of the Old Hotel Del Monte. Juillard led the formation of the Monterey Peninsula Motion Picture Association to encourage Hollywood Studios to film on the Peninsula.
Chester Morris, Sylvia Sidney, Hobart Bosworth & Ned Sparks
Norman McLeod, and Paramount Films
Scenes filmed at the Old Hotel Del Monte in Monterey (now the Naval Postgraduate School, along all the 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach and other scenic locations on the Monterey Peninsula; Usually heavy fog in august 1923 repeatedly delayed filming of exterior shots at the hotel.
Reginald Denny
Universal
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