National Velvet
Family drama in which a young Elizabeth Taylor, a twelve year old, wins a horse and trains it to enter England’s famed racing event, The Grand National, with the help of former jockey Mi Taylor; With the support of her family, the determined Velvet gets her lovely horse ready for the big day; Revere, who played Taylor’s mother, won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar; the film also won for film editing and was nominated for best director and cinematographer; Scenes were filmed at the Pebble Beach Golf Links, 9th and 10th fairways.
Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, & Anne Revere
Clarence Brown, MGM Films
FAST AND FURIOUS
A trucker framed for murder breaks out of jail, takes a young woman hostage, and enters her sports car in cross-border road race hoping to get to Mexico before the police catch him.
Film stars John Ireland, Dorothy Malone, Bruce Carlisle, and Iris Adrian. Scenes filmed in Carmel-by-the-Sea, the Pebble Beach Golf Links during the Concours d’Elegance, and Monterey. Some of the scenes at Pebble Beach were practice, qualifying and early race scenes.
Directd by John Ireland and Produced by Roger Corman.
ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN
Story about children with powers from another planet being chased by a millionaire; Scenes filmed in Carmel Valley, Big Sur and Pebble Beach (including the Crocker Mansion).
Eddie Albert, & Ray Milland
John Hough and Disney Films
CHANDLER
Detective story; A hardboiled aging private eye is hired to find and protect a missing government witness sought after by the gangsters; Scenes filmed at Rancho San Carlos in Carmel Valley, Highlands Inn and Pebble Beach.
Leslie Caron, & Warren Oates
Paul Magwood and MGM Films
FIVE FINGER EXERCISE
Drama based on a Broadway play with Miss Russell cast in a familiar role as a domineering woman, this time a demanding wife who nearly wrecks her family’s existence; Scenes filmed in Pebble Beach (including inside a mansion).
Rosalind Russell, Jack Hawkins, & Maximilian Schell
David Mann and Columbia Films
ONE-EYED JACKS
Western drama about an outlaw who was a running battle with an old friend; Oscar nominee for Cinematography; Scenes filmed in Pebble Beach along the Coastline North of Cypress Point and at Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur.
Marlon Brando & Karl Malden
Marlon Brando and Paramount Films
THE PARENT TRAP
Story about twin daughters (both played by Miss Mills) whose parents are separated and how they try to bring the family back together; Scenes filmed at the baggage counter at the Monterey Peninsula Airport, on the balcony of the lodge at Pebble Beach overlooking the 18th hole of golf course, around the Palo Corona Ranch house, and at Cypress point in Pebble Beach; Wharf Theater actors Bill Houle, Ruth Warshawsky, Ron Robertson, George Gordon, and David Riley were extras in the film.
Hayley Mills, Maureen O’Hara & Brian Keith
David Swift, and Disney Films
SUSAN SLADE
Story about an engineer who brings his family back to San Francisco from Chile and his teen-age daughter who runs into troubles of the heart; Scenes filmed at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach and Monterey, including the Old Train Station, where the train was headed in the wrong direction; The granddaddy of the Prof. Toro Movie list: The first filmed and the inspiration for the list.
Troy Donahue, Dorothy McGuire, Lloyd Nolan & Connie Stevens
Delmer Daves, and Warner Bros Films
A SUMMER PLACE
A romantic summer adventure of teenagers and their elders on an island off the coast of Maine.
Sandra Dee, Richard Egan, & Dorothy McGuire
Delmer Daves Films
THE DEEP SIX
World War II Navy drama; A car owned by Ramon Oliver of Monterey, a 1941 Cadillac Convertible, was used in the film.
Alan Ladd, Dianne Foster & William Bendix
Rudolph Mate, and Warner Bros Films
IN LOVE AND WAR
$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
GUN BATTLE AT MONTEREY
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
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS
Scenes filmed in Pebble Beach and Carmel; Two other of Corman’s Peninsula-made films were “The Monster From The Ocean Floor” (1954) and “Road Racers” (1959): Corman made scores of B movies, mostly horror, teen-exploitation, biker and beach films; Corman could make a film as little as three weeks and spend only a few hundred thousand dollars doing it; He hired young talent, some of whom went on to bigger and bigger things, among them George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, both of whom got their start with Corman.
Made by the King of B Movies, Independent Filmmaker Roger Corman
DESIRE
20th Century Fox; Story of the rise and fall of Napoleon and is named for the love of his life before he became emperor; One of the opening scenes was filmed at The Lone Cypress at Pebble Beach, standing in for The Island of Elba.
Marlon Brando, & Jean Simmons
Henry Koster Films
MR. IMPERIUM
Light comedy about May-to-December romance; Scene filmed along the Pebble Beach Coast, including the Crocker Mansion, Richard Rodgers House, Lone Cypress and Pebble Beach Ghost Tree or Witch Tree at Pescadero Point (standing for the Coast of Italy).
