Hollow Triumph (1948) (a.k.a. The Scar) - Film Locations

Hollow Triumph (a.k.a. "The Scar")

Actor Paul Henreid, probably best known as Victor Laszlo in the film Casablanca (1942), gives a thrilling and very different performance in the noir Hollow Triumph (1948), also known as The Scar. Henreid plays brilliant crook John Muller, who with the help of a few friends, attempts to pull a heist on a casino. Things don't go according to plan and Muller must take the money and go into hiding. The casino owner, a tough gangster, will stop at nothing to capture Muller and sends two of his thugs to capture him.

While in hiding, Muller is mistaken on the street as Dr. Bartok, a psychiatrist, who bears a striking resemblance to Muller. Only the real Dr. Bartok has a scar across his cheek. Muller takes a photo of Dr. Bartok and then using the photo for reference, creates a scar on his own cheek. Only the photo lab made a mistake and printed the image in reverse, so Muller ends up with the scar on the wrong side of his face. This doesn't stop Muller from fooling most people into believing that he is Dr. Bartok, including the doctor's tough-minded secretary Evelyn Hayn (Joan Bennett). But for how long can Muller impersonate the doctor before people begin to catch on?

A few of the film's scenes take place in downtown Los Angeles and some of the landmarks that can be seen are the Barclay Hotel, Angels Flight, and the Olympic Theatre. Here are a few of the locations seen in Hollow Triumph.

The first is the Barclay Hotel, located at the corner of 4th Street and Main Street in downtown Los Angeles. In the scene below, the two thugs that are after Muller find him in a hotel/apartment building across the street from the Barclay.

Two thugs after Muller (Henreid). Barclay Hotel in background.

The Barclay Hotel as it appears today.

Although in the film the thugs find Muller leaving an apartment/hotel across the street from the Barclay, the building that stood across the street at the time of filming, the Westminster Hotel, is different from the building seen in the film. The film crew must have shot the building where Muller is hiding out in a different location and then edited the film to make it look like it was across from the Barclay.

Muller leaves the apartment/hotel building across the street

from the Barclay hotel.

This is how the building looks in the film.

This is the Westminster Hotel, the building that was actually 

across the street from the Barclay Hotel.

This is how the same location looks today.

Muller takes off running from the thugs.  He runs up to Hill and Third Street, pass the Belmont Hotel and up to Angels Flight next to the Third Street Tunnel. You will see that this location has changed drastically since the time of filming. Angels Flight was moved a few blocks over, the tunnel has been widened, and all of the buildings have been demolished and replaced by more modern high rise buildings.

Muller runs up to Angels Flight.

Vintage look at Angels Flight and the Third Street Tunnel.

The Third Street Tunnel as it appears today.

The two thugs, standing on Third Street next to the Belmont Hotel,

spot Muller boarding the Angels Flight.

Two old men in 1969 stand at Third Street next to the Belmont.

Looking down Third Street where the Belmont Hotel once stood.

Later in the film there is another chase scene with Muller (Henreid) trying to get away. In this scene we see the historic Olympic Theatre located at 313 W. Eighth Street and the intersection of Eighth and Hill Street. This same intersection was the site of another chase scene with Pat O'Brien and Bette Davis in the film Bureau of Missing Persons (1933).

Muller passes the Olympic Theatre on Eighth Street.

Olympic Theatre (on right) as it appears today.

Rounding Eighth Street onto Hill Street.

Looking down Hill Street at Eighth Street.

Looking North down Hill Street from Eighth Street.

Looking North down Hill Street from Eighth Street.

Hollow Triumph (1949) is available on DVD. It is also available on Netflix as a Watch Instantly title, but under the name, The Scar.

Vintage photos from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. Street images (c) Google 2011

The Lawless (1950) - Film Locations

The Lawless (1950)

In something a little different today, I've gone beyond my Los Angeles borders to track down film locations in two Northern California towns seen in the 1950 Joseph Losey movie, The Lawless. Many of Losey's films analyzed different social issues and in The Lawless, the director shines a light on racism in a small California community. What shocked me when I first saw this film is how contemporary it feels sixty-one years later.

