Downton Abbey

he free world is in love with Downton Abbey. I watched it online and loved it so much we now own the DVD. It is available on Netflix, but your wait is going to be a long one. Series two goes into production this march. We here in the US won't see it till next year. It's set in one of my favorite English time periods. Turn of the century Edwardian England. The fact that it is set in a grand house, and I mean GRAND, may have something to do with it's appeal to me. As usual I spend a lot of time watching the house and not the story. Highclere Castle plays the role of Downton Abbey. You can see more of it HERE

One fireplace, three movies.

I found the same fireplace in three different movie. Yes, I do other things besides watch movies.
I first spotted it in the Disney Movie. Pollyanna.


Then I spotted it the Disney movie. The Happiest Millionaire. I wasn't that surprised, they had used much of the same set from Pollyanna.

But then I spotted it again in the Disney Touchtone film "Oscar". Which only surprised me that it was still around. Have I mentioned how much I love the house in Oscar? It is a wonder. I spotted some chairs in this movie that were in the movie "Age of Innocents" I'll save that for another day.

Meet me in St.Louis- vs - Cheaper by the Dozen

It's true. The house in "Meet me in St. Louis" was used again in the movie "Cheaper by the Dozen" Although the CPTD movie was originally filmed in black and white, I prefer the colorized version because it give the sets alone more life. There are many clues to indicate that the house had a working set interior, but on the hand there are things that make me think it was a set on a sound stage.. Either way, the CBTD movie used the same interior set. It had new woodwork and new stairs but the configuration of the rooms is the same. See for yourself.

The Meet me in St Louis House, Designed and built just for this movie.

Here we see it in Cheaper by the Dozen, The addition of a drive way, and the bush lined fence.

The front doors in MMISL. The high door knobs and the etched glass.

This shot is one indication that the set is on a sound stage. The painting of the house across the street, and the lighting out side is to much like the inside lighting.

The front door in CBTD, Same etched glass, and high doorknobs. Although you can not see it the pattern etched on the glass is the same in both movies. The dental moulding under the window is only on the outside side of the doors, as you can see on the shot when the Family first arrives at the house.

The stairs in Meet me in St Louis. They rise to a landing mid way up the stairs, and a large cut lead window.
The stairs in Cheaper by the Dozen, The mid way landing is gone. Moving the upper balcony closer to the front of the house. the wall on the left has been moved in, covering the large led window. The window is now at the top of the stairs, Perhaps the hall felt to large for this movie. I love the painting on the wall at the base of the stairs. The image of a man on the left appears to be looking out of his frame and up the stairs.

Here is a full view of the CBTD entry. I love it! But what is the bump in the upper top left corner. With an entry this size there should be an impressive chandelier hanging in this space.

The MMISL Dining room.
The CBTD Dinning room. The addition of the paneled wainscot, and the door to the kitchen is moved from the left to the right. Incidentaly we never see the kitchen in this movie.

I tried and tried to get a good shot of this scene. If you notice through the front door you can see the painting of the two men at the bottom of the stairs and the blue wallpaper. In the movie they pan back. you can tell that the interior of the house is trimmed out. Whether they trimmed out just what you can see through the door I guess we will never know.

This Shot I happened to spot the shadow of the boom mic on the lawn to the left.

A big thank you to Julia over at Hooked on Houses, for the use of the MMISL pictures that she captured for her post on the movie. Check out Movie Mondays on her site to see house and sets used in various movies. She is just the coolest house person I know.

You can spend hours on her site. You could anyway. I check it everyday so I don't miss a thing.

Peppard Cottage revisited.

You may remember my post back in October about Peppard cottage? Here is proof that if you wish for something hard enough it will come true. Over a year ago I posted on here and on some British forums requesting pictures of this house from anyone willing to share. Then my lucky day came. Sean Menzies happened to do a search for Peppard Cottage and found my little blog. Sean had actually been to village where Peppard cottage is. I receive these emails from him. He shared some interesting bit of knowledge about this little English gem.

Hey Derek, I found your blog by doing a search for Peppard Cottage. After having visited the house, I was curious if there were any references to it online OTHER than it having been used in Merchant Ivory's film. Most of it was about the Bloomsbury Set and the film, of course. I did see it used once, a few years ago, in a Mystery on PBS.

I've attached as many of the giant photos of the place I took as I can. It is really a lovely house. I think a one Lynda Rothbarth lives there now, she's a horsewoman. The young caretakers, a couple who live in back, were very nice to me and let me take pictures of the place. I wanted to see if the teeth were still in the chestnut tree, but we ran out of time.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics.

Cheers,

Sean.

I love this shot. It shows a view of the west side of the house that we never see in the movie.

Of course I was absolutely giddy to see these pictures. I wrote him back begging for any other pictures he might have, and permission to post them here. He responded with more pictures and trivia.

Go ahead, Derek, post away! I've attached some others, too. I took a lot but didn't realize until I looked at the pics later that most of them were from the front! I regret not getting a photo of the metal plaque that says "Peppard Cottage" which is affixed to the fencepost next to the gate (the one Emma Thompson barges through in the film to go save Helen). In the film, it has been removed and one can see the rusty square where it usually resides.

The white poles in one of the pics I sent are goal posts, plastic. There were a lot of children's toys in the front yard and I tried to shoot around them. Also of interest is the fact that the owners have kept all the production design put in by Luciana Arrighi. The dining room is still painted red and the acorn wallpaper is still in the front hall, I could see that much through the windows.

I've attached the wider view of the front of the house and the fuzzy pic I took of the chestnut tree. All the foliage had been cut back for the Winter so the wisteria was hacked down and the chestnut tree looks like a stump! It was very cool to go up to the front door and touch the wooden railings and cold iron door handle and to knock on the glass. The atmospheric sounds of the wind and the birds are exactly as they are in the film, which reproduced it accurately. Also, it is surrounded by other houses, which you've seen from the Google shots, and there is a pub, The Red Lion, within walking distance!

Oh and the last pic is of Henley-on-Thames, right down the road. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been, at least in the past couple of years. You walk along the Thames, before it is polluted by London, on a tremendous wooden boardwalk that at one point goes out into the middle of the river then back. Just beautiful. ALSO again: the bluebell wood that Leonard walks through is literally at the bottom of the road; the road, once it goes past the house, drops down drastically into a thick wood the is full of bluebells every May. We were there in March, so it was all damp and moldy.

Enjoy!
Sean

Thanks Sean For sharing these with me... anytime you want to become my out in the field reporter you can have the job.

Peppard Cottage

Over on Hooked on Houses, Julia has some great pictures posted of this Cottage. Peppard Cottage. Famous for its appearance in the Merchant Ivory film "Howard's End" I have hunted high and low for a good picture of this cottage to no avail. I did manage to get a cryptic address for it. Then spent hours combing the Oxfordshire countryside via Google Earth till I found it. The house is in fact much larger than we are led to believe in the movie. Head over to Julia site for all the great pictures.

Titanic 2 ?????? WHY? WHY ? WHY!

Watch this and see if you are as apalled as I was. They couldn't just leave it alone.