Luna Turner, Ezio Pinza, & Barry Sullivan
Don Hartman and MGM Films
JOHNNY BELINDA
From a play by Elmer Harris; Memorable performance by miss Wyman, who won an Oscar for Best Actress playing a deaf mute in a sensitive story about life in the silent world; Oscar nominee for Best Picture, Screenplay, Direction, Cinematography, Music Score and Art Direction; Scenes filmed along the Pebble Beach-Pacific Grove Waterfront.
Jane Wyman, & Lew Ayres
Jean Negulesco and Warner Films
DESIRE ME
During the filming, it had a working title of “A Woman Of My Own”; Drama about the wife of a normandy villager who hears that he has died in a concentration camp and marries the bearer of the news, who turns out to be a psycotic who had left her husband for dead- but he did not die; Scenes filmed at Point Lobos, 17 Mile Drive at Pebble Beach, Malpaso Creek on the coast south of Carmel and elsewhere on the Monterey Peninsula and its environs; The film was plagued by delays and other problems, including retakes and re-editing and a last-minute replacement of Robert Montgomery with Hart as the male lead; Miss Garson was hospitalized after being swept off the rocks by an ocean wave at Malpaso Creek and rolled in 10 feet of water before being rescued by a Fisherman employed on the set, Monterey Purse Seine Skipper Vincent Sollecito; Mis Garson suffered bruises and a back sprain and was off to set for a week for more; MGM had wanted to put up a few buildings at the Point Lobos League, fearful of a repeat of an earlier filming episode at Point Lobos that damaged the fragile environment, tried to stop the filming althogether; MGM was allowed to film at Point Lobos but under the watchful eye of the Point Lobos League; The late 1930s to mid-’40s was a particularly favorite period for peninsula-made films, and the number during that time may have exceeded 50.
Greer Garson, Richard Hart, & Robert Mitchum
George Cukor and MGM Films.
FOREVER AMBER
Story about a lively wench who sacrifices love and honor to get ahead at the Court of Britain’s King Charles II; Considered a racy film in its era’ Oscar nominee for Musical score; Scenes filmed at Cypress Point.
Linda Darnell, Cornell Wilde, & George Sanders
Otto Preminger Films
THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR
Comedy about a widow’s friendship with the ghost of a Sea Captain; Oscar nominee for Cinematography; Scenes filmed in February 1947 on a beach near Stillwater Cove in Pebble Beach.
Rex Harrison, Gene Tierney & Natalie Wood
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and 20th Century Fox Films
MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE
Comedy about a photographer who gets mixed up with mobsters; Scenes filmed at The Crocker Mansion in Pebble Beach; At the time The Crocker Mansion was owned by Paul Fagan and was for sale; Paramount had a replica of the front door of the mansion made and used in on a Hollywood sound stage, where a lot of the scenes were shot; Location shooting began after Labor Day in 1946 at the mansion, which was built in 1927 at a cost of more than $1 million (building materials were imported stone by stone and pillar by pillar from Europe).
Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour & Peter Lorre
Elliott Nugent and Paramount Films
MARINE RAIDERS
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
EDGE OF DARKNESS
World War II drama about attempts to liberate Norway; Scenes filmed at Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey, which was transformed into a Norwegian fishing village, Point Lobos and the shores of Pebble Beach; Carmel Valley resident Louis C. Moore was a uniformed member of the German Luftwaffe in the film.
Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan, & Walter Huston
Lewis Milestone and Warner Bros Films
INTERMEZZO
Hollywood’s version of the Swedish original; Emotional love story about a great violinist whose happy marriage becomes imperiled when he falls in love with his daughter’s piano teacher; Oscar nominee for Musical Score; A cousin of Mary Shaw of Monterey was a stand in for Miss Bergman and was paid $5.
Ingrid Bergman, & Leslie Howard
David O. Selznick and Landmark Film Films
CAPTAIN JANUARY
20th century-fox; Story about a lighthouse keeper who rescues a ship-wrecked Shirley Temple and raises her as a daughter; Background scenes, without either miss Temple or Kibbe, filmed at Point Lobos, Stillwater Cove in Pebble Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey and in Pacific Grove; At least 18 local people were hired as extras, mostly from the Worker’s Protective Association of East Monterey; The director and film crew stayed at The Old Hotel Del /monte, once the playground of the rich and famous and now the Naval Postgraduate School, and at The Old Hotel San Carlos, now The Monterey Marriott.