The friction is between the middle class whites that live in the fictional town of Santa Marta and the Mexican fruit pickers that live in the poorer neighboring community, Sleepy Hollow. Not all, but many of the residents in the white community look down at the Mexican immigrants, considering them lazy and troublesome. During one evening, some white teenagers decide to go to Sleepy Hollow for a night of dancing. At the dance, the white teenagers pick a fight and an all out brawl ensues, spiraling out of control. When one of the Latino boys accidentally hits a cop many people in the white community, without knowing all the facts, go on a hunt for the Mexican juvenile, much like the mob in the Fritz Lang film, Fury.

Macdonald Carey, a regular in many 'B' movies, plays Larry Wilder, a newspaper publisher who has left the city life to go live and work in a quieter small town similar to the one he fondly remembers growing up in.  Being new in town, Carey initially doesn't want to make any more waves in the community than there already are. When Carey realizes just how bad the anti-Mexican hatred is he decides to take action, using his newspaper to get out the facts and to be a voice of reason in the community.

Macdonald Carey outside The Union Square Building

Union Square Building, 151 Mill St, Grass Valley, Ca

Above and directly below are screenshots from the film showing Carey's newspaper office building compared with contemporary images of the location. In the film, this building was to be in the fictional town of Santa Marta, but this building is located at 151 Mill Street, in Grass Valley, California. What I think is interesting is that this building, built in 1864, really was a newspaper building according to the Nevada County Association of Realtors website.

Another view of Union Square Building from The Lawless

151 Mill Street, Grass Valley, Ca - Union Square Building

The next few screen comparisons show more locations moving down Mill Street in Grass Valley, going in the direction of the historic Del Oro Theatre. You will see the residents beginning to form a mob and then turning into a chase scene.

Mexicans driving down Mill Street through the white crowd.

Cars driving down Mill Street near the Del Oro Theatre.

The Del Oro Theatre in the background as seen in The Lawless.

Del Oro Theatre, 165 Mill Street, Grass Valley, Ca

According to Cinema Treasures, the Del Oro Theatre was built in 1942, making the theatre only about seven years old during the time The Lawless was being filmed.

The mob races past Casey's Restaurant in Grass Valley.

Casey's Restaurant is now a parking lot.

In the above scene, the crowd formed into a mob and began racing down Mill Street, chasing one of the Mexicans past Casey's restaurant at the intersection of Mill and Neal Streets. As you can see, Casey's Restaurant is now a parking lot.

In the next screenshot comparisons, what is supposed to still be Santa Marta was actually filmed in Marysville, California, about 30 miles away from Grass Valley where the other scenes were filmed.

5th Street at D Street, Marysville, Ca as seen in The Lawless

Looking down D Street at 5th Street, Marysville, Ca

In the screenshot above, if you look in the upper right corner, you can see the pointed circular peak of what was the Western Hotel. I was able to identify this building thanks to some historic images on the Historic Downtown Marysville website. You can check out this informative and interesting site by clicking here. The Historic Downtown Marysville site says this about the hotel:

"Opened on November 1, 1853, the five-star Western Hotel was built for $30,000 by R.J. Murray. It burned in May 1854,  June 1933, and August 1956 [just seven years after The Lawless was filmed]. The hotel had installed the first elevator, steam heaters, and electricity between Sacramento and Portland in 1911; thus, it kept the hotel ranked with its five-star rating. The hotel stood for 95 years and was demolished in 1956."

As you can see, the hotel is not the only building missing since the time of filming. Clearly some of the other buildings that once stood on D Street are now gone.

The next couple comparisons show the old Yuba County Court House in Marysville, which was located at the corner of 6th and D Streets. Like the hotel, the old Court House is no longer standing.

Yuba County Court House as seen in The Lawless.

6th & D Streets, Marysville, Ca - Former site of Court House.

In front of the Court House, looking down D Street.

Looking down D Street where the Court House once stood.

In the next scene comparison we see a park in the center of town that the mob passes through during the chase scene. This park was Cortez Square, located near where the Court House used to stand. The park was situated between B and C Street and 5th and 6th Street. Like the Court House, Cortez Square is also gone.

Cortez Square, Marysville, Ca as seen in The Lawless.

Cortez Sqaure now covered by buildings.

This last comparison shows Ellis Lake, located in Marysville, Ca. The lake can be seen later in the film when a cop drives by the sign reading "Santa Marta - The Friendly City."

A view of Ellis Lake, in Marysville, Ca.

