Moon-spinners revisited (sub-title- I HATE the search function here)
 

About the beginning of May someone asked what was the name or location of the taverna where the Moon-spinners was filmed. Just because I'm a sad git, I did heaps of looking it up and failed. I asked also on the Crete board I play on and got no answer there either. Till today.

received this email

According to Disney company publicity materials, the Moon-Spinners
was filmed in Elounda, Crete, and the hotel in the film was actually
built by the Disney company, as was a church building used in the
film. The Disney publicity materials implied that both the church and
the hotel were left to the town and continued to be used after
filming was over. It would be interesting to know if this was true.
Of course, the movie was filmed over 40 years ago, so these two
buildings may not be left.

Sincerely,

John G. West
Author, The Disney Live-Action Productions

I CANNOT find the original question, so apologise for the repost.

Sheila, you are a very dedicated lady!

Since this topic was broached, can anyone tell me whether the movie is fairly faithful to the Mary Stewart novel? (I've never seen the movie, obviously.) Or is it one of those "same title, completely different story" ones that make you fire things at the screen? (Okay, makes ME fire things at the screen...)

It's been a very long time since I've seen the movie and it's one that I keep thinking about and wish my local libraries had a copy of it. I seem to remember there were some differences between the book and the movie but not enough to worry about. I don't think there were two young men (brothers in the book) in the movie - just the one that Haley Mills falls for. My favorite part of the movie was the windmill with the sails. Every since that movie I've wanted to see a windmill like that but they probably don't exist!

Out of curiosity I looked at the other thread where people compared the movie and the book. I think 3 other people thought that the movie wasn't at all faithful to the book.

I just searched other libraries and found one about 20 minutes away that has a copy of this movie. Can't wait until Tuesday when I can pick it up.

Windmills like that were 10 a penny at the time the movie was made, especially on the Lassithi plain in the mountains above Elounda.

There are very few functional ones left, but there are some and some are kept for tourist reasons.

Next time you're on Crete, go an have a look.

Now, aren't we a pitiful group? And, Sheila, I'm the one! I almost spilled my coffee when I saw your heading. You're a braver 'sad git' than I, Gunga Din, for risking ridicule at this sophisticated forum, and I thank you so much for sticking with this like a doggie with a bone.

The exterior shots of the church, I think, were of Pangea Keras near Kritsa, but it makes sense that they would have created their own interiors (complete with painted icons). Ditto the little hotel (in which I was hoping to stay before I die, funny how adolescent fantasies come back as 'things I always wanted to do and time is running out).
The 'windmill' scene, of course, was pure Disney rather than book-faithful as is most of the movie, but I think I might have spotted it in someone's travel pictures, high above the sea and noted as being located "at the entrance to the Lassithi plain".

How can 40 years pass so quickly? When I read the book in highschool, I was captured by the description of place and romantic adventure (remember that highschool girls were more naive then than they are now, more's the pity). My infatuation with Crete increased when I saw the Disney film (Hayley Mills was our heroine) and well, Peter McEnry made our hearts go pitter-pat.) But the scenery! (Actually, I think there are some scenes that were not even filmed on Crete -- couldn't the temple ruins have been on Rhodes or somewhere else?) Well by the scenery I was mesmerized.

Anyway, I'm saddened to think that the ambience of Crete presented (and embellished) by that little Disney fantasy is no more. Thank you so much, Sheila, for your help. And for the rest of you who are curious, you'll need to peel away all your layers of sophistication to appreciate it -- maybe you can watch it with a 7-year-old daughter or niece. What a kick. J.

Uh oh, we have a cult starting here.I own the book still, in hardcover which I picked up years ago in a used bookstore. I still pick it up now and then when I want a little romantic wallow. One thing about Mary Stewart, she made what were essentially romance-mystery novels seem a little more literary. There was another good one set in Greece, it had the word "Magic" in the title. And I also like "the Ivy Tree."

I'm one of those who thought that the MS film (I was of course an infant at the time, Not) was disappointingly UN- faithful to the book. The film is a light treat in its own right, but the book had much more to it. I'd love to see a film remade, but the chaste aspects would probably either be thought not to work, or be thrown out.

It was because of the Moonspinners that my first trip to Europe was to Greece (though sadly, not to Crete) and I spent the first couple of days in Athens asking every florist if they carried verbena. I didn't know that verbena is a common garden plant, I thought it was some exotic Cretan plant because it was mentioned so often in the book.

