We Were Soldiers 2001
Actors: Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear.
Director/Studio: Randall Wallace/Paramount Pictures
This compelling war drama depicts the true story of the first major battle between the United States and North Vietnamese forces. Mel Gibson plays Harold G. Moore, the American lieutenant colonel. For Hunter Liggett, in the south portion of Monterey County, doubled for Vietnam’s Central Highlands, where the savage battles at Ia Drang took place. Numerous locals served as extras during several months of filming.
White Shoulders, 1922
Katherine McDonald and Bryant Washburn; Preferred; scenes filmed at the old Hotel Del Monte and along the 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach.
Why Women Love, 1925
Blanche Sweet and Robert Frazer; the story of a New England fishing village; scenes filmed at Point Lobos; the cast stayed at the Highlands Inn.
A Woman of the Sea/The Sea Gull, 1926
Edna Purviance; produced by Charlie Chaplin and directed by Josef Von Sternberg; Miss Purviance was Chaplin's girlfriend; the film was privately exhibited and may have only been shown once; it was never put into general release; scenes filmed at Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey and on Monterey Bay; two Monterey sardine boat crews, Angelo Lucido's and Peter Ferranti's, were used in the filming.
The Woman on Pier 13, 1950
Robert Ryan and Lorraine Day; directed by Robert Stevenson; RKO; shooting title was "East Is East" and alternate title was "I Married a Communist;" story about a shipping executive being blackmailed by communists who know he committed a crime when he was a kid; scenes filmed at Point Lobos.
A Woman Rebels, 1936
Katherine Hepburn, Herbert Marshall, Elizabeth Allan, Donald Crisp and Van Heflin (film debut); directed by Mark Sandrich; RKO; 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 background scene with none of the actors in it, standing in for the coast of Italy.
The Wrong Mr. Wright, 1927
Jean Hersholt and Enid Bennett; directed by Carter deHaven; scenes filmed in Carmel.
Our thanks to Joe Graziano of the Monterey County Herald for providing most of this information.
* - Indicates that Peninsula footage ended up on cutting room floor.
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