| Film

Castle Hot Springs: Oasis of Time

| Trailer

Travel through time to a landscape that inspires legends.

“Castle Hot Springs: Oasis of Time” explores the history of the first luxury resort on the Arizona frontier, a fabled hotel that played host to cowboys and captains of industry. This documentary short features vintage film footage by Cecil B. DeMille and Senator Barry Goldwater; paintings by Maxfield Parrish and Olaf Weighorst; and music by Pearl Django, Dolan Ellis, and Gene Autry.

| Synopsis

The documentary film “Castle Hot Springs: Oasis of Time” is rooted deep in a landscape that inspires legends. The human history of “taking the waters” starts with the Yavapai Tribe. The First People gathered cactus flowers and grew mescal at the springs. As settlers came to the Arizona Territory, mining magnate Frank Murphy and his brother, Territorial Governor Nathan Oakes, saw the seeds of a new economy born of water, sunshine, and leisure travel that would drive the region toward statehood. Their vision laid the groundwork for Arizona to play host to some of the wealthiest families of the Gilded Age, the Rockefellers, Pews, and Vanderbilts. Over the 20th century “Castle Hot” became a mix of cowpunchers and captains of industry. Some came for their health, others for adventure, but they were all enchanted by the majesty of the Bradshaw Mountains. American Painter Maxfield Parrish discovered the saturated desert skies that would become the hallmark of his paintings. The ‘Father of American Cinema,’ Cecil B. DeMille staged his cast and crew at the resort during the Depression and filmed an early “talkie.” At the end of WWII, veterans recuperated in the mineral waters, including future President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. As the century aged, so did the hotel, but what is essential remained intact. Much like the hot mineral water that flows without interruption from the earth, the influence this land has on the human spirit has never wavered. It is a landscape of myth and memory.

| Film Credits

  • Narrator PETER COYOTE
  • Executive Producers MIKE & CINDY WATTS
  • Director/Writer/Producer KRISTIN ATWELL FORD
  • Director of Photography/Producer BILL DAVIS
  • Editor/Graphics MISTY WILSON
  • Additional Photography: STEVEN SNOW, JACOB MROCZEK, ROBERT PFLUMM
  • Produced by QUANTUM LEAP PRODUCTIONS

| Press & Reviews

| Awards

  • Rocky Mountain Emmy® Award Winner for historical documentary.

“There are places I’ll remember
All my life, though some have changed….”
The Beatles

There are landscapes that live inside of us, places that hold our dreams and memories. For me, Castle Hot Springs is one of those places. When I was in high school my mother bought the run-down property on a wing and a prayer. She dreamt of re-opening the “Grand Dowager” of Arizona resorts as a healing center. Like many before her, she lost everything she owned trying to return the property to its former glory. And yet, the time our family spent in this storied place healed us. Our parents had divorced a decade earlier but on trips to the springs my entire family, including my mother and father, found peace. We would swim, play guitars, and revel in the night sky – together.

In an unexpected twist I found myself at Castle Hot Springs filming the documentary “Castle Hot Springs: Oasis of Time.” That fact that it was 35 years to the day of my sister’s wedding there was an unexpected twist. It was unlikely the property would ever be open to the public again – as unlikely, perhaps, as rich mineral water gushing from the desert. Seeing this magical spot revived after four decades of neglect was like seeing my beloved Grandmother come back to life. What an honor to be given the scared task of telling the story of a fabled place. 

As I conducted my research, I realized that many families, starting with the Yavapai people, had similar experiences. The springs have always inspired people to lay down arms, gather and experience a rare quality of connection with those you love. Our most vital human connections are heightened by a nourishing connection to the land. This film is for all people who value the places that influence our lives and hold our history.

Kristin Atwell Ford
Director/Producer/Writer
Scottsdale, Arizona

| Partners

Visit Castle Hot Springs

CastleHotSprings.com

| Photos

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