|
Filmmakers have
had a love affair with Mendocino County for
more than 100 years, beginning in 1904
with Caspar Lumber Company's The Sequoia
Sempervirens (Redwoods). What is the
attraction? It's our diversity. It's the
place where blue-green waters form tranquil
bays, rivers and streams wander to the sea
interrupted by an occasional waterfall, and
rocky headlands hug the Pacific Ocean. |
Scene from The Majestic at the Skunk Train |
|
It's where
pastoral villages nestle alongside ranches,
and pastures of fertile rolling hills are
embellished with oak trees, pine trees,
madrone, white deer, black-tailed deer, and
row upon row of wine-making grapes and
delicious pears and apples. It's also where
some of the tallest trees in the world
grow-the majestic redwoods. |
The natural beauty, the
picturesque harbors, and the charming salt-box,
Craftsman, and Victorian homes of Mendocino County
have lured filmmakers here for the same reason
vacationers make Mendocino County their destination.
Beginning with silent movies that portrayed the
perils of logging life to a television series filmed
here because "the Mendocino Coast looks so much like
the New England coast", to movies made in the
village of Mendocino because it evokes the feeling
of a bygone era.
Start your self-guided tour with the silent movies,
knowing that actors and actresses like Harold
Lockwood and May Allison were the stars of their
time and that most silent films no longer exist
whether they were made here or elsewhere. After
"talkies" began in 1928, the "silents" languished,
were allowed to deteriorate, and then, during World
War II, were ground up by the thousands for their
cellulose. Those movies are lost to us but we take
pride in knowing the diversity of Mendocino County
has been recorded forever by the motion picture
industry.
Major
Movies and TV Movies Filmed in Mendocino County
Caspar Lumber Company:
The Sequoia Sempervirens -1904
Caspar Lumber Company' The
Miles brothers of San Francisco took "moving
pictures" of a redwood tree being felled, steam
donkeys hauling logs, a moving train of logs, logs
going down the chute into the pond, logs going up
into the mill, sawing of a log in the mill, and of
the wire chute bringing up freight and sending down
lumber.
The images were shown at a lecture in the Forestry
Building during the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis
to promote the redwood lumber industry. These
"moving pictures" may be the first industrial film,
possibly the first motion picture, made in
California north of San Francisco.
Location:
Caspar - Caspar
Mill and pond.
Anecdote: The logging company, which began in
1862, disbanded operations in Caspar in 1955.
The Promise -1916
Metro Company
Starring: Harold Lockwood, May Allison (The
most popular screen lovers of their time).
Locations:
Mendocino - The
Mendocino Lumber Company "booms" on Big River and
the mill. Caspar
- Caspar woods and pond.
King Spruce -1919
Mitchell Lewis Movie
Company
Starring: Mitchell Lewis, also a founder of
the Motion Picture Relief Fund - a charitable
organization within the film industry that raises
and distributes money to people presently or
formerly in the industry and have come into hard
times.
Locations:
Fort Bragg - Union
Lumber Company's Camp 1 on Ten Mile River and in the
woods and the village, Pudding Creek.
Cleone
- Little Valley.
Mendocino - Five
miles up Big River.
The Man Who Dared
-1920
Fox Movie Troupe
Starring: William Russell, Eileen Percy
Locations:
Westport - the town
and the old Bonton Saloon, Noyo Camp.
Fort Bragg
- in front of The Grand Hotel (Main and Alder
Streets, now Bank of America).
Kindred of the Dust
-1921
R. A. Walsh Company
Starring: Miriam Cooper, Ralph Graves
Locations:
Caspar - Caspar
Mill and pond. Fort Bragg - Ten Mile.
Albion
- In the woods.
Strange Idols -1922
Fox Film Company
Starring: Dustin Farnum, Doris Pawn
Locations:
Westport - Logging
camps east of Westport (Glen Blair).
Soul of the Beast-1922
Thomas H. Ince Films
Starring: Madge Bellamy, "Oscar" the
elephant, Cullen Landis, Noah Beery, Sr.
Locations: Fort Bragg - Noyo River
Anecdote: Soul of the Beast is the only
silent film made on the Mendocino Coast known to
exist on videotape.
Timberland Tales-1922
Universal Films'
Eight lumberjack stories - short, two-reelers.
Starring: Roy Stewart,
Andree Tourneaur
Locations:
Mendocino - Big
River at Ed Boyle's camp and "The Boom".
Westport
- Ten Mile woods.
