Murder Obliquely Location Report: The Ennis House
As I continue my pursuance of interesting printed material related to Alan Rickman, I find myself frequently visiting Ali-Pat's great site, The AR Fan’s Lifetime Reading Plan. Today, I found something very interesting there, while researching Fallen Angels: Murder Obliquely. Murder Obliquely was filmed at a very famous Frank Lloyd Wright house in Los Angeles, called the Ennis House.
"The Ennis House is one of the first residences constructed from concrete block. Wright transforms cold industrial concrete to a warm decorative material used as a frame for interior features like windows and fireplaces as well as columns. His sixteen inch modular blocks with intriguing geometric repeats invite tactile exploration. The art glass windows and doors, reminiscent of examples from the earlier prairie period, here achieve greater color suddenly as they graduate in intensity from darker at the top to lighter at the bottom. The wisteria motif mosaic above the living room fireplace is the extant example of the only four art glass mosaics Wright ever designed. "The metal work based on Mayan imagery is not of Wright's design, and may have been included at Mr. Ennis' request, yet from the very large iron grill at the main entrance to such minute details as light switches and lock plates, there is a unity of conception and materials that complements the entire structure."
I'm admittedly the world's most unobservant person. All I recall from watching Murder Obliquely is a sense that Dwight Billings was 'well to do'. Now that I've gone back and rewatched it again, I'm stunned at the detail about this amazing setting that I had completely missed. The Ennis House is just as much a central character as Dwight Billings is! And it's truly an amazing building.
I've studied all of the photos that I can find, and have deduced, for example, that this is the actual doorway in which the "Let me in, Dwight" scene occurs. And this is the hallway into the living room area which plays so prominently in the film, whether it's Diane Lane's character entering, Laura Dern's character exiting, or Dwight leaning over the wall.
Here is a shot of the living room area where much of the action takes place. And there are all kinds of replica household items from the Ennis House that you can buy, like this stained glass window, which is the very one that Dwight is standing in front of, here.
I've created a small gallery, and uploaded a number of photos of the actual house, and then follow them with a number of screencaps from Murder Obliquely which showcase the architecture of the house.
View Ennis House photos and Murder Obliquely screencaps,
featuring architectural aspects
BUT, here is the MOST AMAZING THING EVER! On this site, you can view a 360 degree Quicktime Virtual reality tour of the Ennis House, with specific tours available of the living room (note the fireplace that Laura Dern stands in front of and the ledge that AR hangs over), the dining room, the actual corridor where AR prevents Laura Dern from entering the bedroom, the bridge area, an overview tour, and the street level. Simply amazing and so cool to be able to 'walk through' the rooms where this was filmed!
Apparently there is an effort underway to save this historic landmark, as it was extensively damaged in a 1994 earthquake and further rain damaged last year. The house was the filming location for a number of other movies, including Bladerunner, Black Rain, The House on Haunted Hill, and Grand Canyon. In addition, there is a very cool Ricky Martin music video that features the Ennis House. Finally, here's a good site with a lot of good photographs of the house.
"The Ennis House is one of the first residences constructed from concrete block. Wright transforms cold industrial concrete to a warm decorative material used as a frame for interior features like windows and fireplaces as well as columns. His sixteen inch modular blocks with intriguing geometric repeats invite tactile exploration. The art glass windows and doors, reminiscent of examples from the earlier prairie period, here achieve greater color suddenly as they graduate in intensity from darker at the top to lighter at the bottom. The wisteria motif mosaic above the living room fireplace is the extant example of the only four art glass mosaics Wright ever designed. "The metal work based on Mayan imagery is not of Wright's design, and may have been included at Mr. Ennis' request, yet from the very large iron grill at the main entrance to such minute details as light switches and lock plates, there is a unity of conception and materials that complements the entire structure."
I'm admittedly the world's most unobservant person. All I recall from watching Murder Obliquely is a sense that Dwight Billings was 'well to do'. Now that I've gone back and rewatched it again, I'm stunned at the detail about this amazing setting that I had completely missed. The Ennis House is just as much a central character as Dwight Billings is! And it's truly an amazing building.
I've studied all of the photos that I can find, and have deduced, for example, that this is the actual doorway in which the "Let me in, Dwight" scene occurs. And this is the hallway into the living room area which plays so prominently in the film, whether it's Diane Lane's character entering, Laura Dern's character exiting, or Dwight leaning over the wall.
Here is a shot of the living room area where much of the action takes place. And there are all kinds of replica household items from the Ennis House that you can buy, like this stained glass window, which is the very one that Dwight is standing in front of, here.
I've created a small gallery, and uploaded a number of photos of the actual house, and then follow them with a number of screencaps from Murder Obliquely which showcase the architecture of the house.
View Ennis House photos and Murder Obliquely screencaps,
featuring architectural aspects
BUT, here is the MOST AMAZING THING EVER! On this site, you can view a 360 degree Quicktime Virtual reality tour of the Ennis House, with specific tours available of the living room (note the fireplace that Laura Dern stands in front of and the ledge that AR hangs over), the dining room, the actual corridor where AR prevents Laura Dern from entering the bedroom, the bridge area, an overview tour, and the street level. Simply amazing and so cool to be able to 'walk through' the rooms where this was filmed!
Apparently there is an effort underway to save this historic landmark, as it was extensively damaged in a 1994 earthquake and further rain damaged last year. The house was the filming location for a number of other movies, including Bladerunner, Black Rain, The House on Haunted Hill, and Grand Canyon. In addition, there is a very cool Ricky Martin music video that features the Ennis House. Finally, here's a good site with a lot of good photographs of the house.