Starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, John Lazar, Michael Blodgett.
Directed by Russ Meyer.
The Sign is shown near the beginning of this unabashedly ribald film, when the main characters are moving to Los Angeles. True to its time, the Sign is noticeably worn. Interestingly, this film was written by film critic Roger Ebert (one of three he penned for Meyer)!
(Contributed by Paul Hennessy)
Directed by Arnold Laven
Down Three Dark Streets is a 1954 film in the documentary-style film noir genre. The screenplay was written by Gordon and Mildred Gordon, based on their novel Case File FBI. FBI agent John Ripley investigates the three cases his murdered partner was working on, hoping to find the killer. The film’s climax takes place around the famous Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles.
(Contributed by Ron Pierson and E Morrison)
Director: Lew Landers
Stars: Edmond O’Brien, Audrey Totter, Ted de Corsia
About a third of the way in, he is chased by a detective and policemen over Columbia Studios sound stages. Visible north and behind them, the letters “HO” of the Hollywood Sign can be seen just to the left of a stage.
Directed by Jack Kinney, Bill Roberts, Hamilton Luske, William Morgan.
Produced by Walt Disney.
One of Walt Disney’s wonderful “package films” that helped rebuild the famous studios after the war, this collection included Bongo and Mickey and the Beanstalk. This film marks the last time Walt voiced the Mickey character. At the end of the Beanstalk story, the giant strides across spotlit Los Angeles at night, right past the Hollywood Sign on Mt. Lee, before donning the Brown Derby and heading out of town.
(Contributed by Mary Mallory)
Starring Zachary Scott
The Hollywood Sign appears in the 1945 Warner Bros. film DANGER SIGNAL starring Zachary Scott near the beginning, as he takes the bus from a town to California. The camera pans past the Hollywood Sign west as you see the Hollywood Tower, Argyle Apartments, etc., and then dissolves into a shot looking west on Hollywood Blvd from the Pantages all the way down to the bank building at Hollywood/Highland. This film is on DVD and just played on TCM’s Noir Alley.
(Contributed by Mary Mallory)
Starring Bette Davis, John Garfield, The Andrew Sisters.
Directed by Delmer Daves.
We cut from a view of the Sign that still says Hollywoodland to downtown L.A. where two soldiers are looking for the famous L.A. haunt from the title.
Starring Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Lynton Brent.
Directed by Del Lord
This famous short, the 38th in a total of 190 shorts that the Three Stooges made for Columbia Pictures, has the bumbling trio unwittingly taking a job with two con men as salesmen for their scheme (a job at which the Stooges excel). During the scene where a dog peers around a corner as the Stooges hide and wait for the dog to tell them the coast is clear, the original Hollywoodland Sign is seen behind the action in the distance.
(Contributed by Darren Nemeth)
Starring Alice Faye and Don Ameche
Directed by Irving Cummings
Written by Ernest Pascal and Hilary Lynn
Starting in 1913 movie director Connors discovers singer Molly Adair. As she becomes a star she marries an actor, so Connors fires them. She asks for him as director of her next film. Many silent stars shown making the transition to sound.
In a nighttime shot, Alice Faye and Don Ameche stand on a balcony and watch the Hollywood Sign flashing on and off.
(Contributed by Mary Mallory)
Starring John Halliday, Marsha Hunt, Robert Cummings, C. Henry Gordon.
Directed by Robert Florey
The Sign’s debut performance!
In the opening montage of sights around Hollywood, the Hollywoodland sign is seen.
(Contributed by Mary Mallory)
Starring Reginald Denny
The current Fast and Furious films get their name from this film, as it’s also about a driver who ends up in a car race. The Sign appears in a scene where he’s actually inside a building at Hollywood and Cahuenga looking north, and part of the Sign can be glimpsed on the hill between a Ford Sign and a building.
(contributed by Mary Mallory)
