Location Filming in the Alabama Hills

Images of America: California

by Charles Michael Morfin

Forged from glaciers and sacred to Native Americans, the mountains, boulders, and rocks of the Alabama Hills mirror landscapes found all over the world. A scenic three-hour drive from the Hollywood sign, this location would prove to serve as the place to make movies. Early Hollywood studios sent location scouts to the area after hearing stories shared by travelers, and the rest is movie history. Over 500 films have completed shooting here, including silents, A movies, B Westerns, serials, sci-fi, film noir, television shows, and commercials. Tom Mix, Errol Flynn, John Wayne, William Boyd, Clayton Moore, Lucille Ball, Roy Rogers, Natalie Wood, Humphrey Bogart, Steve McQueen, Russell Crowe, Jamie Foxx, and many more have all scrambled amongst the terrain in the Alabama Hills.

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 29, 2014

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book because I visited Alabama Hills and wanted to know more about the area and the rock formations themselves, which are so unique and beautiful. I was disappointed that the author focused mainly on the films and stars who filmed here over the years (always, for some reason, saying where the star was buried, as if that is relevant). He mentioned the rocks named after stars, but made no effort to identify which ones they were or even include a picture of some of them (which would have been quite easy to do). He enjoyed putting pictures of himself in the book, which was seldom relevant, unless providing a clearer shot of a scene from a very old (and fuzzy) still shot. The writing is poor; the author repeats himself often, includes irrelevancies, and keeps saying a site or location is "nice." I was disappointed. It's clear the author knows the area, but has a very poor sense of what to include for readers who are unfamiliar with the area.