Culver City (California) Film Festival

          Culver City, California {ZIP code 90230} uses the motto "The Heart of Screenland", and rightly so.
          Motion pictures were made in Culver City even before the city was incorporated by Harry Culver in 1917. Cecil B. DeMille photographed much of "The Squaw Man" [1914] along the then-willow-lined Ballona Creek.
          Thomas H. Ince [1882-1924] built Triangle Pictures Studios in Culver City in 1915; the property was later owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios and Lorimar, and is now the home of Sony-Columbia. Ince also built The Culver Studios in 1918, later owned by R.K.O. and Selznick and Desilu. Hal Roach [1892-1992] built his studio properties in 1919, later the site of USAAF's F.M.P.U. during World War II. These and other movie companies produced hundreds of short films and feature films and hundreds of animated cartoons and hundreds of television episodes in the nearly century-long tenure of Culver City as a major manufacturer of cinema.

Films famously made on the studio backlots of Culver City include the "Rocky" series, "Gone With The Wind" [1939], "The Time Machine" [1960], "The Wizard of Oz" [1939], "Citizen Kane" [1941], and TV series such as "Combat", "The Real McCoys", "Lucy", "Star Trek" & "Dallas", besides which are the many films that were made on the streets and in the homes & businesses of Culver City, and even up in the once-rural Baldwin Hills.
Films of the Silent Era, especially, display glimpses of Culver City's Downtown area: Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Mack Sennett, Charley Chase, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, Hal Roach's Our Gang – each filmed scores of shorts and features there. The film crews often simply went outside the studio property with camera and lights and actors and created the day's footage improvisationally.

The movies featured on this Online Culver City Film Festival webpage are those with scenes OF Culver City, recognizable shots of buildings and streets or distant hills that often look very much the same today – OR such locations that might be long gone but remain vivid in the memories of those who worked or lived in "The Heart of Screenland".

If you know of any other film with scenes on location in Culver City,
please send an email suggestion

"The Squaw Man" [1914 silent] along Ballona Creek
Co-directed by Cecil B. DeMille; starring Dustin Farnum; full credits at IMDb

The Sun Down Limited 1924 silent short starring the Our Gang kids

"The Sun Down Limited" [Hal Roach/Pathé Sept 1924]
Hal Roach's 'Our Gang' kids build a train on an abandoned rail line; the finale is an ensemble chase thru the streets of Culver City. Produced & written by Hal Roach; directed by Robert F. McGowan; starring Joe Cobb, Jackie Condon, Mickey Daniels, Allen 'Farina' Hoskins, Mary Kornman, Andy Samuel & 'Sonny Boy' Warde
available on DVD within several collections on the Little Rascals / Our Gang Page
full credits from IMDb • movie entry at Wikipedia

Culver City Adjacent
Of course, quite a few movies were filmed just outside the city limits of Culver City,
such as at nearby Venice Beach and in Santa Monica and Malibu.
(NOT included here are the many teen surfing movies made in the 1960s and later,
up Pacific Coast Highway at Malibu and Zuma and Trancas).

"Man In The Dark" [Columbia April 1953]

Filmed in 3-D; a convicted robber undergoes experimental brain surgery to remove his 'criminal tendencies'; when released from prison, members of his former gang kidnap him to get him to reveal the location of the hidden loot from their last robbery – but he can't remember. Torture by the gang triggers strange dreams that reveal pieces of the missing info, leading to a climax on the wooden roller coaster at a beachside amusement park (Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica, California). Directed by Lew Landers; starring Edmond O'Brien, Audrey Totter, Ted de Corsia & Horace McMahon
not available on DVD; full credits at IMDb

"Valentine's Day" [2010]
Great exterior shots all over Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and San Fernando Valley,
and several glimpses of the Venice Canals neighborhood.

"Vicious Circle" [Maya Releasing 2008]

A tragic 'punk rock' Latino love story set on the streets of modern-day Venice Beach, California Directed by Paul Boyd; starring Paul Rodriguez, Emily Rios, Trevor Wright
DVD/Blu-ray not yet available; full credits from IMDb • official movie site

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Culver City Film Festival