The Signal Tower-1923
Universal Film Co
Starring: Virginia Valli, Rockliffe Fellowes,
Wallace Berry
Locations:
Fort Bragg
- Noyo River Tavern-21 miles east of Fort Bragg near
Northspur, in the redwoods between Fort Bragg and
Willits along the railroad lines of the Skunk Train.
Anecdote: A New York reviewer criticized the
train wreck scene as being "unimpressive" because
miniature freight cars were used. In fact real
freight cars were wrecked!
The Search of a Hero
-1925
Gerson Pictures
Starring: Richard Holt, Jane Thomas
Locations:
Mendocino - Along
Big River and The Boom and Ed Boyles' camp.
Anecdote: This is the last silent movie
filmed on the Mendocino Coast.
 The
Uninvited - 1943
Paramount Pictures
Starring: Ray Miland, Ruth Hussey, Gail
Russell
Locations:
Elk - Exterior
shots of the Elk Headlands.
Frenchmans Creek
-1943
Paramount Pictures
Starring: Arturo de Cordova, Joan Fontaine
Locations:
Mendocino -- Big
River and Mendocino Woodlands.
Albion
- Albion River and Albion Harbor.
Little River
- The Robinson property south of Little River where
the production company built a church and castle.
Anecdote: A full-sized
wooden ship was built in Hollywood and hauled up by
barge. The movie company left it tied to the dock
they had built in the Albion River. Not long
afterwards vandals burned it but supposedly pieces
still remain embedded in the river's bank. A number
of years ago an amateur historian, unaware of
Frenchman's Creek, informed the world that he had
discovered Sir Francis Drake's 16th Century sailing
ship.
 Johnny
Belinda -1947
Warner Brothers
Starring: Jane Wyman (Oscar - Best Actress),
Charles Bickford, Agnes Moorehead, Lew Ayres
Locations:
Fort Bragg - Noyo
Harbor on the docks, various farms around Fort
Bragg, on headlands near Eaton Ranch south of Fort
Bragg. Mendocino
- Main Street, High School Hill, Mendocino High
School, Mendocino Presbyterian Church.
Anecdotes: Ronald Reagan, married to Jane
Wyman at the time, visited the set. He went ocean
fishing several times and brought a 36-inch pumpkin
pie from Eureka for Ms. Wyman and the crew.
Based on an original Broadway play, Johnny Belinda
was nominated for twelve Academy Awards. The Fort
Bragg area was said to have an amazing resemblance
to Prince Edward Isle, Nova Scotia, the original
locale of the play.
 East
of Eden - 1954
Warner Brothers
Starring: James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond
Massey, Dick Davalos, Jo Van Fleet (Oscar- Best
Supporting Actress), Burl lves
Locations:
Mendocino - South
Mendocino Bay looking north toward town - opening
scene, Rundle Street (Portuguese Flat) looking south
across Mendocino Bay; movie credits, south Main
Street, Chet Bishop's Market (now Gallery Bookshop),
Bank of America (now Out of This World), Crown Hall,
Heeser Field, Little Lake Street between Kelly,
Woodward, and Williams Streets, Dr. Preston's house
(now Mendocino Art Center), and Preston rental (now
Mendocino Community Library), Cahto Street east of
Altar Society Building, Mendocino High School
gymnasium and locker room, and other locations
around Mendocino.
Anecdote: East of Eden was voted Best
Dramatic Film of 1955 at the Cannes Film Festival
and voted Best Dramatic Motion Picture of 1955 at
the Golden Globe Awards by the Hollywood Foreign
Press Association. Elia Kazan was given the
Director's Guild of America Award for Outstanding
Directorial Achievement in 1955.
 Island
of the Blue Dolphins -1963
Universal Pictures, Inc.
Starring: Celia Kaye
Locations:
Point Arena and
Anchor Bay -
Haven's Neck, Anchor Bay Campgrounds beach, Newcomb
Ranch, Island Cove, Cove Estates, Schooner Gulch,
Jacobsen Ranch, Fish Rock Ranch and foot of Fish
Rock Road, Point Arena, and Point Arena Cove.
Anecdote: Based on the
true story of an Indian child, left behind on an
evacuated San Nicholas Island off the coast of Santa
Barbara, from 1835 to 1853. She lived alone for 18
years until she was rescued. She is buried at the
Santa Barbara Mission.
 The
Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming
-1965
United Artists
Starring: Carl Reiner, Eve Marie Saint, Alan
Arkin, Brian Keith, Jonathan Winters, Theodore Bikel,
Ben Blue, Johnnie Whittaker
Locations:
Mendocino - Old
Mendocino Fire Station on Lansing Street, The Old
Remedy Store, Heeser Drive, The Sanko House
(formerly the C. Mathews horne], the Donovan/Rogers
home (formerly the Chet Bishop home).
