Nostalgia & History > Where was Suddenly? (1954 movie)

I just watched a movie called "Suddenly," with Frank Sinatra as a villian trying to kill the president. Sterling Hayden played the local sheriff. It was modern times (for 1954) and the depot is obviously an SP depot, with black widow F units running past. It includes several interior shots of a station agent doing his job. Pretty cool on-location shots, but the story itself could have been a bit better, although it was likely exciting for 1954.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suddenly_(1954_film)

Where was the movie filmed?

Don Strack

IMDB.com says Santa Clarita.  

There's a book called Life and Times of a Locomotive Engineer, about an SP engineman.  He states that he was on-site for the filming.

There was/is a siding named Sudden on the Coast Line, about half way between Surf and Gaviota, CA.
When you see photos taken from Jalama Beach looking north, that mesa in the distance is the old Sudden Ranch and the location of the siding.
AFAIK there is no town at Sudden, so I knew the movie was made somewhere else.
Until reading this I thought the movie name was Sudden, but Suddenly makes more sense for drama.

Heres the depot in 1956.

Robert Morris Photography

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LOts of history here.It still exists just moved a little 

"Suddenly" (or portions of it) can be seen at:

Part 1:
http://scvtv.com/2011/01/03/episode-08-frank-sinatra-sterling-hayden-in-suddenly-1954-part-1-of-2/

Part 2:
http://scvtv.com/2011/01/03/episode-08-frank-sinatra-sterling-hayden-in-suddenly-1954-part-2-of-2/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/17 14:29 by johnsweetser.

The Santa Clarita Valley in Pictures website has a lot of stuff on "Suddenly" and on the Saugus depot, including an H.L. Kelso photo of a GS Daylight-painted locomotive pulling a freight train by the depot (something I've never before seen in a photo on the Bakersfield to Los Angeles line): http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2936.htm

Unfortunately, much of the their factual info about the Saugus depot is wrong, such as when it opened, when the eating house moved out of the depot, etc. 





 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/17 14:51 by johnsweetser.

That looks like a pretty big structure.  Living quarters for multiple employees, or dormitories up above?

Agent and family lived there , upstairs I think. Newhall and Saugus Santa Clarita vally were in many movies over the years miostly westerns. Many of the early coowboy actors had homes and ranches in the area. willaim Hart , Hary Carey and so on. If you go to SCTV Santa Clarita tv you will find a ton of historical data pictures and documentaries about the towns . Jerry Reynolds, passed now was one of the area historians , and Philip Scorza makes documentaries on the history. he's done over 20 I think and you can see them on the sctv site. He goes back to the founding and up to recent times. The area grew from a place with just a trail to it and you can follow the railroads developemnt and the roads being aadded via tunneling through the mou tains. There was a 1926 dam disaster that almost wiped out the place. Harry Carey Jr the character acter you have all seen in John Wayne movies as a young man and tv westerns as he got older was born on his dads ranch Haryy Carey . Jr just recently passed away .If your really interested in the early days of Hollywood , westerns and railroads its a great site to learn all about it.The Melody Ranch  was owned by Monogram Studios before Gene Autry bought it . .You will recognise the streets and buildings from hundreds of Tv shows and old movies. Everyone made wetserns there. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/17 10:56 by kingman.

The H.L. Kelso pic that Mr Sweetser found
helps that other Saugus discussion

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4168127,page=1

Note the clear westward semaphore in the
Kelso pic, suggesting the eastward train is
in the siding compass-east of the main.

No visible water column north of the depot
in the Kelso pic, tho there seemed to be
one in the movie.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/17 14:30 by timz.

Lackawanna484 wrote:

> That looks like a pretty big structure.  Living quarters for multiple employees, or dormitories up above?

The second floor was pretty much the normal size for SP two-story wooden depots where agents lived on the premises.

The north end of the depot was originally an eating house.  See 1890s photo at: http://www.scvhistory.com/gif/bt1891_large.jpg

Disregard the caption's statement the eating house moved out in 1905.  A 1912 photo of the depot (not taken in the '30s-'40s as the Santa Clarita in Pictures website claims) has signs visible that indicate the eating house was still there in 1912 (I had someone look at an original print of the photo to determine this).  As far as I know, there wasn't both a "James Herbert Tolfree" and a "Joseph Herbert Tolfree" associated with the Saugus eating house.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/17 14:38 by johnsweetser.

All around old Newhall & Saugus Depot area.
Great film of my current hometown.
TAH