ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
filmed in kent cont.
The Mirror Crack’d (1980)
A Room With A View (1986)
Directed by: Guy Hamilton
Starring: Angela Lansbury, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis,
Geraldine Chaplin, Edward Fox and Kim Novak
Kent Locations used: St Clere Estate, Smarden, Shoreham
Directed by: James Ivory
Produced by: Ismail Merchant
Starring: Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Judi Dench,
Julian Sands, Daniel Day Lewis
Kent Filming Locations Used: Emmett’s Garden in Sevenoaks,
Chiddingstone, Brasted
Based on Agatha
Christie’s mystery
of the same
name, this 1980
movie was a starstudded film that
caused great
excitement when
it was released.
With the St Clere
Estate in
Heaverham
(Kemsing),
Shoreham and
Smarden playing
the role of Miss
Marple’s beloved
St Mary Mead,
the story is about
a veteran actress
about to stage a
comeback.
Murder and
intrigue follow.
A Room With A View is
a romantic and beautiful
tale. Set in the early
1900s, Lucy
Honeychurch (played by
Helena Bonham Carter)
and her cousin, spinster
Charlotte (played by
Dame Maggie Smith) go
on a trip. But when Lucy
and fascinating stranger
George Emerson (Julian
Sands) find themselves
attracted to one another,
the trip is cut short by
Charlotte. At home, staid
and dependable Cecil
proposes to Lucy, who
accepts, but when
George re-enters her life,
Lucy is torn between
duty and desire.
The St Clere
Estate in the
Sevenoaks
District of Kent is a private, family-run country estate that today prides itself
on being an ideal location for filming and photography, due to its period
architecture and beautiful grounds. Ye Olde George Inn and a bridge on
Church Street in Shoreham are both noticeable in the production. The
village of Smarden and St Michaels Church are also used to double as the
village of St Mary Mead. The Thatched House in Smarden was used as
Miss Marple’s cottage.
This Merchant Ivory film showed audiences the beauty of the Kent countryside,
as they filmed at a private residence in Brasted which doubled as the
Honeychurch’s family home. The National Trust’s Emmett’s Garden in
Sevenoaks became the venue for Lucy and Cecil’s engagement party. The
village of Chiddingstone featured in the film as the setting for Lucy and
Cecil’s post engagement party walk. Owned entirely by the National Trust,
it is the perfect example of a Tudor one-street village where approximately
over 70 percent of the buildings are at least 200 years old. In the scene you
can also see St Mary’s Church in Chiddingstone which was built in the 13th
century.
The Princess Bride (1987)
Directed by: Rob Reiner
Written by: William Goldman
Starring: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Parinkin, Chris Sarandon, Fred Savage, Peter Falk and Andre the Giant
Kent Locations used: Penshurst Place
Based on William Goldman’s 1973 book, this
fantasy adventure film has a huge mainstream
and cult following. A poor stable boy named
Wesley (Cary Elwes) adores the beautiful
Buttercup (Robin Wright), but when he is captured
and supposedly murdered by pirates, including
the Dread Pirate Roberts, Buttercup loses all
hope and agree to marry the cruel Prince
Humperdinck. But as with all fairy tales, there is
a twist. Will Buttercup live happily ever after?
30
The infamous scene in which Inigo Montoya
(Mandy Patinkin) confronts Count Rugen
(Christopher Guest) and finally speaks the words
he has been practising for decades takes place
in the Barons’ Hall of Penshurst Place.