Havana Widows (1933) - Film Locations

In the pre-code film Havana Widows (1933) Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell play a couple of hardworking and underpaid burlesque girls who, after losing their jobs, find their next move as gold diggers. After learning that a former fellow showgirl struck it rich in Havana, Blondell and Farrell set sail for Cuba where they hope to find a rich gentlemen of their own. The film's cast is filled with many of the great Warner Bros. players of the period, including Frank McHugh (a crooked lawyer who helps Blondell and Farrell to set up a millionaire), Guy Kibbee (the millionaire), Allen Jenkins, Lyle Talbot, and Ruth Donnelly, but even all this talent can't help out the poor story. There are some funny lines and comical slapstick moments, but the film wanders aimlessly from one gag to the next.

Despite the Havana setting in the story, the film was shot on the soundstages at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. A few scenes of the film were shot on the Warner Bros. backlot, including the scene below where Allen Jenkins is running around New York trying to track down Blondell and Farrell, not knowing yet that they have hustled him out of some dough in order to go to Havana. In the scene below, Jenkins is walking down Brownstone Street.

Allen Jenkins walking down Brownstone Street.

Brownstone Street on the Warner Bros. lot as it appears today.

Jenkins on the Warner Bros. Brownstone Street.

Brownstone Street was built in 1929 and is the oldest backlot set at Warner Bros. The facades have changed over the years but still have kept the same general appearance.

Although Havana Widows may not have the greatest story, it's worth watching for the cast. The film is currently available from the Warner Bros. Archive Collection as a made to order DVD.  The DVD includes a double feature of Joan Blondell pre-code films, the other film being I've Got Your Number (1934).

No Time For Sergeants (1958) - Film Locations

No Time For Sergeants stars Andy Griffith as a dim witted country bumpkin who gets drafted into the Air Force. Griffith's character, Will Stockdale, is similar to the character Forrest Gump, but whereas the people around Gump always benefited from his help, Stockdale always brings more trouble for those around him, especially Sergeant King, Stockdale's barracks sergeant. Sergeant King, a career military man who has found success by managing to stay under the radar by "not making waves" finds his steady career in jeopardy with simple minded Stockdale under his command. 

Griffith is hilarious in this comedy. Yes, he could be funny on the Andy Griffith Show, but he is really, really funny in No Time For Sergeants. His comic timing and delivery are perfect. Myron McCormick, Nick Adams, and future Andy Griffith Show co-star Don Knotts also star in No Time For Sergeants.

In my post on the film locations for Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970), Tony Curtis is seen driving a bus onto Warner Bros. Midwest Street to pick up a group of military recruits. Twelve years earlier, the film No Time For Sergeants (1958) also used Midwest Street to serve the same purpose, but in No Time For Sergeants hillbilly Andy Griffith is getting picked up for military service.

Another difference between the two films: Suppose They Gave a War, in the scene where the recruits are waiting to be picked up, filmed from the front side of the Midwest Street white chapel building. In No Time For Sergeants, Griffith, Nick Adams and the other recruits wait to be picked up on the backside of the white chapel.

Recruits behind the white chapel on Midwest Street.

The white chapel on the Warner Bros. Midwest Street.

Griffith gets handcuffed to a gas pump near the chapel.

The gas pump would have been in the center of the street.

An Air Force recruit says goodbye to his sweetheart.

The same view of Midwest Street as it appears today.

Griffith, Nick Adams, Murray Hamilton

Same view of Midwest Street at Warner Bros.

Another view behind the chapel.

Looking behind the chapel as it appears today.

Griffith (Stockdale) and Adams (Whitledge)

Benjamin B. Whitledge: You ever had R.O.T.C.?

Will Stockdale: No..., but Irvin did! Close to a year of it. He's so 'ornary I think he still might have a touch of it.

Benjamin B. Whitledge: No, Will R.O.T.C. ain't a disease, its trainin'...Reserve, Officer's, Training...,uh...Corporation!

