Out of the mists comes the kilted highlander as the sound of the pipes skirl. A village awakening or a pretty highland girl at a ceilidh awakes a mysticism within you as the Northern Lights flash. This is a work in progress as I dredge my memory of all the McFilms.

A train pulls into Waverley station in Edinburgh and a passenger looking for the racing results leans out of the window and addresses a paperboy: “Speaka da English”. The 39 Steps

What is a hielander? This? Culloden

Or this? Brigadoon

“A world in which the shortest skirts are worn by ……man” : Narration in The Battle of the Sexes

A romanticised past is staring us in the face: The Ghost Goes West

However the use of the kilt is not straightforward, notice how it is the anglicised authority that is tartaned up in these films

The anglicised laird in The Maggie

Who could be more English than Robert Morley in The Battle of the Sexes

Local Hero: As much a construct as Brigadoon

Industrial Scotland from Red Ensign, Michael Powell’s first Scottish film.

SPORT

Scottish sport is dominated by fitba, and fitba is dominated by Celtic and Rangers; together known as the Old Firm.

Shot at Glory

One catholic, the other protestant, using one of them as the basis for a film would alienate the other side, so the football film looked a dead duck until Robert Duvall had the idea of CGI’ing Rangers legend Ally McCoist into a Celtic strip. Shame he couldn’t sort out Ally’s acting.

Shot at Glory

The Scots are a stubborn nation, even when it comes to the Olympics. There are points of principle to follow. Eric Liddell will not run on a Sunday, Geordie won’t perform unless he can wear the kilt and Graeme Obree insists on building bikes from washing machines.

“The Sabbath’s not a day for playing football” Chariots of Fire

“Come away my wee Geordie” Geordie

Returning to his bike after setbacks have almost destroyed him. The Flying Scotsman

The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (Alfred Clark, 1895): The Bride of Lammermoor: A Tragedy of Bonnie Scotland (J. Stuart Blackton, 1909): Rob Roy (Arthur Vivian, 1911): The Little Minister (James Young, 1913): Mairi: The Romance Of A Highland Maiden (Andrew Paterson, 1913) The Heart of Midlothian (Frank Wilson, 1914): The Little Minister (Percy Nash, 1915): Kidnapped (Alan Crosland, 1917): Kilties Three (Maurice Sandground, 1918): The Little Minister (Penrhyn Stanlaws, 1921): Rob Roy (W.P. Kellino, 1922): The Little Minister (David Smith, 1922): Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Calvert, 1923): The Loves of Mary Queen of Scots (Denison Clift, 1923): Maria Stuart, Teil 1 und 2 (Friedrich Feher and Leopold Jessner, 1927): Putting Pants on Philip (Clyde Bruckman, 1927): Annie Laurie (John S Robertson, , 1929): The Black Watch (John Ford, 1929): Loves of Robert Burns (Herbert Wilcox, 1930): 7 till 5 (Norman McLaren, 1933):

