MovieChat Forums > Castle Keep (1969) Discussion > the castle

the castle

posted 19 years ago by smithfly
7 replies | jump to latest

This is one of my all-time favorite movies and CERTAINLY is my all-time favorite castle! But -- where is/was it? what if anything did the movie company do to it in 1968/69? All these years I've worried that a bunch of Hollywood hoorahs actually did destroy the most gorgeous castle I've ever seen. Nobody seems to know ANYthing about the actual setting of this film... I even got the address of Peter Falk's agent once and wrote him, but never got a response. So...
Who can tell me about the castle???

[–] PSJazzFan 19 years ago

The movie was filmed somewhere in the former Yugoslavia ( I think I read somewhere it was in the republic of Slovenia).

I don't believe the castle was actually demolished for the filming. If you look closely during the battle sequence, the incendiary explosions are a distance before the castle, probably in the moat. The final scene with the castle completely engulfed in flames was probably a large scale model.

Yes, the castle is stunning in the movie, but the interior shots may have been from an entirely different location than the outer scenes of the castle. If you look closely at the beginning of the movie with the shot of the castle, the outer condition of the castle is a bit in disrepair, which gave me the impression that the interior scenes were probably filmed at a different location. The actual castle might have been vacated altogether.

[–] maxwell_demon 19 years ago

Check the trivia link.

"We can't stop here. This is bat country!"

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] earbyc 17 years ago

As far as my memory serves me The castle was a large polystyrene affair put together specifically for the movie.
As for the movie, well I have on this site nominated Burt Lancaster's The Swimmer as the besy movie of all time, so if the Swimmer is number one, then Castle keep has to be number two, I have watched it time and again and never fail to be amused/emotionally drained.
It is a sheer absolute masterpiece, Burt Lancaster was actually nominated for four oscars and got just one, he turned down four roles that won Oscars, to my mind he should have had an Oscar for just about every film he made, what a presence, what an actor, to be described in his later years as the American Olivier was quite right and fitting. Although he was better than Olivier.

[–] AirborneRanger 18 years ago

My sense is that the interiors were a sound stage and that the exteriors were filmed in front of the actual castle, with as suggested elsewhere, the explosions being at quite a distance. A corollary here is "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". The actual interior of Neuschwanstein, the castle in that movie, is very different from what you see in the movie.

[–] ordnick 17 years ago

The castle was built in a large park called Kamenički park, which is on the opposite the city of Novi Sad (my home town) in Serbia. When I say "opposite" I mean you must cross river Danube. Kamenički park belongs to village Kamenica. All that remains today of that set are four strange pillars.

Everyone I talked about (of those that remember shooting of the movie) agree it was collosal fire when castle burned down and there was a danger of burning down entire park.

[–] Focke_Wulf 17 years ago

Quick note to earbyc: Lancaster is great. I don't know about an American Olivier, but he's one of my faves. But if you think "Castle Keep" is number two on your list of Lancaster movies, please check out the following:

"The Train"
"Seven Days in May"
"The Crimson Pirate"

That covers a range of roles and styles, and as many will chime in, that barely scratches the surface. I'll have to look for "The Swimmer" since you recommend it so highly. An early film of his?