MovieChat Forums > The House Without a Christmas Tree (1972) Discussion > Discrepancies in the Opening Narration

Discrepancies in the Opening Narration

posted 11 years ago by Chesterfield_Invincible
5 replies | jump to latest

The narrator said that Clear River, Nebraska was "surrounded by cattle, and cornfields, and open sky". I didn't see any of that here. In fact, it looked more like the northeastern North American continent to me, than midwestern. (yes I know it was produced in the Toronto area, but if they were going to tape in Canada for budgetary reasons, why couldn't they had gone to Manitoba or Saskatchewan for some open-sky realism?)

"Most of the streets were unpaved".....well if they were, I didn't see any.

"Every day, the Union Pacific streamliners roared through, but they never stopped in Clear River"....now THAT'S quite a puzzler. This town, small as it is, looks too prosperous not to be served by trains....

But no matter, "The House Without A Christmas Tree" is still a tradition at my house...including this Christmas! Merry Christmas!

[–] Tobey 11 years ago

Clear Water is based on Valley, Nebraska which is just outside Omaha. It's in the Platte River Valley and near the Missouri river so it's not the flat plains that many associate with Nebraska, but there are no mountains or cliffs. Although this film was well done it probably didn't have a huge budget. I don't know if there were facilities availalbe in Manitoba or Saskatchewan for filming, especially on video tape the way this was done. I remember growing up with this film and my brother and his wife just gave me the DVD for Christmas.

The UP Streamliners might not have stopped since their main depot in the area would have been Union Station in Omaha, there might have been local trains running in that area that would have stopped in Valley/Clearwater. I don't know how often the Streamliners stopped but it would make sense they didn't stop in Valley since it was so close to Omaha.

[–] Chesterfield_Invincible 11 years ago

I never doubted that Valley (aka Clear River) was the way the grown-up Addie had described it. It's just that the Clear River "portrayed" here was nothing like it. Other than that, it's clear to me you're also a fellow THWACT fan!

[–] Chesterfield_Invincible 11 years ago

I've looked up Valley, and was surprised to see how close it was to Omaha. I had always imagined Clear River to be half way between actual Nebraska towns Taylor and Burwell (now there's a stage name for some aspiring actres--Taylor Burwell!)

[–] LindaY 9 years ago

If you watch the sequel you will see it is indeed surrounded by cattle, cornfields, and open sky. Usually the streets in the downtown area would be paved. It almost looks, though, as if the street next to Addie's house is not paved. I can't imagine a train stopping in a town that small, unless a passenger wanted on or off.

Now, if you see the town as it is portrayed in The Easter Promise, which is definitely a backlot set, it really doesn't look like the opening narration of the original.

[–] Chesterfield_Invincible 9 years ago

Thank you for your input. However, I was referring solely to the subject at hand, and not its sequels. Glad to hear from another THWACT fan.