Sedona -- Late February brings scores of film fans from around the world to attend the annual Sedona International Film Festival, a five-day festival that features documentaries, foreign films, shorts, animation and student films. Most film buffs who visit the red rocks of Northern Arizona, have no idea that they are actually walking on the grounds of former movie backlots. In its heyday, Sedona Arizona was home to over 60 Hollywood productions, mostly consisting of Westerns. With classic stars on site such as John Wayne, Joan Crawford, Elvis, Burt Lancaster, Rock Hudson, Donna Reed, and Art Carney to name a few.

How many classic westerns have we watched with the red rock mountains in the background, without realizing this was an actual town and not a studio set in Hollywood? All the major studios filmed in the area such as Universal, Fox, MGM, RKO, Paramount, and Warner Brothers. Most were shot on location in Sedona, with post production done back in Los Angeles.

Films include such legendary titles as Stagecoach (1939), Viva Cisco Kid (1940), Billy The Kid (1941), Angel and the Badman (1947), Relentless (1948), Broken Arrow (1950), Pony Soldier (1952), Apache (1954), Johnny Guitar (1954), 3:10 to Yuma (1957), The Rounders (1965), Wild Rovers (1971), and Harry and Tonto (1974).

Filming in Sedona began in 1923 with The Call of the Canyon, shortly after the birth of Hollywood. Studios actually pondered building studios in Flagstaff, until experiencing the harsh conditions in the winter and settled in California. However, after scouting for locations, producers fell in love with Oak Creek Canyon and the red rocks of Sedona.

Sedona was a rural town at the time and a perfect location for western movie settings. Even though the majority of the movies were filmed in black and white, the authentic mountain ranges still held up until color was introduced.

With a milder climate and open ranges, entire western town settings were built and even reused by the studios. In the 1940s and 1950's, many productions were filming at the same time, even sharing some of the same locations and sets. Sedona was officially a Hollywood backlot.

Sedona continued to draw Hollywood star power from the 1960s into the early 1970s. However with changing times, Western films began to fade in popularity in pop culture. At the same time, Sedona began to grow as a major tourist destination, as well as a booming city in its own right. Many of the sets were being torn down to build homes and businesses for the growing town.

Hollywood began to pack their bags and concentrate on new destinations for film locations. Films were still being shot in Sedona, but only as settings for short scenes, such as Robert DeNiro's car chase sequence in the 1988 Universal hit Midnight Run.

Today, Sedona's vibrant movie past is pretty much just a memory, as tourists are more interested in landscape adventures, upscale resorts, and the basic trappings of a vacation destination. Locals live in homes and sub divisions built right over former movie sets, oblivious to its past.

Sedona's film culture is being revised with annual events like the Sedona International Film Festival and the Zaki Gordon Institute Shorts Film Festival. In addition, the red rocks continue to be a location spot for television commercials and international shoots.

Some nostalgia does exist, as Uptown Sedona actually has a Sedona Motion Picture Museum, which celebrates the town's rich history of classic films, but mainly targets tourists.

Segments of the film industry have relocated to Sedona to film modern films and bring in more productions in conjunction with the Sedona Film Office, which provide producers many incentives.

The beauty and wonder of Sedona will always draw artists from around the world, and a platform for more great movies. Sedona will eventually find it's place in history as not just a former Hollywood backlot, but as a player itself in the film industry.

Now for the first time, Arizona’s Little Hollywood tells the tale of each of these films in fascinating detail. Author Joe McNeil has documented and compiled the history of movies filmed in Sedona and the area, with the book Arizona's Little Hollywood: Sedona and Northern Arizona's Forgotten Film History 1923-1973 on sale now.