The Last Farewell

I wish they had owned the land and could have turned "Walnut Grove" into a tourist attraction. I would love to go and see the town. I too kind of wonder what became of the church/school... they didn't blow it up in the episode, but I wonder what they did do with it after that episode was filmed. That would be interesting to know.

Shell wrote:

I'm sad the building were blown up. Stan and Melissa looked like the were crying the hardest. You can see tears in Victor's eyes when he blew up the mill. I wonder what they did with the church/school.

The church was torn down afterwards. It was simply an empty shell......nothing was ever in it. All church and school scenes were shot on sound stages...

Really? Wow... they did a good job making it look like it was actually the inside of the church/school! I wonder why they did that, was it cheaper to do it that way? Or was it for better sound?

Cost was  really not a factor.... Better lighting, better sound and more room to film the actors.....

The sound stage is very important for shots they can't be filmed outdoors. Above the stage floor some ways are catwalks and lighting equipment hidden out of camera range, so you don't see them. Interior and exteriors sets are three-sided, so the film crew can get in and shoot. They can be moved by the grips so there's plenty of room to film the actors.


"The interiors were filmed on Stages 31 and 32 at Paramount for the series ( excluding the pilot film; that was 100% outdoors ). The local exteriors were at Big Sky Ranch, Golden Oak Ranch and Bronson Canyon. Distant film sites were in the Central Sierra and later in Arizona. The show later moved to MGM where they rented one stage, since most all was shot outdoors since day one.

The interior sets of the Ingalls home were built on Stage 31. There was the Ingalls house facade and yard with the barn sharing the same stage. Stage 32 contained the church/schoolhouse, Oleson's and Doc Baker's interiors and any others they had to build.

Local exteriors such as Big Sky Ranch, Disney's Golden Oak Ranch were filmed only from the outside in the daytime hours. This applies to any outside shot filmed in daylight with building facades. In many examples, they used real buildings for outside shots in the Sonora region, but the insides were not filmable, so they'd shoot the interiors at the studio. Or they could film inside a real building at times on location, hundreds of miles north of LA. Michael Landon and Kent McCray were very realistic and wanted a genuine look, so they'd go out of their way to film it perfect, inside or outside.

The night scenes of the Ingalls house and yard were filmed on Stage 31. Evening shots at distant film sites were done, but that's another story. The stage is very important for shots they can't be filmed outdoors.

Very interesting Dave.... So does that mean that all of the indoor shots were done in a sound stage? Like the indoor shots in the little house, or the mercantile?

LauraIngallsfan wrote:

Very interesting Dave.... So does that mean that all of the indoor shots were done in a sound stage? Like the indoor shots in the little house, or the mercantile?

It does not mean that. Several interiors were shot in The Mercantile and In Nellie's Restaurant. And a few from inside the Little House and barn..... The giveaway is normally the windows and doors.....the outside normally looks like a painting when shot on a sound stage.

Keep an eye on the windows in Mercantile, house and restaurant scenes......you will be able to tell the difference....

Almost All of the night scenes you see in town or at the Little House were shot on a soundstage........

Great information! Now I will be looking at the windows and seeing if I can notice a difference. I just assumed that all of the interior shots would be the actual interior of the building, not a sound stage. But I will admit I don't know much about the behind the scenes making of movies.

Does anybody show the movies anymore besides "Look Back to Yesterday" which INSP seems to have added to the rotation at the end of season 9? I searched the "TV Land and Hallmark Schedule" thread and I may have missed something, but the last time I could find "The Last Farewell" listed was in April 2010 on Hallmark and the last time I found "Bless All the Dear Children" listed was in December 2012 on GMC which is now Up TV.

Simply stated, No.

Toby wrote:

Does anybody show the movies anymore besides "Look Back to Yesterday" which INSP seems to have added to the rotation at the end of season 9? I searched the "TV Land and Hallmark Schedule" thread and I may have missed something, but the last time I could find "The Last Farewell" listed was in April 2010 on Hallmark and the last time I found "Bless All the Dear Children" listed was in December 2012 on GMC which is now Up TV.

