Outside the wall Whether on location or in the studio, The Wall used a variety of places and backdrops to tell its tale By Gerhard den Hollander Usually, Floydian Places presents a single location which is in one or more ways Floyd-related. In this issue, however, I'm going to focus on several places that share a common Floydian connection--we'll look at the particular movie that made by far the biggest impression. In other words, Floydian Places takes a look at the locations used in Pink Floyd The Wall. In order to bring some structure all this, what you will find below is a list of all the songs in the movie (except for the animated bits) and a (short) description of the places that each scene is depicting. Vera Lynn - "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" The movie opens with the housekeeper in a hotel hall while Vera Lynn sings "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot". The hallway and the hotel room were built in London's Pinewood Studios. Wembley Stadium "In The Flesh?" Scenes of rioting teenagers and riot police in full force form the background to "In The Flesh?". The riot scenes were filmed near Wembley Stadium, which was dressed up to look like the LA Sports Arena. The LA Sports Arena was the scene of a similar riot at a Floyd show in 1975, when the LA police came out full force to catch the dopers. "The Thin Ice" While the crowd is waiting for him, Pink's mind wanders back to where it all began: the Anzio bridgehead where his father died. (Despite what is shown, Anzio was an important bridgehead, not a beachhead. Waters' lyrics get this historical fact correct, but the visual images don't match up. Perhaps Alan Parker is to blame.) The beach scene/war scenes here (as well as at other places in the movie) were shot at Barnstable, a beach near Devon in the south of England. The sea visible is the English Channel. "Another Brick In The Wall , part I" This is the scene where we see young Pink in the playground, obviously without a father. There isn't much specific known about the location for those shots. 'Somewhere in suburban London' is the best I could find. "When The Tigers Broke Free" Those scenes were shot in the house (again 'somewhere in suburban London') of a World War II veteran who had died a few days previous, and whose relatives hadn't removed his personal belongings. "The Happiest Days Of Our Lives" The train scene was recorded in Yorkshire (lovely green woods) at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway line. The other train scenes in the movie "Vera", "Bring The Boys Back Home") were shot at Keighley station, a train station on this line (the last remaining steam train line in the UK). The original script had Pinky and his friends put a coin on the railway track (with the intent to have it squashed by the train and become much bigger ). For more info, go to <www.kwvr.co.uk>. "Another Brick in The Wall, part II" Again, quite a few of the shots for this were recorded somewhere in suburban London. The final scenes where the school children revolt and destroy the school were filmed at the Becton Gas works. "Mother" Mother is shot at locations already mentioned above, except for the scene where Pink and his manager board a plane, which was shot at Heathrow Airport. Whether this is the same airport as the one where the "On The Run" videoclip was shot is unknown to me; if anyone knows, please let me know. "Young Lust" and "One Of My Turns" Although the hotel room window offers an excellent view of Los Angeles, all the scenes were filmed in Pinewood Studios. The LA vista was done through the magic of the blue screen. "Don't Leave Me Now" The Wife and Lover scenes were filmed in Kennington (an area of London near Brixton). The other scenes were indeed shot at Pinewood Studios, just as a number of scenes for the next song. "Another Brick in the Wall, part III" The Riot scenes were recorded in the Becton gas works, and were originally intended for "Hey You", as those of you who own the DVD version of The Wall will know. "Goodbye Cruel World", "Is There Anybody Out There", and "Nobody Home" All take place mostly in Pink's hotel room, which was located in Pinewood Studios. Legend has it that when Roger Waters appeared on the set and saw the smashed room he said "This is not my hotel room, maybe Dave's but not mine, mine isn't that messy". Brian Morris and Chris Burke are the creators of the collage (for lack of a better word) that Pink builds out of the remains of his hotel room. Brian Morris is credited as the production designer for The Wall, and he's also the person responsible for the maze through which the schoolkids went in "Another Brick...". The surreal landscape where young Pink meets adult Pink was built in the Barnstaple Dunes, and was based on some of Gerald Scarfe's drawings. The other scenes were filmed in an abandoned biscuit factory in Hammersmith. "Vera" and "Bring The Boys Back Home" Both of these were filmed at Keighley station, which is on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. "Comfortably Numb" The hotel scenes were shot at Pinewood Studios, while the closing sequence where Pink is rushed to a limousine was filmed in the aforementioned biscuit factory somewhere in Hammersmith. "In The Flesh" Filmed in the New Horticural Hall in London. "Run Like Hell" The set is supposed to be a Brixton cafe, which was built in the back at Kings Cross railway station. Brixton, a suburb of London, had been the scene of a number of race riots a few of years earlier. (The Marillion song "Fugazi" refers to those riots with the "this is Brixton chess, black and white, black and white" lines.) Pink's deranged ranting through the megaphone also refers to Brixton ("We will convene outside Brixton town hall, where we will be..."). Stockwell Road (also mentioned in that rant) is in Brixton as well. "Waiting for the Worms" The Rally scene was filmed near Alexandria Palace (which was examined in Spare Bricks issue #3) at a spot called Buswell Hill. "Stop" The toilet stall scenes are (once again) recorded in Pinewood Studios. If you listen closely, you can hear an onstage announcement by Gary Yudman, who did all the Earl's Court Wall show announcements and who can be heard (albeit very briefly) on the Floyd's latest release (Is There Anybody Out There). Yudman also did the New York announcements, but only the Earl's Court shows were recorded, so it must be one of the Earl's Court shows that this bit is taken from. The earliest plans of The Wall film were meant to include live footage of Pink Floyd performing The Wall. Eventually, Gary Yudman's 15 seconds of fame during "Stop" were all that remained of those plans. "The Trial" This song is mostly animation, but the wall at the end of the trial was built in Pinewood Studios. Gerhard den Hollander is a staff writer for Spare Bricks << back to the table of contents