Fort Bragg
- Noyo Harbor and "Ice House".
Cleone
- built the "Whitaker House" as a set for the film
on the Union Lumber Company "haul road". It was set
on fire when producers deemed it too costly to
dismantle or remove.
Anecdote: First movie to be filmed in its
entirety on the Mendocino Coast. Received three
Academy Award nominations.
The Spirit is Willing -1966
Paramount Pictures
Starring: Sid Caesar, Vera Miles
Locations:
Mendocino - Street
scenes only including Lansing Street, Heeser Drive,
Main Street
 The
Dunwich Horror -1969
American International
Pictures
Starring: Sandra Dee, Ralph Bellamy, Dean
Stockwell
Locations:
Mendocino - various
places. Little River
- Little River Cemetery and old Merrill House south
of cemetery on the coast.
 Summer
of '42 - 1970
Warner Brothers
Starring: Jennifer O'Neill, Gary Grimes,
Terry Houser, Oliver Conant
Locations:
Mendocino - Corner
of Little Lake & Woodward Streets, Ukiah Street,
Woodward-Osborne Alley, Little Lake Road, Williams
Street, Heeser Drive, Old Mendocino Fire Department
on Lansing, Donovan/Rogers house, Main Street water
tower. Fort Bragg
- Ten Mile Beach.
Anecdote: Michel
Legrand won Academy Award for musical score.
Glen and Randa -1971
Warner Brothers
Starring: Steven Curry, Shelley Plimpton,
Woodrow Chamblis, Garry Goodrow
Location: Between
Point Arena
and
Gualala
- Schooner Gulch.
Young Goodman Brown
- 1971
Pyramid Films
Location: Filmed on the meadows, hills, and
forests within 1-ln hours drive from the Seagull
Inn, Mendocino
- the film's base camp.
Anecdote: This 3D-minute educational film won
a Special Jury Award at The Atlanta International
Film Festival.
 Slither
- 1972
Starring: James Caan, Peter Boyle
Metro Goldwin Mayer
(MGM)
Location: Manchester
The Runaway on the Rogue
River - 1973
Starring: Slim Pickens
Location:
Fort Bragg -
California Western Railroad (now Sierra Railroad)
tracks east of Fort Bragg and on the Skunk Train.
Anecdote: The Runaway
on the Rogue River was the second time an elephant
was involved in filming on the Mendocino Coast. The
silent movie Soul of the Beast in 1922 was the
first.
Haunts - 1973
A Herb Freed film
Starring: May Britt, Cameron Mitchell, Aida
Ray
Location of filming is unknown.
Anecdote: Candidate for worst motion picture
filmed on the Mendocino Coast.
Evil Town - 1973
Centaur Productions
Starring: James Keach, Dean Jagger
Locations:
Mendocino - various
locations. Navarro to Westport and a few miles
inland.
Anecdote: Apparently assembled from pieces of
two different projects, including an uncompleted
film from the mid-70's. The "worst film ever made on
the Mendocino Coast".
 The
Boy Who Talks to Whales - 1977
Casteel Productions
Starring: Byrd Baker (of Mendocino and the
founder of The Whale Wars, the precursor to the
village of Mendocino and Fort Bragg Whale
Festivals), Victor Jory, Andy Gordon, and "Gigi" the
whale
Locations:
Mendocino - various
locations
 Same
Time, Next Year - 1978
Universal
Starring: Alan Aida, Ellen Burstyn
Location:
Little River -
Heritage House Inn, in a cottage built by the
studio.
Anecdote: Received 3 Academy Award
nominations.
Strangers: A Story of a
Mother and Daughter -1978
CBS
made-for-television movie
Starring: Bette Davis (Emmy Award for
Outstanding Actress], Gena Rowlands
Locations:
Mendocino
- 600 Kelley Street, Main Street, Mendosa's Market.
Fort Bragg
- Fort Bragg
Library, Noyo Harbor.
Anecdote: The scenes at Noyo Harbor were
supposed to be a July Fourth celebration but the
filming took place in December. Between takes Bette
Davis and the cast warmed themselves in front of
portable stoves.
