The Caddy, 1953
Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Donna Reed; directed by Norman Taurog; Paramount; comedy about a music hall comedy act recalling how they got together; Oscar nominee for Best Song ("That's Amore"); scenes filmed at Fan Shell Beach near Cypress Point in Del Monte Forest, but none of the golf sequences was shot here.
California, 1947
Ray Milland, Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Fitzgerald; directed by John Farrow; Paramount; Hollywood spectacular set in the days before California became a state, when there was a struggle over whether it would become part of the United States or be its own republic; Milland played a rugged soldier of fortune in his first outdoor adventure film; scenes filmed at Monterey's historic landmarks, including Colton Hall, and the Carmel Mission.
The Candidate, 1972
Robert Redford, Peter Boyle and Melvyn Douglas; directed by Michael Ritchie; drama about politics; Oscar winner for screenplay; scenes filmed at the Monterey marina.
Cannery Row, 1982
Nick Nolte and Debra Winger; narrated by John Huston; directed by David Ward; MGM; story based on two John Steinbeck novels, "Cannery Row" and "Sweet Thursday"; Raquel Welch originally cast in the Winger role but was fired; scenes filmed at sand dunes north of Marina and Cannery Row waterfront (Cannery Row street scenes were done in a sound studio in Culver City).
Captain January, 1936
Shirley Temple and Guy Kibbee; directed by David Butler; 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 Kibbee, 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 Workers' 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.
Captains Courageous, 1937
Spencer Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew, Melvyn Douglas, Lionel Barrymore, Mickey Rooney and John Carradine; directed by Victor Fleming; MGM; story-- based on the writings of Rudyard Kipling-- about a spoiled rich kid who falls off a cruise ship and is rescued by a fisherman who teaches the boy to love the sea; Spencer Tracy won the Best Actor Oscar; Oscar nominee for screenplay and film editing; scenes filmed on Monterey Bay involving two schooners, which tied up at Wharf No. 2 in Monterey.
The Cat From Outer Space, 1978
Ken Berry, Sandy Duncan, Harry Morgan, McLean Stevenson and Roddy McDowall; directed by Norman Tokar; Walt Disney; comedy about an alien cat with a collar that gives it extraordinary powers; scenes filmed at Big Sur and in the Salinas Valley.
Celebration at Big Sur, 1971
Johanna Demetrakas, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, John Sebastian, Mimi Farina and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; directed by Baird Bryant; 20th Century-Fox; rock documentary; scenes filmed at Esalen, just south of Big Sur.
Chandler, 1972
Leslie Caron and Warren Oates; directed by Paul Magwood; MGM; detective story; scenes filmed at Rancho San Carlos in Carmel Valley, Highlands Inn and Pebble Beach.
Changes, 1969
Kent Lane, Michele Carey, Manuela Theiss and Marcia Strassman; written, produced and directed by Hal Bartlett, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul D. Bartlett who grew up on the Monterey Peninsula and moved away to become a Hollywood filmmaker; story about a young Hollywood actor (played by Lane) who doesn't fit in either the older generation or the younger, hip generation, so he drops out of college and travels; scenes filmed at Point Lobos and Carmel; with Bartlett during the filming was his wife, actress Rhonda Fleming.
Clash by Night, 1952
Marilyn Monroe, Paul Douglas, Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Ryan; directed by Fritz Lang; RKO; drama about a hardened girl who comes back from the big city to a fishing village; scenes filmed on Cannery Row.
The Color Purple, 1985
Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey; directed by Steven Spielberg; much-acclaimed film about the struggle of a poor black woman under the thumb of her husband in the rural South; Oscar nominee for Best Picture, Best Actress (Whoopi Goldberg), Supporting actress (Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey), screenplay, cinematography, musical score and film editing; a scene with a flower was filmed on the Brothers Bros. floral farm (The farm is based in Watsonville, but the field where the filming occurred is in Monterey County).
Conquest, 1937
Greta Garbo and Charles Boyer (as Napoleon); directed by Clarence Brown; MGM; 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 direction; background shots (involving none of the stars) filmed on the Monterey Peninsula, with Point Lobos standing in for the island of Elba.
The Count of Monte Cristo, 1934
Robert Donat; directed by Rowland V. Lee; Reliance; classic Hollywood swashbuckler; 20 seconds of the Lone Cypress at Pebble Beach.
Our thanks to Joe Graziano of the Monterey County Herald for providing this information.
* - Indicates that Peninsula footage ended up on cutting room floor.
C