First reaction: If we're using old boundaries, then Warwickshire must be easy, as it includes Birmingham.
Later reaction: There aren't many films set in Birmingham, are there? I'm struggling here.
Compared with all the local colour of Liverpool, Sheffield and other prominent English cities, poor old Brum seems to have missed out. Who wants to educate me? (without reaching for the telly).
Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee version) gets the trifecta of source book / film setting / actually filmed in Devon.
But is that where it's supposedly set, which is the main thing? Lots of places fill in for others in films, but the important thing, for the purpose of this thread, is the actual setting of the story.
Originally posted by Nocturnal SubmissionView Post
But is that where it's supposedly set, which is the main thing? Lots of places fill in for others in films, but the important thing, for the purpose of this thread, is the actual setting of the story.
Yes, it's set in Devon (for the main action). I'd actually make it the county's top nominee, as there's not much chance of the gritty Exeter underworld ever making it to the big screen.
Originally posted by Nocturnal SubmissionView Post
Yes, the former did occur to me but I really couldn't remember how much of the film was set there. I'll add it though.
A fair point - all the parts where they are on the base would be Lincolnshire, obviously, but the really good bits (practice bombing runs, and the dam-busting itself) would be set elsewhere (Chesil Beach I think was used for practicing in real life, in the film they're at a reservoir if I recall).
Yes, it's set in Devon (for the main action). I'd actually make it the county's top nominee, as there's not much chance of the gritty Exeter underworld ever making it to the big screen.
A fair point - all the parts where they are on the base would be Lincolnshire, obviously, but the really good bits (practice bombing runs, and the dam-busting itself) would be set elsewhere (Chesil Beach I think was used for practicing in real life, in the film they're at a reservoir if I recall).
I think they used Derwentwater (Derbyshire, if it matters) for many of their actual training runs.
I've been trying - and failing - to think of any non-Oxford Oxfordshire films. There are many films set in stately homes in Oxfordshire-ish countryside, and I'm pretty sure that Blenheim Palace is frequently used as generic stately home setting but rarely if ever identified as being in Woodstock. There are any number of Oxford university films, as mentioned before. All the Bridesheady stuff, or Oxford Blues, or whatever. But not much else.
The first film on that list - the execrable The Holiday - would actually be a choice for Surrey. They explicitly locate the setting as "Surrey" in the "plot".
Atonement, the Ian Mcewan novel with Keira Knightley in it was filmed in a place called Onibury, which may be in Herefordshire (but also may be in Shropshire, I can't really tell)
Another Cambridgeshire film arguably is The Battle of Britain which was partly set in Duxford
(Edit: Onibury is in Shropshire now, but may have been in historical Herefordshire)
Appointment in London - a war movie with Dirk Bogarde - was filmed at RAF Upwood in what was then Huntingdonshire (Dad was stationed at Upwood in 1938 and part of 39).
I haven't checked but Shuttleworth/Old Warden in Bedfordshire may have been used for movies like Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.
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