 Humanoids
from the Deep -1979
New World Production Company
Starring: Ann Turkell,
Doug McClure, Vic Morrow
Locations:
Fort Bragg
- Dolphin Cove, now called
Dolphin Isle Marina in Noyo Harbor, near the Wharf
Restaurant in Noyo Harbor, outside the harbor,
Mendocino Coast District Hospital, Pudding Creek
area, Pudding Creek logging road bridge,
Footlighters Little Theatre, used the Fort Bragg
High School Band.
Mendocino - various
locations.
 Dead
& Buried -1980
Aspen Productions
Starring: James Farentino, Jack Albertson
Locations:
Mendocino -
Portuguese Beach, St. Anthony's Catholic Church,
Bank of America (now Out of This World). Justice
Court Building, Lansing, School, Calpella, and
Williams streets, Heeser Drive, "around Mendocino",
and Comptche-Ukiah Road and Little River Airport
Road intersection.
Caspar - Point
Cabrillo Road near Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, Caspar
Beach.
Treasure: In Search of
the Golden Horse - 1982
Intravision/Vestron Video
Starring: Dory Dean
Locations:
Point Arena - The
OZ House, Gloriana Opera Company of Fort Bragg was
used, OZ's suspension bridge, a local cemetery,
Gualala Point.
 Cujo
-1982
Sun Classics
Productions
Starring: Dee Wallace, Danny Pintauro, Daniel
Hugh-Kelly
Locations:
Mendocino - The
Mullner Mansion (Crestwood Drive, east of
Mendocino). St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Evergreen
Cemetery, Shell Station on Lansing Street, Ukiah
Street. Fort Bragg
- Pine Beach Inn tennis courts.
Anecdote: Harrowing tale by Stephen King is
considered a cult classic by horror movie buffs.
 Racing
with the Moon -1983
Paramount
Starring: Sean Penn, Elizabeth McGovern,
Nicholas Cage
Locations:
Fort Bragg - Laurel
Street at the old Green Parrot Ice Cream parlor,
Skunk train tracks and with Old Engine No. 45, in
front of Cotton Auditorium, Noyo Harbor.
Mendocino
- Mendocino Headlands, Main Street, Mendocino Hotel
area, Mendosa Brother's Store on Lansing Street and
Heeser Drive, Savings Bank of Mendocino.
 The
Killing Time - 1986
New World Video
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland, Beau Bridges,
Joe Don Baker, Camelia Kath, Wayne Rogers
Locations:
Mendocino - Russian
Gulch State Park, Main and Kasten Streets, Ford
House, and The Deli (now Big River Trading Company).
Caspar
- Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. Fort Bragg - Ten Mile
River and the dunes.
 Overboard
- 1987
MGM
Starring: Kurt Russell,
Goldie Hawn, Roddy McDowell, Edward Herrman,
Katherine Helmond
Locations:
Fort Bragg - Pomo
Campground, Noyo Harbor at Captain Flint's, the
docks, Noyo Bowl and Restaurant, Purity Market, Fort
Bragg Veteran's Hall.
Mendocino -
various locations.
Caspar - Point
Cabrillo Lighthouse.
Anecdote: The sign "Cappv's" used in the
movie is still up at Carine's Fish Grotto in Noyo
Harbor.
 Wired
- 1988
Paramount
Starring: Michael Chiklis, Ray Sharkey, J.T.
Walsh, Lucinda Jenney, Gary Groomes
Locations:
Fort Bragg
- MacKerricher State Park (made to look like a
cemetery.) and Ten Mile Beach
 The
Karate Kid: Part III- 1989
Columbia Pictures
Starring: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita
Locations:
Elk
 Dying
Young - 1990
Twentieth Century Fox
Starring: Julia Roberts, Campbell Scott
Locations:
Mendocino
- Mendocino High School, Mendocino Headlands
(erected a house, then tore it down), The Visual
Feast (now a residence), Main and Ukiah Streets.
 Forever
Young - 1992
Warner Brothers
Starring: Mel Gibson, Isabel Glasser, George
Wendt, Elijah Wood, Jamie Lee Curtis
Locations:
Point Arena -
Stornetta Ranch, next to Point Arena Lighthouse, and
at Point Arena Lighthouse.
 Pontiac
Moon -1993
Paramount Pictures
Starring: Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Ryan
Todd
Locations:
Mendocino -
Mendocino Recreation Center, the "Pumpkin House"
(the green one - the studio construction team added
side wings for the movie) on Little Lake Street, on
Lansing, Main, and Heeser Streets, and Brewery Gulch
Drive, on Highway one between Little Lake Road and
Albion Ridge Road.
