Re: 'Our Hospitality' vs 'Iron Mule' ... and 'Dual in the Sun')

larryjensen Wrote:
========================================
> "Duel in the Sun" used Virginia & Truckee 4-4-0
> #22 in two scenes. One was filmed on specially
> laid track at the far west end of the San Fernando
> Valley (the armed confrontation). The other was
> shot near the small town of Elgin on the Southern
> Pacific's line between Benson & Patagonia, Ariz.

Is that the now-abandoned line that used to pass through the little Indian village of Nohitsnorunsno, Ariz.?

> There was also a wreck scene using Sierra Rail-
> road 2-8-0 #18 that was filmed about a mile east
> of Cooperstown on that line. These shoots are
> covered in the next two volumes of the "Holly-
> wood's Railroads" series, 'Virginia & Truckee'
> and 'Sierra Railroad'.

Thanks, Larry!   I am definitely looking forward to them!!

> Buster Keaton was a rail fan who used trains in
> many of his films, most notably "The General," and
> actually had a model railroad at his home in North
> Hollywood prior to his death in 1966.

Did he and Walt Disney ever visit one-another to "play trains"?

> The Rocket-type locomotive in "Our Hospitality"
> was built for that film in 1923 and was also used
> in another well-known silent film "The Iron Mule,"
> in 1925.  The train scenes for "Our Hospitality"
> were shot on the narrow gauge line between
> Truckee and Lake Tahoe, California.

The 'Lake Tahoe Railway & Navigation Co.'?   That was one of my guesses.  Isn't that the line that Scenic Railways was trying revive - at least in part - before they moved to the C&TS?

> Any Keaton film is worth watching, as he was one
> of the true masters.[/i]

AMEN to that!!

> I also highly recommend Harold Lloyd films, many
> of which contain trains or streetcars.
>
> "Duel in the Sun," on the other hand, was intended
> as David O. Selznick's epic follow-up to "Gone W/
> the Wind." I watch "DS" every ten years or so,
> trying to give it another chance and find some
> redeeming social value, but I cannot warm up
> to that film.

I actually skipped part of it to take Bosco & Otis for a walk, so I could watch 'Our Hospitality' uninterrupted!

> Thanks for letting me pontificate!


Thank YOU, Larry -

I always enjoy finding out about films that include railroad scenes - the more, the better!
And Keaton - along with Stan & Ollie - is among my all-time favorites!!

- Roosso

p.s. Save a link to this post, so that the next time you're tempted to look at 'Duel in the Sun',
you can look at 'Dual in the Sun' instead ...