MovieChat Forums > Satan's School for Girls (1973) Discussion > Historic Problems with the film

Historic Problems with the film

posted 17 years ago by FaydeToBlak
7 replies | jump to latest

Just having a little fun.

The School itself. Spanish style in New England?
School is over 300 years old? From 1973 that would be around 1673. There wasn't even an established country let alone a school(and all girls hmmm girls did not atend school at that time).

When the Head Mistress gives Elizabeth a latern to keep in her room. (they are far away from the main power lines. How big do the think Salem is? It's a pretty small town cramped as well.

There was a legend of a Witch being hung in a celler. Would be hard to hand anyone from a cellar in any house in New England dating before the early 20th centure. Many homes cellars were less then 4 feet high.

[–] WarpedRecord 16 years ago

Excellent points! Too bad the director didn't hire you as a consultant.

[–] vindicator19 15 years ago

Fayde, it's a 70's film......relax. Plus, it's loaded with hot women.

[–] zimbo_the_donkey_boy 15 years ago

> There wasn't even an established country

So what, wisenheimer? How could satan take over in any case--unless America didn't yet have it's freedom, eh?

> and all girls hmmm girls did not atend school at that time

Obviously (to me) it was a boy's school back then. For that matter, I heard that Harvard wasn't as old as everyone thinks but was originally a dog obedience school.

> How big do the think Salem is?

You don't know my neighbors. They ride those miniscooters to go to the mailbox. They wouldn't walk across the room to turn off a roomlight.

> Would be hard to hand anyone from a cellar in any house in New England dating before the early 20th centure.

I heard that someone once had to bend his knees to suicidally hang himself. Waddya say about that, huh huh?

> Plus, it's loaded with hot women.

Yeah, if my school had looked like that, I wouldn't have dropped out, and I'd have something useful to do with my days.

[–] gypsylady74 13 years ago

"Obviously (to me) it was a boy's school back then. For that matter, I heard that Harvard wasn't as old as everyone thinks but was originally a dog obedience school."

In the 1600's Puritans were not really big on education. For boys or girls!

[–] dhmason6155 11 years ago

Ahemm...

Harvard: founded in 1636.
College of William and Mary: founded in 1693

Harumph.. Any questions?

Unc John: We makin' trouble?
Stacy: Yeah
Unc John: What kind?
Stacy:...The forever kind

[–] ElectricWarlock 10 years ago

I don't really look for historical accuracy in horror movies (or Hollywood films in general). If I want that, I watch documentaries or read books. So making stuff up doesn't really bother me all that much.

Burn, witch! Burn, witch! Burn! Burn! Burn!

[–] Wuchak (8100) 2 years ago

The Spanish-style Academy is the only real issue, which really takes the viewer out of the story because it's impossible to view the structure as something built in New England in the 1600s, let alone at the time of the story. Of course the filmmakers were forced to use what was available in SoCal since this was a limited-budget TV production.

In the 2000 remake (or reimagining) of the same name they used a more accurate-looking school, shot at John Abbott College, near Montréal, Québec.

Another poster pointed out that there were some respectable schools built on the East Coast in the 1600s, like Harvard in 1636 and The College of William & Mary in 1693. This seemed to be a more minor academy and I'm sure there were several of them established in the 1600s.

As for the all-girls element, the school no doubt started out as a boys academy and switched to an all-girls format when that came into vogue in the 1800s.

Would be hard to hand anyone from a cellar in any house in New England dating before the early 20th century. Many home cellars were less then 4 feet high.

This wasn't a house, but rather a huge building. Just because most homes had a short cellar doesn't mean all structures did.