Albion - On the
road on Albion Ridge Road between Middle Ridge Road
and Highway 1, Highway 20 between Hwy 101 and Hwy 1,
Hwy 128 between Mendocino County line and Hwy 1, Hwy
1 between Little Lake Road and Albion Ridge Road in
the 1949 Pontiac Chief.
 The
Haunting of Seacliff Inn - 1994
Television movie for
USA channel, shown September 22, 1994
Starring: Ally Sheedy,
William Moses
Locations: Mendocino
- Kelley House and
house at end of Rundle Street.
The Fugitive - 2001
Warner Brothers for CBS
Television - two parts, Jenny and Strapped.
Starring: Tim Daly
Locations:
Mendocino - Ukiah,
Kasten, and Lansing Streets, Savings Bank of
Mendocino County (Masonic Temple).
 The
Majestic - 2001
Warner Brothers
Starring: Jim Carrey, Hal Holbrook, Martin
Landau, David Ogden Stiers, Laurie Holden
Locations:
Mendocino - Big
River Beach. Fort Bragg - Skunk Train, inside the
train and the Depot.
Caspar - Point
Cabrillo Lighthouse.
Anecdote: Supposedly threats were made
against Jim Carrey and the sets were closed. Not
even the media were allowed to take any candid
photographs.
Television Series' and
Pilots Filmed in Mendocino County
Is there a Doctor in the
House? - 1970
Screen Gems - Pilot for
NBC, aired on March 22, 1971
Starring: Rosemary
Forsyth, William Windom
Anecdote: The series
was never made.
The FBI TV Series:
Bitter Harbor - 1971
KABC
Starring: Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Stephen
Brooks, Lynn Loring
Locations:
Mendocino
- various locations.
Fort Bragg -
Noyo Harbor.
The New Healers
-1972
Pilot Television Movie
Paramount Television
Story: Two ex-
Vietnam medics and a former nurse join forces to
help an aging doctor care for the people of the
rural California town of Hope .
Starring: Robert
Foxworth, Kate Jackson, Burgess Meredith
Locations:
Mendocino - various
locations
Jeremiah of Jacob's Neck
-1976
30-minute pilot for CBS
Television
Starring: Keenan Wynn, Ron Masak, Arlene
Golonka
Locations: The
Mendocino Beacon building, The Deli (now Big River
Trading Company). Bank of America building (now Out
of This World).
Anecdote: The series was never made.
Sutters Bay -1983
30 minute comedy pilot
for CBS Television
Starring: Granville Van
Dusen, Linda Carlson
Locations:
Fort Bragg - Noyo
Harbor. Mendocino
- Various locations.
 Murder.
She Wrote - 1984 to 1989
Universal for CBS Television
Starring: Angela Lansbury with guest
performers
Locations:
Mendocino - Blair
House, Ukiah and Lansing Streets,
Mendocino Beacon Building, Mendocino Headlands,
Mendocino Hotel, Masonic Temple (now Savings Bank of
Mendocino County), old Mendocino Firehouse, Hill
House Inn, Panache, Circa, Mitch's Barber Shop,
Chocolate Moosse (now The Moosse Cafe and Blue Heron
Inn), Gallery Mendocino, Kasten Street, Russian
Gulch State Park Headquarters. Used the Mendocino
High School Marching Band. ?? Filmed scenes of the
village of Mendocino from the air.
Fort Bragg
- Cotton Auditorium, Noyo Harbor
and the Wharf Restaurant.
Caspar
- Point Cabrillo Lighthouse from the air.
Anecdote: A total of nine episodes were
filmed on the Mendocino Coast. The Hill House Inn in
Mendocino still has the sign that says Hill House of
Cabot Cove at their entrance. Murder, She Wrote won
a Golden Globe award for Drama for the Best TV
series in 1986. Angela Landsbury won Golden Globe
Awards in 1985, 1987, and 1990 for Best Performance
by an actress in a TV series.
Dark Mansions -1985
Aaron Spelling
Productions - Pilot aired on ABC-TV August 23, 1986
Starring: Joan Fontaine, Michael York, Linda
Purl, Melissa Sue Anderson, Lois Chiles
Locations:
Little River -
Meadow and bluff below the Heritage House Inn.
Destination America
-1986
Stephen Cannell
Productions - Pilot for ABC Television
Starring: Rip Torn,
Bruce Greenwood, Corinne Bohrer
Locations:
Fort Bragg
- Noyo Harbor at the Harbor Trailer Park especially
for views of the bridge.
Mendocino
- Mendocino Presbyterian Church.
Anecdote: Apparently, not only was this
series pilot not picked up by any of the television
stations, it never aired.
|
