Movie Travel Locations

MOVIE TRAVEL LOCATIONS

“Paris is always a good idea.”
Audrey Hepburn in “Sabrina”

10^th August 2016

Reflecting on my numerous travels, I thought it would be fun to recall some of the most amazing movie locations I have inadvertently found myself in.  Several years ago, I visited the Angkor Wat Temples, in Siam Reap, Cambodia.  This was the location for part of the 2001 movie ‘Lara Croft:  Tomb Raider’, with Angelina Jolie [see my Cambodia blog].

Not many people realise that part of the 1978 movie, starring Harrison Ford, ‘Force 10 from Navarone’, a sequel to ‘The Guns of Navarone’, with Gregory Peck, was filmed in Jersey, The Channel Islands, which is part of Great Britain.  Jersey makes a beautiful location for movies [pictured below] and was also the setting for the British television series, ‘Bergerac’.

Sand Beach, part of the Acadia National Park, in Bar Harbor, Maine, was the setting for part of the 1999 drama ‘The Cider House Rules’, with Tobey Maguire and Michael Caine.  Sand Beach is pictured below, and I visited here for the first time in 2016 [see my New England blog].

One of my first, major, movie locations was way back in the mid-1990s, when I visited the magical city of Udaipur in India – this is where the 1983 James Bond movie ‘Octopussy’, with Roger Moore, was partially filmed, at the floating palace.  This is a truly beautiful and magical area.

One of my most favourite areas, is Beddgelert, in North Wales, where the 1958 movie ‘The Inn of the Sixth Happiness’ was filmed, starring Ingrid Bergman [pictured below].  There a plaque was erected to mark the occasion.  Bleddgelert makes a strange Chinese location, but what is stranger is that the Chinese children in the movie, were, for the most part, played by local children.  This is because the original Chinese children brought in from Liverpool got so homesick they were not able to stay to fulfil the movie obligations.  It’s why the children sing with such a British accent!

I didn’t realise, until I visited Petra in Jordan, that this was the setting for the 1981 movie ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, with Harrison Ford.  Harrison Ford certainly gets around [see my Jordan blog].

I have visited Madrid a couple of times in the past, and the 1965 epic ‘Dr Zhivago’, with Omar Sharif and Julie Christie was filmed here.  Some scenes were filmed in Portugal, Canada and Finland because the book was banned in Russia, where the story is set.

One of my most recent experiences, was visiting Krakow, Poland.  It was here that the 1993 Steven Spielberg movie 'Schindler's List' was made.  In the street running at right angles to the street below, Spielberg had his office on the ground floor of the local restaurant.

For those interested in movie and television locations, it would be fun to plan a trip around their favourite media experiences!  I had the good fortune in 1976 to visit the Ponderosa Ranch, in Nevada, USA, the setting for the American Western drama ‘Bonanza’, which ran from 1959-1973.  Although the internet says it was a theme park based on the series.  Well, it was a long time ago!

A more recent visit was to Alnwick Castle, in Northumberland, England - a location for the Harry Potter movies and 'Robin Hood Prince of Thieves [1991):

Happy travels!