Another view behind the chapel as seen in 

No Time For Sergeants.

The same view as it appears today.

No Time For Sergeants is available on DVD. Have you seen it?

Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970) - Film Locations

Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970) is one of those movies I just had to see because of the all-star cast but when I finally did see the film I knew why, despite all the names in the film, nobody ever talks about it. Brian Keith, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, Suzanne Pleshette, Tom Ewell, and Don Ameche headline this parody of the U.S. military, but nothing any one  of these stars does can save this film from feeling long and boring. Made at the height of the Vietnam war, you get the feeling that this movie was supposed to be one of those "message" films but really, the whole movie seems so ridiculous that any intended message gets buried in the clownish story. 

The story is set in a small Southern town that is home to an Army base. The town locals dislike the presence of the military in their community and tension builds between the locals and the military. Col. Flanders (Ameche) hires Officer Nace (Keith) to help improve community relations, but Ernest Borgnine, a sheriff with a chip on his shoulder isn't ready to work with the military on improving relations. Tony Curtis, a loud-mouth, scheming, trouble making Sergeant only makes matters worse and eventually ends up in jail. When his friend Nace comes to break him out using a borrowed tank, the zealous Tom Ewell leads a milita to go to war against the Army.

As much as I disliked the film, I did enjoy noticing that the small town where most of the action takes place, including the final confrontation between the locals and the military, was filmed on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, specifically on Midwest Street. This area of the lot has most recently appeared in the television show Hart of Dixie filling in for another Southern community and also on the big screen in The Muppets. In The Muppets, Midwest Street is "Smalltown," the town where Jason Segel and Amy Adams live.

Below are comparisons of Midwest Street as it appeared in Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970) and how Midwest Street appears today.

Ernest Borgnine & Suzanne Pleshette in a drug store set.

Looking out from the drug store entrance.

Pleshette leaves the drug store.

Another view looking from the drug store.

Borgnine near the center of Warner Bros. Midwest Street.

Warner Bros. Midwest Street. The same 

chapel stands in the background.

Borgnine walking towards the middle of Midwest Street.

Looking at the center of Midwest Street as it presently appears.

Borgnine stands in front of the drug store.

The drug store facade as it appears today.

Borgnine, Tony Curtis, Brian Keith on Midwest Street.

Looking down Midwest Street.

Curtis drives a bus into Midwest Street to pick up new recruits.

The building on the left is the "Star" theatre building.

Borgnine looks at the military in disgust.

The facades behind Borgnine as they appear today.

The drug store is seen top center.

The same facades today, stripped down.

This next view is pretty cool because the western style facades no longer exist. You can see in the contemporary photo the green hills in the background but the western facades have been demolished and replaced.

The western style facades above no longer exist.

All that is the same are the green hills in the distant background.

Bradford Dillman stands on a jeep parked on Midwest Street.

The facade of the Star theatre as it appears today.

Borgnine in front of the police station.

The police station facade as it appears today.

The next view is another showing more of the western style facades (on the right side) that no longer exist. On the left you will notice the backside of the white chapel building is still there.

The army and the town police go at it on Midwest Street.

Entering Midwest Street from the back.

The backside of the white chapel.

The backdoor to the chapel building has been stripped away.

The tank pulls into Midwest Street. The front side

of the chapel would be a little further to the left.

The same view in front of the chapel is it appears today.

Looking down from the police station.

The police station facade is where the green trim is. This

view has changed quite a bit.

Over ten years prior to Tony Curtis arriving on Midwest Street in a bus to pick up military recruits another film, a very funny military themed comedy from the 1950s, used the same location on the Warner Bros. backlot as the spot to pick up new recruits. Any guesses as to what movie this may be? Come back next week and I'll have a post on the now and then comparisons from this 1950s film. 

Update: January 7, 2012

To see the answer of which 1950s film used Midwest Street as the location to pick up military recruits click here.