Elaine, the title of the other Stewart book is This Rough Magic. I re-read the Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, and Helen MacInnes books to do with Greece last spring before my trip there and was so glad I did. Not only were they still enjoyable, but I had a special feeling for The Charioteer in the Delphi Museum.

I'm a devoted Mary Stewart fan. Every few years I bring out her books and have a "Mary Stewart fest" where I re-read her books (other than the Merlin series). Wildfire at Midnight is what attracted me to Skye the first time, many years ago.

I just recently picked up a hard bound copy that includes Madam, Will You Talk, Nine Coaches Waiting, and My Brother Michael to replace my older, warn copy.

Anyway, I loved the Moonspinners movie for the scenery, and mostly for Haley Mills. I don't care if it's not faithful to the book - it's delightful.

This really is funny. I'm wondering if we are all about the same age. Don't answer.

Carolyn, can you tell us which books by Whitney and MacInnes are set in Greece? And Elaine, the verbena story is priceless -- that's one of the best things about Mary Stewart's Moonspinners -- she captured the scents and the light and the feel of the air.

Just so you'll know I've grown up (more or less), I now often read James Lee Burke's mysteries for almost the same reason. Though his books are gritty and violent, he conjures up the sense of place better than any other author writing today (IMO). I digress. Let's hear more true confessions. J.

I just saw this movie recently, probably within the last 6 months, on TV, can't remember which channel. Of course, my main reason for wanting to watch it is Haley Mills (when I was a young teenager, I wanted to BE Haley Mills!), but I also recently got the book, 1st US edition in hardcover, and got it out last night to read. And Sheila, I don't think you're a sad git!

I notice, just out of interest that no-one else has found the original thread.

Did it get eaten? Was someone rude about someone else?

Boy, this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! (Or maybe that's the heat and humidity doing that...)

Anyway, jmw44, good question about the age of us MS aficianados; I know you said not to answer, but now I'm really curious! I'm gonna be 40 on my next birthday (yay! I just have to make it to next May to hit the big 4-0!) but I was introduced to Mary Stewart by a lovely lady who's in her late sixties. I own quite a few; they're terrific "bathtub books" --you know, you can pick them up and put them down because they're so familiar.

(along with Georgette Heyer, Ethel M. Dell, Dick Francis...)

some old Moonspinners references

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...amp;tid=107044

jmw44, The Phyllis Whitney book is Seven Tears for Apollo and is set on Rhodes, and the MacInnes book is Decision at Delphi. Ms. MacInnes wrote a lot of really good books set in various European locations, although she sometimes propagandizes with her politics and you can't always depend on her for a happy ending.

By the way, I am another of those late 60s ladies, 68 next week. I feel like everyone's mother (grandmother?) on the Forum. I got rather a late start to European travel, which leaves me with a bit of a gotta hurry, gotta hurry feeling.

Sheila, it was the "Crete Accommodations" thread that I piggy-backed (or whatever you call it when someone side-tracks from the original poster's question, one of my most deplorable sins). If you click on my screen name here, it's number 82 on the list or maybe 83 with this posting. I think it was May 29th. Perhaps it will come up if you search for the heading instead. Thanks all; I'm enjoying the heck out of this wallow. J.

In fact, I'm cooking moussaka for supper tonight (albeit a scandalously Louisiana version). Unfortunately, it'll be served with Dos Equis Amber instead of retsina or ouzo, but I'll offer a toast to you good people. J.

here's the thread on Crete accommodations that segued into the Moon-spinners

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34501190

I watched the Moon-spinners last night and now want to reverse my opinion of the movie vs the book. There are a lot of discrepancies. And, the book was far better. The movie was dated, of course, and a bit hokey but I loved it anyway for the scenes of Greece and for Haley Mills since I grew up watching her movies.

The previous thread I found relating to the Moon-spinners was:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...amp;tid=107044

Quick note to Carolyn -- "gotta hurry, gotta hurry" is exactly the way I feel. Oh my. Perhaps Sheila can select a couple of villages for us that will capture the ambience of The Moon-Spinners, even if they were not part of the movie. Forty years later, I guess we can't be picky. By the way, was "Shirley Valentine"'s taverna a fabrication too? Later, J.