MovieChat Forums > The Trouble with Angels (1966) Discussion > Interesting - Filming Locations!

Interesting - Filming Locations!

posted 18 years ago by Divmercy1
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Ever since I first saw TTWA, I was determined to visit the filming location. I recall my sister's grade school friend (late 1960s) Barbara telling me that her cousin (a "Father Ed") was chaplain at the location used in the filming, namely The St. Mary's Home For Children, in Ambler, Pennsylvania (outside Philadelphia). So, it was in the fall of 1990 I journeyed from Cleveland to Ambler, with camera in hand, and visited the "castle" made famous by the movie. I met and spoke with the kind nun who ran the school, and got to visit the *real* chapel, but was disappointed to see that the chapel and other scenes in the movie were not really at this Ambler location (e.g., the Chapel at the "castle" was much much larger than that shown in the film). The nun in charge was kind and I recall her telling me that the producers had a great love and concern for the welfare of children, which was a big factor in chosing the "castle" location for filming. She shared a simple lunch with me and I enjoyed and was grateful for her kindness and showing me a bit of the grounds.

Sometime later, I also fell in love with the delightful movie "The Singing Nun," with Debbie Reynolds and Ricardo Montalban, Greer Garson, etc.
NOTE: If you ever watch this movie, look *real carefully* at the earliest ("convent") scenes in this movie, and you'll see (uncredited) scenes shot at the Greyhall Mansion (sp?) in Beverly Hills, CA!!! ("What a *scathingly* brilliant idea," huh?) Not only that - for those who have ever been to the "castle" - there *are* many (external) scenes shot in TTWA that do not "match" the "castle" architecture! I recall in the movie "Stripes" (Bill Murray) that the "castle" scene that the group 'visits' in Germany (?) is the same Greyhall Mansion!! Can anyone out there verify this? There is a Greyhall Mansion website (Google-it) with some pretty familiar scenes! (same kind of brick as is seen in the outside "fire escape" from the Cloister scene.)Interesting!!

And, the external "train scenes" were shot at the Amtrak station in Glendale, CA.

For closers, anyone know where these following scenes were shot?

- External scene where Mary and Rachel "leave" their gym class and "jog away" from the pack - only to run into an exasperated Reverend Mother, and greeted by a "what a GLORIOUS day!"?? (Was that *real snow* - or not!?)

- Interior swimming pool scenes ("aren't you 2 going in?" "rash - it's all over my..." "never mind!" "we're supposed to know how to swim before we get outta year" "we've got 3 years" "that's a fact" and "How's the water, sister?"

- Beautiful exterior shots, taken while Reverend Mother is quietly saying her Rosary "Did Sister Ursula give you permission to leave the building?"

- The *interior* Chapel scenes?

- The "nursing home" scenes with the senior citizens?

Lastly, for those who can, I believe producer Blanche Hanalis' papers reside in the University of Wyoming library... what a trove of info I'm sure they must contain!! (Got this info from a search via my local public library's "WorldCat" search engine for "TTWA" :)

Thanks in advance for any "leads" here you can share with me and all perusers of this msg board! :)

[–] spike71 18 years ago

Last summer I wrote to June Harding and asked her a ton of TTWA questions. As much as I love Hayley Mills, I think June Harding was outstanding in this movie and contributed enormousley to the movies success. I am a huge June Harding fan. I live about 45 minutes from St. Mary's and have been in the castle twice and walked the grounds 3 times. It's strange because the tour guide told us that the wallpaper in the some of the castle rooms had to be restored because it was painted over when a movie had been made there, however according to June Harding, only exterior scenes had been filmed in Ambler. Here's what I was able to find out from June.

a. The dorm rooms and reverend mother's room (with the fireplace) were filmed in Calif.

b. Chapel scenes were filmed in Calif.

c. June and Hayley jogging - Calif. (However when I walked the grounds it looked identical.

d. Hayley and June by the pond Calif. Same as "c" - looked identical to Ambler

e. The following exterior scenes were shot in Ambler - Mother superior walking in the cold wind and sees Mary watching her from her window. The bus returning from the band contest and the scenes related to the smoking scene (Mother Superior directing fire engines).

f. Train station scenes - Calif.

June said that perhaps the tour guide may have been thinking of Where Angels Goes, Trouble Follows, which had many PA scenes. I didn't ask her about the outside scene where Mother Superior is in a stone-like gazebo by a statue of St. Francis, but that stone-like gazebo/enclosure still stands on the grounds in Ambler. For you June fans, June is in the process of getting her website together and she will post info on her artwork and some TTWA memorabilia.