Shirley Temple, & Guy Kibbee
David Butler Films
SMALL TOWN GIRL
Romantic comedy about a woman who traps a handsome stranger into offering marriage when he’s drunk and then sets out to win him when he’s sober; Based on a novel by Ben Ames Williams; Known as a good example of MGM’s Production line of the mid-1930s with a group of established stars and good character actors helping up-and-coming performers; Oscar nominee for Song (‘My Flaming Heart’); Scenes filmed along the 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach, which stood in for the Coast of Maine in the Autumn; Dozens of peninsulans watched the filming, but none of the local people got jobs in front of the camera, although George Kinloch and Goldie Goldstein were put on the payroll as traffic directors; Company of 35 actors and crew stayed at the Old Hotel Del Monte in Monterey (now the Naval Postgraduate School).
Janet Gaynor, Robert Taylor, James Stewart, Binnie Barnes, & Agnes Ayres
William A. Wellman, and MGM Films
A WOMAN REBELS
A story about a feminist in Victorian England, who fights for women’s rights and has an illegitimate baby; Critics called it interesting, Albeit, one of the half-forgotten of Hollywood’s star dramas and a New York Times reviewer found it ‘picturesque;’ The view from Cypress Point looking south toward Carmel Bay and Point Lobos, with the Big Sur hills in the background appears in a scene with none of the actors in it, standing in for the coast of Italy.
Katherine Hepburn, Herbert Marshall, & Elizabeth Allan
Mark Sandrich Films
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
Classic Hollywood Swashbuckler; 20 seconds of the Lone Cypress at Pebble Beach.
Robert Donat
Rowland V. Lee, and Reliance Films
PEG O’ MY HEART
Musical remake tailored to Miss Davies with songs written especially for her; Scenes filmed at Point Lobos, Carmel Highlands or Pebble Beach.
Marion Davies, Onslow Stevens, & J. Farrell MacDonald
Robert Z. Leonard Films
THE MIRACLE MAN
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
MEN ON CALL
Drama about the exploits of The Coast Guard; Scenes filmed at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach; The first filming of a talking picture done indoors on location; Billed as an experiment to allow filming to continue indoors during inclement weather; Houses along Cypress Point used in the film were heavily padded with sound-deadening materials to permit perfect acoustics; One of the sets used in the filming along the 17-Mile Drive was a Hollywood-built lighthouse and high rock outcroppings; The set inspired an ink drawing by local artist Lucy Valentine Pierce, called “Movie Lighthouse 17-Mile Drive,” 100 extras used; The picture featured a shipwreck; Stars stayed at The Del Monte Lodge, now The Lodge at Pebble Beach.
Edmund Lowe, Mae Clarke, & Ian MacLaren
John Blystone and Fox Films
OUR DANCING DAUGHTER
Story about the 1920s with Miss Crawford as the ultimate flapper in a role that made her a star; Oscar nominee for Screenplay and Cinematography; Scenes filmed at The Lodge at Pebble Beach.
Joan Crawford & Anita Page
Harry Beaumont and MGM Films
THE UNKNOWN
Silent melodrama, weird story; Scenes filmed in Pebble Beach.
Joan Crawford & Lon Chaney
Tod Browning, and MGM Films
PAID TO LOVE
Scenes filmed at 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach and Cypress Point at Point Lobos, where a Monte Carlo set was built.
George O’Brien, Virginia Valli, & William Powell
Howard Hawks and Fox Films
SPORTING YOUTH
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
WHITE SHOULDERS
Scenes filmed at the Old Hotel Del Monte and along the 17-mile Drive in Pebble Beach.
Katherine McDonald & Bryant Washburn
Preferred Films
FOOLISH WIVES
Considered Von Stroheim’s most vivid lavish productions; Billed as the first million dollar movie; A risque film in those days; Story about a fake count in Monte Carlo who seduces and blackmails a rich women; Scenes filmed along the 12-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach and at Point Lobos, featuring a large Monte Carlo set, four stories high, at Sea Lion Point in the Point Lobos State Reserve; 500 extras, including 350 socialites from San Francisco and Monterey County, among them Charles Crocker, Betty Folger, Howard and Rudolph Sprechels, George Newhall, Elyse Hopkins, Joseph Tobin, M.H. Deyoung and S.F.B. Morse.
Mae Busch
Eric Von Strohrim and Universal Films
PASSION FRUIT
A lost 1921 silent film South Seas romance. Scenes filmed at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach.
Doralinda (Champion Hula Dancer) & Edward Earle
John E. Ince Films
A MAN OF HONOR
A romantic drama based on Henry Kitchell Webster’s novel, “A King of Khaki;” Scenes filmed at the Pebble Beach Golf Course (turned into a village street in the semitropics), Carmel Beach, and elsewhere on the Monterey Peninsula; Lockwood, a silent screen lover and early version of Rudolph Valentino, spent about three weeks here for the filming in June 1918; Lockwood died later that year; This was Lockwood’s last film.
Bert Starkey, & Gordon McGregor
Harold Lockwood Films