Red Ensign (Michael Powell, 1934): A patriotic quota quickie that is far from the spirit of Red Clydeside and tanks in George Square.
The Little Minister (Richard Wallace, 1934):
Ghost Goes West (Rene Clair, 1935):
The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935):
Mary of Scotland (John Ford, 1936):
Storm in a Teacup (Ian Dalrymple and Victor Saville, 1937):
The Edge Of The World (Michael Powell, 1937):
Wee Willie Winkie (John Ford, 1937):
Kidnapped (Alfred L. Werker , 1938):
Marigold (Thomas Bentley, 1938):
Mony a Pickle (Norman McLaren, 1938): Back then the GPO produced some of the great documentaries, nowadays they can’t even deliver the post on time. Call that progress?
The Spy In Black (Michael Powell, 1939):
Das Herz der Kצnigin (Carl Froelich, 1940):
Cottage To Let (Anthony Asquith, 1941):
The Ghost of St. Michael’s (Marcel Varnel, 1941):
Shining Victory (Irving Rapper, 1941):
Hatter’s Castle (Lance Comfort, 1942):
The Shipbuilders (John Baxter, 1943):
On Approval (Clive Brook, 1944):
I Know Where I’m Going (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1945):
The Body Snatcher (Robert Wise, 1945):
The Green Years (Victor Saville, 1946):
Silver Darlings (Clarence Elder, 1947):
The Brothers (David MacDonald, 1947): An orphaned woman is placed as housekeeper in a Scots Protestant house. A family feud, sibling rivalry, second sight and the repressed feelings of a true Scotsman ensue. A body part is removed years before 127 hours and a strange murder involves tieing a fish to the victims head.
Bonnie Prince Charlie (Anthony Kimmins and Alexander Korda, 1948):
Kidnapped (William Beaudine, 1948):
Macbeth (Orson Welles, 1948):
Challenge to Lassie (Richard Thorpe, 1949):
Floodtide (Frederick Wilson, 1949):
The Secret of St Ives (Phil Rosen, 1949):
Whisky Galore (Alexander Mackendrick, 1949):
Gorbals Story (David MacKane, 1950):
Madeleine (David Lean, 1950):
Flesh & Blood (Anthony Kimmins , 1951):
Happy Go Lovely (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1951):
You’re Only Young Twice (Terry Bishop , 1952):
Laxdale Hall (John Eldridge, 1953):
Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue (Harold French, 1953):
The Master of Ballantrae (William Keighley, 1953):
Brigadoon (Vincente Minnelli, 1954):
The Maggie (Alexander Mackendrick, 1954):
Trouble in the Glen (Herbert Wilcox, 1954):
A Man Called Peter (Henry Koster, 1955):
Geordie (Frank Launder, 1955): A slight Scottish lad takes up bodybuilding and becomes an Olympic hammer thrower.
The Adventures of Quentin Durward (Richard Thorpe, 1955):
Rockets Galore (Michael Relph, 1958):
Battle of the Sexes (Charles Crichton, 1959):
Journey to the Center of the Earth (Henry Levin, 1959):
The 39 Steps (Ralph Thomas, 1959):
The Bridal Path (Frank Launder, 1959):
Kidnapped (Robert Stevenson, 1960):
Night Train For Inverness (Ernest Morris, 1960): A father gets out of jail and abducts his son on a train to Inverness. He doesn’t know his son is diabetic. Or that he is Dennis Waterman. Very little Scottish content beyond the title.
The Flesh and the Fiends (John Gilling, 1960):
Tunes Of Glory (Ronald Neame, 1960):
Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog (Don Chaffey, 1961):
Seawards the Great Ships (Hilary Harris, 1961):
What A Whopper (Gilbert Gunn, 1961):
Culloden (Peter Watkins, 1964):
Carry on Up the Khyber (Gerald Thomas, 1968):
