Newport was a film favorite

Elia Powers

Although the Newport Beach Film Festival has brought hundreds of

movies to the city over the past six years, filmmakers have been

visiting the area since the early 1900s.

“Filmmakers needed remote-looking places, and Newport had a huge

harbor that could look like just about anything,” said Marty Capune,

Newport Beach’s film liaison and a former film location manager.

According to county historian Jim Sleeper’s “Great Movies Shot in

Orange County,” the earliest documentary made in the county was

filmed in Newport Beach in 1912. The film, he wrote, followed the

flight of a water plane.

But many of the movies shot in Newport Beach tended to be of the

action or comedy variety. Sleeper wrote that in 1916, a film crew

came to Balboa Island and set fire to the bridge that connects the

island to the mainland.

Joseph Francis Keaton, better known as “Buster,” shot “The Boat”

in Newport Beach in 1921.

City residents were enthralled by the process of filming,

according to Sleeper. They would stand by the shores and watch as

actors and stunt devils jumped off ships and conducted battle scenes

on the water.

In 1927, Keaton starred in “College,” a film about crew racing

that was shot in Newport Beach. The film’s cast stayed at the

Southern Seas Club, and the filmmakers hired locals to be extras in

the film. Newport Beach residents were paid $5 a day and given

all-access passes to see the making of the film, according to

Sleeper’s book.

One of the most famous films was the 1930 Oscar award-winning “All

Quiet on the Western Front.” The World War I drama was filmed in what

is now Corona del Mar and the Back Bay.

“This place has always been film friendly,” Capune said. “People

have historically gone out of their way to do what is needed.”

Newport Harbor played prominently in “College,” and Sleeper wrote

that the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce publicized the movie in

order to promote a harbor bond issue and to encourage future

filmmaking in the region.

It must have worked, because throughout the first half of the 20th

century, the area was a favorite of many Los Angeles-based

filmmakers. Looking for less-crowded beaches and a more unfettered,

natural setting, opportunistic directors began shifting their

waterside filming locations from Los Angeles County to Orange County.

Newport Beach was the setting for the silent version of “Treasure

Island,” according to Capune. The harbor was transformed many times

over on the big screen, often serving as the setting to films with

ancient backdrops.

The city reaped the financial benefits, and the films helped

attract tourists and actors.

Corona del Mar had its time in the spotlight, as well. In the

silent version of the 1917 film “Cleopatra,” viewers saw the city’s

trademark hills in the background.

“The harbor looked like it could have been the Nile,” Capune said.

“Filmmakers loved the freedom they had to use the surroundings.”

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