This pretty much summarizes it. Hallmark used to show the movies occasionally in special weekend blocks, and INSP shows "Look Back to Yesterday". It seems both channels could incorporate the movies into their regular weekday schedules, but I don't know why they don't.

littlehouselover wrote:

Michael had personal issues then, but didn't give respect to characters that helped form the show OR respect to the show itself. Unlike last shows of lets say the Walton's or others in the same caliber, he rushed it and it showed.

I agree! with you. I don't think he should have done a 9th season. It had some good episodes. With most of the cast gone it just wasn't the same Same with the last 3 movies. They were okay but i think they could have been better in many ways. When i was watching the Waltons. I thought wow they ended the show good. Why couldn't have LHOTP too,

When the show aired on Re-Runs where i live. The channels never played the movies.

It's funny, many shows, they want to leave on top but then fans are like, "The show is still good!" but if they wait, they hear, "They should have ended 2 years ago" ; )
I agree, LHOP went on too long and I think another good special movie like the Walton's did, maybe every year or two would have been nice. Xmas together (without death or kidnapping!) a Thanksgiving movie even without everyone present, (they did live far from each other), in  my heart would have been better, but hindsight usually is.

I just watched a couple of MASH episodes yesterday, that show, being what it was, went on long but still had good scripts. They did know when to end it though and did a great job on the finale.

Indeed you are right. LHOTP didn't really end on a good high note. The  show really did go on much to long.  The last 3 movies could have been so much better. I just don't really like them. You are right he did rush them. Why was MAry? Nellie and other characters? After seeing the Waltons I  think they went out in a better high note then LHOTP. They movies they did were really good. All the cast members were in it. Expect a few. The last season was good. Sucked with out the grandparents and parents but over all it was nice movies. They didn't seem to add any too many new characters like LHOTP did.


Sorry I'M not trying to compare both shows or say one is better. I just wish LHOTP had better last 3 movies. That were thought out & done better. Or at leats had the original cast members. Like Mary & Nellie Olsen.

Krissy wrote:

littlehouselover wrote:

Michael had personal issues then, but didn't give respect to characters that helped form the show OR respect to the show itself. Unlike last shows of lets say the Walton's or others in the same caliber, he rushed it and it showed.

I agree! with you. I don't think he should have done a 9th season. It had some good episodes. With most of the cast gone it just wasn't the same  Same with the last 3 movies. They were okay but i think they could have been better in many ways. When i was watching the Waltons. I thought wow they ended the show good. Why couldn't have LHOTP too,

I think two out of three were good - Look Back To Yesterday was as good as anything they ever made, in my opinion, from any series.

The Last Farewell - whilst a bit rushed - was undoubtedly, smack you in the face final - not many shows end with such certainty.

Only the silly Christmas movie filmed in June was poor.

MankatoJoe wrote:

Krissy wrote:

littlehouselover wrote:

Michael had personal issues then, but didn't give respect to characters that helped form the show OR respect to the show itself. Unlike last shows of lets say the Walton's or others in the same caliber, he rushed it and it showed.

I agree! with you. I don't think he should have done a 9th season. It had some good episodes. With most of the cast gone it just wasn't the same  Same with the last 3 movies. They were okay but i think they could have been better in many ways. When i was watching the Waltons. I thought wow they ended the show good. Why couldn't have LHOTP too,

I think two out of three were good - Look Back To Yesterday was as good as anything they ever made, in my opinion, from any series.

The Last Farewell - whilst a bit rushed - was undoubtedly, smack you in the face final - not many shows end with such certainty.

Only the silly Christmas movie filmed in June was poor.

True! Yes you are right. " Look Back To Yesterday " Was the best movie out of the tree. It's been so long since i watched it.