Boy did I get a surprise yesterday! While surfing the cable TV channels, I happened upon an old b/w Shirley Temple movie set in a lighthouse. Buddy Epsen was in it and was about 20 years old, so you can imagine how old it was! I missed the beginning but I got the jist that the lightkeeper had saved Shirley Temple "STAR" when she was about 2 years old from a shipwreck as the only survivor. Since he could not find any of her relatives, she has lived with him for 4 years.
The interior shots of the lighthouse including the iron circular stairs and the lantern room where quite authentic although there was no fresnel lens.
Part of the final scenario was a telegram from the lighthouse service saying that the 3 Lighthouses in the area were going to be automated and there was no longer a need for the lightkeepers. (References were made about Salem and Boston so I assume the lighthouse depicted was from that area.)
I'm sure I saw this movie many times as a kid but it was all new to me yesterday.
I considered posting this in the Lighthouses in the Movies but thought since the movie spends 80% of its time in the lighthouse it deserved its own topic!