Did John Bengtson make one last Houdini discovery?

Earlier this week, I shared the sad news of the death of John Bengtson, historian, silent movie location expert, and all-around great guy. In 2012, John helped uncover many locations from The Grim Game. At the time, I asked John if he could identify some of the locations from Terror Island, particularly the rustic streets outside Harry Harper's home at the start of the film. John admitted that the location had him stumped.

Fast-forward to seven months ago, when John posted the video below about the locations for Harold Lloyd's The Kid Brother. John's video is well worth watching in full.

As you can see, much of it was shot on the Lasky Ranch in Burbank. While I knew the site of what is today Forest Lawn Cemetery was used to shoot the battle scenes for Birth of a Nation and was the original site of Universal, I never knew it was associated with Famous Players-Lasky. Of course, Famous Players-Lasky made Terror Island. So as soon as I saw this video, I wondered if the Terror Island town could have been shot at the Lasky Ranch?

Something that argues for this. There are several shots in which the street is visible through the window of Harry Harper's room. This suggests the room was an open set, which would best be built on a backlot.

I planned to email John to ask what he thought about this idea. But I delayed, and now that isn't possible. But what is possible is that the late great John Bengtson finally found the elusive Terror Island town.

Related:

• John Bengtson has passed away
• Discovering Terror Island
• Terror at the Hot Springs