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Ronald Neame, 1969):
Schüsse unterm Galgen (Horst Seemann, 1970):
A Sense of Freedom (John Mackenzie, 1971):
Kidnapped (Delbert Mann, 1971):
Macbeth (Roman Polanski, 1971):
Mary Queen of Scots (Charles Jarrott, 1971):
When Eight Bells Toll (Etienne Périer, 1971):
Burke and Hare (Vernon Sewell, 1972):
My Childhood (Bill Douglas, 1972):
My Ain Folk (Bill Douglas, 1973):
The Wicker Man (Robin Hardy, 1973):
The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black Black Oil (Jack MacKenzie, 1974):
The Great McGonagall (Joseph McGrath, 1974):
Long Shot (Maurice Hatton, 1978):
My Way Home (Bill Douglas, 1978):
The 39 Steps (Don Sharp, 1978):
That Sinking Feeling (Bill Forsyth, 1980):
Burning Rubber (Norman Cohen , 1981): the Bay City Rollers movie
Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson, 1981):
Gregory’s Girl (Bill Forsyth, 1981):
The Dollar Bottom (Roger Christian, 1981):
The Loch Ness Horror (Larry Buchanan, 1981):
Living Apart Together (Charles Gormley, 1982):
Another Time, Another Place (Michael Radford, 1983):
Ill Fares The Land (Bill Bryden , 1983):
Local Hero (Bill Forsyth, 1983):
Comfort & Joy (Bill Forsyth, 1984):
Restless Natives (Michael Hoffman, 1985):
Girl in the Picture (Cary Parker, 1986):
Highlander (Russell Mulcahy, 1986):
Heavenly Pursuits (Charles Gormley, 1987):
Venus Peter (Ian Sellar, 1989):
The Big Man (David Leland, 1990):
Riff-Raff (Ken Loach, 1991):
Tickets for the Zoo (Brian Crumlish, 1991): Kids out of care struggle in Thatcherite Edinburgh.
Blue Black Permanent (Margaret Tait, 1992):
Salt On Our Skin (Andrew Birkin, 1992):
Silent Scream (David Hayman, 1993):
Soft Top Hard Shoulder (Stefan Schwartz, 1993):
As An Eilean (Mike Alexander, 1993):
Being Human (Bill Forsyth, 1994):
Chasing the Deer (Graham Holloway, 1994):
Shallow Grave (Danny Boyle, 1994):
Braveheart (Mel Gibson, 1995):
Margaret’s Museum (Mort Ransen, 1995):
Rob Roy (Michael Caton-Jones, 1995):
Breaking The Waves (Lars Von Trier, 1996):
Carla’s Story (Ken Loach, 1996):
Loch Ness (John Henderson, 1996):
Mary Reilly (Stephen Frears, 1996):
Small Faces (Gillies MacKinnon, 1996):
The Bruce (Bob Carruthers and David McWhinnie, 1996):
Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1996):
Mrs Brown (John Madden, 1997):
Regeneration (Gillies MacKinnon, 1997):
The Winter Guest (Alan Rickman, 1997):
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (Karan Johar, 1998):
Main Solah Baras Ki (Dev Anand, 1998):
My Name Is Joe (Ken Loach, 1998):
Orphans (Peter Mullan, 1998):
Post Mortem (Albert Pyun, 1998):
The Acid House (Paul McGuigan, 1998):
The Governess (Sandra Goldbacher, 1998):
Urban Ghost Story (Geneviève Jolliffe, 1998):
Big Tease (Kevin Allen, 1999):
Gregory’s Two Girls (Bill Forsyth, 1999):
Hold Back the Night (Philip Davis, 1999):
One More Kiss (Vadim Jean, 1999):
Ratcatcher (Lynne Ramsay, 1999):
The Debt Collector (Anthony Neilson, 1999):
Women Talking Dirty (Coky Giedroyc, 1999):
Aberdeen (Hans Petter Moland, 2000):
Beautiful Creatures (Bill Eagles, 2000):
Complicity (Gavin Millar, 2000):
Daybreak (Bernard Rudden, 2000):
Death Watch (Bernard Tavernier, 2000):
Shot at Glory (Michael Corrente, 2000):
Late Night Shopping (Saul Metzstein, 2001):
Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat (Rajiv Rai, 2001):
Strictly Sinatra (Peter Capaldi, 2001):
Beneath Loch Ness (Chuck Comisky, 2002):
Dog Soldiers (Neil Marshall, 2002):
Morvern Callar (Lynne Ramsay, 2002):
Sweet Sixteen (Ken Loach, 2002):
Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself (Lone Scherfig, 2002):
16 Years of Alcohol (Richard Jobson, 2003):
American Cousins (Don Coutts, 2003):
Skagerrak (Soren Kragh-Jacobsen, 2003):
Strangeheart (Brian Hedenberg, 2003):
The Ticking Man (Steven Lewis Simpson, 2003):
The White Cockade: The Final Cry for Freedom (Jim Hughes, 2003):
Young Adam (David Mackenzie, 2003):
Ae Fond Kiss (Ken Loach, 2004):
Dear Frankie (Shona Auerbach, 2004):
Blinded (Eleanor Yule, 2004):
Incident at Loch Ness (Zak Penn, 2004):
One Last Chance (Stewart Svaasand, 2004):
The Purifiers (Richard Jobson, 2004):
The Rocket Post (Stephen Whittaker, 2004):
Festival (Annie Griffin, 2005):
GamerZ (Robbie Fraser, 2005):
Greyfriars Bobby (John Henderson, 2005):
Man to Man (Regis Wargnier, 2005):
Night People (Adrian Mead, 2005):
On a Clear Day (Gaby Dellal, 2005):
Red Rose (Robbie Moffat, 2005):
Tickets (Abbas Kiarostami, Ken Loach and Ermanno Olmi, 2005):
Wild Country (Craig Strachan, 2005):
Driving Lessons (Jeremy Brock, 2006):
Flying Scotsman (Douglas Mackinnon, 2006):
Nina’s Heavenly Delights (Pratibha Parmar, 2006):
Red Road (Andrea Arnold, 2006):
True North (Steve Hudson, 2006):
Woman in Winter (Richard Jobson, 2006):
Death Defying Acts (Gillian Armstrong, 2007):
Hallam Foe (David Mackenzie, 2007):
My Life As A Bus Stop (The Finnigans, 2007):
The Inheritance (Charles Henri Belleville, 2007):
Water Horse (Jay Russell, 2007):
A Complete History of my Sexual Failures (Chris Waitt, 2008):
Don’t Look at Me (I’m Ugly in the Morning) (Chris Purnell, 2008):
Doomsday (Neil Marshall, 2008):
New Town Killers (Richard Jobson, 2008):
One Day Removals (Mark Stirton, 2008):
Stone of Destiny (Charles Martin Smith, 2008):
Trouble Sleeping (Robert Rae, 2008):
Crying with Laughter (Justin Molotnikov, 2009):
Morticia (Nabil Shaban, 2009):
Running In Traffic (Dale Corlett, 2009):
A Spanking in Paradise (Wayne Thallon, 2010):
Burke and Hare (John Landis, 2010):
Centurion (Neil Marshall, 2010):
Donkeys (Morag McKinnon, 2010): Follow up to Red Road with characters backstories changed. The tonal shifts are carried off perfectly for me.
Jackboots on Whitehall (Edward McHenry and Rory McHenry, 2010):
Mr Self Destruct (Adrian Rowe, 2010):
Neds (Peter Mullan, 2010):
Outcast (Colm McCarthy, 2010):
The Illusionist (Sylvain Chomet, 2010):
The Space Between (Tim Barrow, 2010):
The Wicker Tree (Robin Hardy, 2010):
Perfect Sense (David Mackenzie, 2011):
Fast Romance (Carter Ferguson, 2011):
The Eagle (Kevin Macdonald, 2011):
One Day(Lone Scherfig, 2011):
A Lonely Place To Die (Julian Gilbey, 2011):
You Instead (David MacKenzie 2011):
Irvine Welsh’s Ecstacy (Rob Heydon, 2011):
The Decoy Bride (Sheree Folkson, 2011):
Day of the Flowers (John Roberts, 2012):
The Angels’ Share (Ken Loach, 2012):
Brave (Mark Andrews, 2012):
Love Bite (Andy De Emmony, 2012):
Prometheus (Ridley Scott, 2012): I’ve just come down from the Isle Of Skye, I’m no very big and Im awfy shy … Donald, Who’s your creator
Two Years At Sea (Ben Rivers, 2012):
What Is This Film Called Love? (Mark Cousins, 2012)

I can’t get used to Whisky Galore being called Tight Little Island, or The Maggie being High and Dry, or Hallam Foe being Mister Foe

Scotland on Film