A present day view of Ellis Lake in Marysville, Ca.

The Lawless is an entertaining 'B' movie that has held up well over time. In addition to seeing real life film locations, another great thing about this movie is that Joseph Losey cast actual Latinos, rather than throwing on some dark make-up on white actors to play Latinos. I always grimace a bit when I see that done.

The Lawless is currently available for streaming on Netflix. I don't believe there has been any official studio release of The Lawless on DVD, but it can be found for sale online.

All present day images (c) 2011 Google; (c) 2011 Microsoft Coporation, (c) 2010 Pictometry International Corp (c) 2010 NAVTEQ.

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College Coach (1933) - Film Locations

College Coach (1933)

What is college football without a few scandals? It seems like every football season a few more scandals pop up. Just this year eight players for the University of Miami are in trouble for accepting illegal gifts. But this is nothing new. Illegal gifts, phony entrance exams, dirty money and other illegal affairs have long been a part of college sports and this was even the premise for the 1933 film, College Coach.

In College Coach, Pat O'Brien plays the title character, a shady coach willing to do anything to win, even if it means buying players for his team and getting them into classes they can pass. This is a far stretch from the real life coach, Knute Rockne, that O'Brien would play a few years later. As coach Gore, O'Brien is hired by Calvert University,  a school looking to turn their football team into a winning team in order to attract more money for their school. 

The film doesn't mention where the story takes place, but the film was made in and around Los Angeles. Here are a few of the filming locations from College Coach.

For the fictional Calvert University, filming was done at Millspaugh Hall which was once located at 855 N. Vermont Ave. Millspaugh Hall was built in 1914 and was the main administration building for the University of California, Southern Branch which would eventually come to be known as University of California, Los Angeles or UCLA. By 1929, UCLA moved to their new campus in Westwood. Millspaugh Hall has since been demolished.

Calvert University as seen in College Coach (1933)

Millspaugh Hall, 855 N. Vermont Ave

Photo Credit: Los Angeles Public Library

855 N. Vermont Ave. Now the site of Los Angeles City College.

In one scene, after Pat O'Brien has accepted the job at Calvert University, he goes to meet his wife at the train station. O'Brien's wife, played by the attractive Ann Dvorak, is coming to join her husband in the new town where he will be coaching. The train station that was used in the film was the former Santa Fe Depot in South Pasadena. In the film we get a glimpse of the depot as well as the Graham and Mohr Opera House, another historic building that has since been demolished.

O'Brien standing across from the Graham and Mohr Opera House

El Centro Street, South Pasadena

The Graham and Mohr Opera House (demolished)

Photo Credit: South Pasadena Library

Santa Fe Depot on Left. Opera House on Right

El Centro Street, South Pasadena

Photo Credit: "South Pasadena" by Rick Thomas

El Centro Street, South Pasadena as it appears today.

In another scene we see the Calvert University football team arriving in town for a game. Signs welcome the arrival of the Calvert players. The street that we see the team driving down is Broadway and we get a glimpse of the historic United Artists movie palace on the left hand side. The United Artists theatre was built in 1927, just six years prior to the filming of College Coach.

Broadway, Los Angeles as seen in College Coach

933 S. Broadway, United Artists Theatre on left.

The football scenes were all filmed at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which was built in 1923, just ten years before the filming of College Coach. The Coliseum has hosted many events in addition to college football games, including the Olympics, the World Series for baseball, and Super Bowls. The Coliseum has been the home field for the University of Southern California Trojans since 1923.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as seen in College Coach.

Present view of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum entrance.

Calvert University plays at the Coliseum.

Looking inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Lyle Talbot, Dick Powell race on to the field to see O'Brien.

Another view inside the Coliseum.

Hugh Herbert, Ann Dvorak, Pat O'Brien

College Coach also stars Lyle Talbot, Dick Powell and Nat Pendleton as three of the football players for Calvert University. And if you watch closely, you get a glimpse of a very young John Wayne, as one of the Calvert students.

College Coach is available on home video through the Warner Archive Collection.

All screenshots (c) Warner Bros. Entertainment. Ariel Views: Hall Pictometry Bird's Eye, 2010 (c), 2010 Pictometry International Corp (c) 2011 Microsoft Corporation (c) and (c) 2010 NAVTEQ