LOCATION FILMING IN LOS ANGELES

By Karie Bible, Marc Wanamaker & Harry Medved, Arcadia Publishing
 
Book Review by Craig MacDonald

The cover shows Harold Lloyd & Bebe Daniels sitting on a beam suspended above the Hill Street Tunnel in downtown Los Angeles in the 1919 movie, "Look Out Below." This thrill picture blended comedy with daring stunt work. The authors wrote the terrace & railing were not seen in the movie, creating the illusion that the actors were at a perilous height above the city.

The filmmakers also were great in creating LA area spots as substitutes for the actual places. Long Beach "became" Florida, Catalina Island turned into the French Riviera, Greece or the South Seas. (More than 150 movies have been filmed there, including "Mutiny on the Bounty" and "Treasure Island.")

San Pedro's Fort MacArthur was featured in "Midway" and "A Few Good Men." Malibu's Leo Carillo Beach starred in "Beach Blanket Bingo," "Grease" and "The Karate Kid." The historic Banning House in Wilmington was in Gary Cooper's "Only the Brave." The Palos Verdes Peninsula can be seen in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World." UCLA has always been a favorite spot for films like, "The Nutty Professor" and "Senior Prom."

Readers will see Judy Garland as a drive-in waitress at Sunset & Cahuenga in "A Star is Born." The LA River was where John Travolta's drag racing scene was shot for "Grease." San Pedro's Warner Grand Theatre was used in "Pearl Harbor." Venice Beach was a favorite for "Our Gang" productions.

The authors provide some interesting tidbits, such as Charles Bronson's real name was Buchinsky but he reportedly changed it because he liked the Bronson Gate at Paramount Pictures.

The book is divided up into different film locations: Hollywood & West Hollywood, Malibu to Long Beach, The Westside & Culver City, Beverly Hills & Mid-Wilshire and San Fernando Valley.

A neat Paramount Studio Location Map shows California areas that can be transformed into the French Alps, Switzerland, Holland, Africa, England, Kentucky, Spanish California, the Nile River and New England Coast.

(The reviewer once wrote for ON LOCATION MAGAZINE about the behind-the-scene stories on how movies are made, i.e., turning Stockton into Kansas City for scenes in "Coast-to-Coast.")