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New museum exhibit features cinema history
Shelby movie producer Earl Owensby converted a large cement tower in 1988 on the Cherokee Nuclear Plant site into the largest underwater set in the world at 7 million gallons. While "The Abyss" was not a financial success upon its release, the underwater thriller did win an Oscar for best visual effects. Cameron is best known for the "Titanic", which went on to win numerous awards and break box office records upon its release in 1997. The release of the original director's cut for "The Abyss," which is nearly three hours long, has helped the film reach a larger audience over the past two decades. From underwater films to carnivals, Cherokee County has seen a wide range of movies filmed locally dating back to 1980. These movies are now highlighted in a display at the Cherokee County History and Arts Museum near the main entrance. "We thought the movie display would be a good exhibit to help draw visitors into the museum," museum director Billy Pennington said. "We think it will make interesting reading to learn about the different places where movies were filmed in Cherokee County." The Earl Owensby movie studio in Shelby had a prominent role in bringing many of these movie productions to Cherokee County, Pennington said. The museum display includes two original movies produced by Owensby called the "The Last Game" (1980) and "Carnival Magic" (1981). Limestone College was prominently featured in scenes from "The Last Game." In the film, a college student must choose between playing football and caring for his blind father. Many scenes for the 1981 slasher movie "Final Exam" were filmed on the Limestone College campus. College locations included Winnie Davis Hall of History, Eastwood Library, the Hamrick Hall of Science and the observatory. There is no mention of Limestone College in the movie credits for "Final Exam." Image Entertainment will release the movie "Walker Payne" on DVD on Aug. 26. The museum hopes to purchase a "Walker" poster so it can update the movie display, Pennington said. "We hope this exhibit will spark people's interest in learning more about these movies since they were filmed here," he said. Pennington had a hard time in many cases finding copies of the older movies featured in the exhibit. "We were able to order the original movie posters when we were working on the museum exhibits," Pennington said. "We have a hard time finding copies of many of the movies. We hope to eventually have some of these movies for sale in the resource center." The museum is open Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m. |
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