Florida films featured at Collier Museum

Films will be shown on Saturdays at the Collier County Museum, but these will have a different slant. All movies will have been filmed in Florida, usually Southwest Florida. Many will have historical backgrounds as well.

"Distant Drums" will open this series of matinees on Saturday, Aug. 4, at 1:00 p.m. No charge.

In 1951, Warner Brothers arrived in Collier County to film the County's first feature length movie, a one million dollar production. This was the perfect location to tell the story of the Seminole Wars when the Seminole people rose up to defend their homes from the U.S. government. Locations chosen were several around Naples including Royal Palm Hammock, Bonita, and a Seminole Village set constructed along Rattlesnake Hammock Road. The picture's big dramatic moment came when special effects men torched a 20-acre field of saw-grass near Doctor's Pass so white troops could escape a Seminole war party. The film's final scene was shot at Little Marco Pass.

Gary Cooper was star of the film, but many local Neapolitans were used as extras including then Naples Mayor W. Roy Smith who played a Seminole warrior.

The Collier County Museum is located at 3301 Tamiami Trail East, Naples. And is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information is available at www.Collier- Gov.net/Museum, or call 239.774.8476.