Tag Archives: bunker hill

How Laurel & Hardy Filmed Duck Soup – Flicker Alley Year One Blu-ray Release

Posted on September 2, 2023 by John Bengtson

Hooray for Flicker Alley releasing Laurel & Hardy: Year One, a beautifully presented 2-disc Blu-ray set of Stan and Ollie’s 1927 films. The all-new restorations look stunning, meticulously assembled from the best available materials contributed by archives and collectors around … Continue reading →

Posted in Beverly Hills, Bunker Hill, Duck Soup, Laurel and Hardy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Charlie, Buster, and Harold Silent Footsteps LA Tour

Posted on April 14, 2021 by John Bengtson

Hosted by the Los Angeles City Historical Society, Charlie, Buster, and Harold’s guided silent footsteps tour across Bunker Hill, Chinatown, Olvera Street, and other historic downtown locations is now posted on YouTube. The webinar is free, but the Historical Society … Continue reading →

Posted in Los Angeles Historic Core | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

How Laurel and Hardy Filmed Duck Soup

Posted on April 12, 2020 by John Bengtson

Hooray for Flicker Alley releasing Laurel & Hardy: Year One, a beautifully presented 2-disc Blu-ray set of Stan and Ollie’s 1927 films. The all-new restorations look stunning, meticulously assembled from the best available materials contributed by archives and collectors around … Continue reading →

Posted in Beverly Hills, Bunker Hill, Duck Soup, Laurel and Hardy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

How Mabel Normand filmed her Safety Last! Moment (Before Harold Lloyd Did)

Posted on March 7, 2016 by John Bengtson

Mabel Normand’s wildly popular 1918 feature Mickey climaxes with a thrilling roof-top rescue staged years before Harold Lloyd stunned audiences with his high-rise climb in Safety Last! (1923). Reportedly the highest grossing film of the year, Mickey was the only … Continue reading →

Posted in Bunker Hill, Mabel Normand | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Chaplin – Caught In the Rain 100 Years Ago by the 2nd St Tunnel

Posted on May 4, 2014 by John Bengtson

Charlie Chaplin’s lucky 13th Keystone Studio movie Caught in the Rain was released May 4, 1914, one hundred years ago today. Although Chaplin credits this film in his autobiography as his first directorial effort, Chaplin biographer David Robinson suggests otherwise, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bunker Hill, Charlie Chaplin, Keystone Studio, Los Angeles Historic Core, Los Angeles Tunnels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Keaton – Wings – Noir – and the SP Depot

Posted on January 27, 2013 by John Bengtson

Wings, a 1927 World War I fighter pilot movie, was the first production to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.  To capture realistic point of view shots of the actors engaged in aerial dog fights, the two leads Charles … Continue reading →

Posted in Buster Keaton, College, Film Noir | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Harold Lloyd – Film Noir – Criss Cross and the Hill Street Tunnel

Posted on October 15, 2012 by John Bengtson

Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and many other silent comedians filmed stunt comedy sequences by building sets on Court Hill overlooking the south end of the former Hill Street Tunnel.  As shown at left, filming a set against the street far … Continue reading →

Posted in Bunker Hill, Film Noir, Harold Lloyd, Los Angeles Historic Core, Los Angeles Tunnels | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

How Harold Lloyd Filmed Girl Shy on Bunker Hill

Posted on April 11, 2012 by John Bengtson

The 2012 Turner Classic Film Festival in Hollywood will be screening Harold Lloyd’s first independently produced feature comedy Girl Shy (1924) on April 14, 2012 at the Egyptian Theater.  In that film, Harold discovers the woman he loves is about … Continue reading →

Posted in Angels Flight, Bunker Hill, Girl Shy, Harold Lloyd, Lloyd Thrill Pictures | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

The Artist Locations Part 4, Bradbury, Chaplin, and Lloyd

Posted on January 20, 2012 by John Bengtson

During a pivotal scene in The Artist (2011), fading silent film star George Valentin and rising ingénue Peppy Miller pass each other on a staircase at the Kinograph Studios where they work, their career trajectories mirrored by their relative positions … Continue reading →

Posted in Angels Flight, Charlie Chaplin, Hal Roach Studios, Harold Lloyd, Lloyd Thrill Pictures, Los Angeles Historic Core, Los Angeles Tunnels, Safety Last!, The Artist | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Buster Keaton and Film Noir? – It’s Also True

Posted on September 26, 2011 by John Bengtson

It’s now Buster Keaton’s turn, after Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin (see prior posts), to brush shoulders with film noir. The Glendale Southern Pacific station was barely three years old when Buster Keaton used it to portray the station for … Continue reading →

Posted in Angels Flight, Bunker Hill, Buster Keaton, College, Film Noir, For Heaven's Sake, Harold Lloyd, Los Angeles Historic Core | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Stan, Ollie, and Harold – a Drive Through Bunker Hill

Posted on September 9, 2011 by John Bengtson

The Prelinger Archives has just posted some amazingly sharp movie footage of Bunker Hill and downtown Los Angeles taken in the late 1940s.  The stock footage was intended to be projected behind actors filming a traveling car scene within an … Continue reading →

Posted in Bunker Hill, Duck Soup, Film Noir, For Heaven's Sake, Girl Shy, Hal Roach Studios, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Lloyd Studio, Los Angeles Historic Core, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Harold Lloyd and Film Noir? – It’s True

Posted on August 19, 2011 by John Bengtson

Harold Lloyd and film noir?  It’s true.  Lloyd filmed frequently on Bunker Hill and at other downtown locations, far more so than did Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.  After decades of accumulated grime and neglect, the benign settings appearing in … Continue reading →

Posted in Angels Flight, Bunker Hill, Film Noir, Harold Lloyd, Hot Water, Los Angeles Historic Core, The Turning Point | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments