Modern Scottish Collections

BBC Alba is currently showing the fondly remembered 1960s television version of Dr Finlay’s Casebook based on the short stories of Scotland’s best-selling author of yesteryear – A.J. Cronin, 1896-1981.

Cronin may not be a household name today but from his sensational debut with Hatter’s Castle in 1931 he was prized as a master story teller, with huge international sales. He drew on his experience of small-town Scottish life, including his family dramas and religious intolerance, and his early work as a doctor. Success meant he became a full-time writer by the time he was 35.

Inevitably Cronin’s highly dramatic novels like The Citadel , The Stars Look Down, and The Keys of the Kingdom were snapped up by film studios on both sides of the Atlantic. Most of his big titles made it to the screen in major productions starring, amongst others, Robert Donat, Carole Lombard, Michael Redgrave, Margaret Lockwood, Gregory Peck, and Dirk Bogarde.

Film versions of two of Cronin’s “Scottish” novels Hatter’s Castle and The Green Years feature in our current exhibition Going to the Pictures: Scotland at the Cinema. Deborah Kerr and James Mason shine from the original poster for Hatter’s Castle and there’s a US Forces edition of The Green Years, with an original leaflet promoting MGM’s film version which featured Tom Drake, the “boy next door” from Meet Me in St Louis, as … the boy next door in Victorian Scotland, who also wants to be a doctor.

Earlier in the week I had the great honour to show Peter Jewell round our current exhibition Going to the Pictures: Scotland at the Cinema.

Peter Jewell built up the fabulous cinema collection at the Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture at the University of Exeter with the late great Scottish film director Bill Douglas.

It was fascinating to go round the displays with a real expert on the history of cinema, and also to listen to his personal anecdotes of
Bill Douglas, the boy from Newcraighall – the mining village near Edinburgh – who grew up to be a filmmaker and left a slim but immortal legacy on screen.

In the exhibition we show iconic clips from the Bill Douglas Trilogy and copies of pages from the script and storyboard.

Scottish audiences are getting ready for the unveiling of the latest Scottish heroine when the much anticipated Brave opens in cinemas across the country. For a few weeks now there has been no escape from images of the gallus wee lassie with the red curls, her bow, and her kenspeckle family.

When we were working on the summer exhibition Going to the Pictures: Scotland at the Cinema we had to ensure that we included Brave in advance of its premiere. For a brief wonderful moment we thought we were going to get a life-size figure of the bonnie wee princess – but settled for a “teaser” poster and the only one of the official books available in early June.

We already had however, at least one other independent curly-headed lassie in the exhibition, from another era altogether. In 1917 Mary Pickford – then the biggest female star in the world – took the title role in The Pride of the Clan. Here “Little Mary” plays Marget MacTavish, the leader of her community on a remote Scottish island. She’s a feisty wee thing who whips them all into shape –literally – and who wears the full tartan rigout, and sports a head of golden curls. This was Mary’s trademark till she bobbed them in the 1920s and caused a sensation.

Nearly a century has passed since audiences all round the world saw their favourite in her Scottish guise as Marget MacTavish, and here we are welcoming another Scottish heroine, just as wee, just as independent, and just as blessed in the hair department – Princess Merida in Brave.

With the Olympics now upon us, it is good to report that our current exhibition Going to the Pictures: Scotland at the Cinema has not forgotten to include Scolympians – even if one of them is a work of fiction!

Most film audiences wont need to be reminded about Chariots of Fire, which memorably told the story of athlete and missionary Eric Liddell and others. With the late Ian Charleson as Liddell, and many Scottish locations, including the West Sands at St Andrews in the iconic opening sequence, Arthur’s Seat, and the splendours of the interior of Edinburgh’s Café Royal, the film has recently been restored and is back out in cinemas, thirty years after it won the Best Picture Oscar. We’ve got a “book of the film” in the displays, as well as the famous run along the sands.

There’s room in the exhibition also though for Geordie, in the strapping person of Bill Travers. The 1955 Highland comedy also featured Alastair Sim as the laird, and tells the tale of the wee boy who takes a bodybuilding course by mail and grows up to compete in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics – as a hammer thrower, and in a kilt of course.

In the exhbition we’ve got a clip from the film – the scene where big Geordie discovers his talent – and a programme for the world premiere in Glasgow. Here’s a longer version of the scene we use – ours has better colour for the scenery but check out that familiar postman …

One of the great things about working on our summer exhibition Going to the Pictures: Scotland at the cinema was the chance to look again at some of the classic films set in Scotland – as well as to pick the best clips!

In a wet Scottish summer it seems appropriate to take another look at the Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger 1945 favourite – I know where I’m going! For those of you not yet familiar with this magical Celtic romance the film tells the story of Wendy Hiller’s trip to the west coast of Scotland to marry a millionaire. The weather intervenes, she is stranded on Mull, and finds a husband right enough, but not the one she is expecting.

Much admired by film-makers Martin Scorsese and Mark Cousins, I know where I’m going! is the sort of film that inspires love and devotion – and pilgrims to Tobermory and other Mull locations. We have a short clip from the film in our exhibition – the scene where Wendy Hiller is introduced to the eccentric household of the lady laird on Mull, complete with eagle and wolfhounds- as well as the 1946 “film of the book”.

Audiences in Glasgow have the chance to take the trip to the islands this week where I know where I’m going! is showing at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Thursday 12 July. GFT has got a wonderful clip on their website- five minutes long!

The Scottish witch-hunts took place between 1563 and 1736. Over 3,800 Scots were accused of witchcraft and it is likely that around two-thirds of those accused were executed. If you are interested in finding out more about this fascinating subject why not have a look at our new film discussing the Scottish witch-hunts and related material from Modern Scottish Collections.

There is also a short article about the Scottish witch-hunts and how to use our free resource, Scottish Bibliographies Online, to locate related material in the Winter 2011 edition of the Discover NLS magazine.

(Image from Witchcraft in early modern Europe by Lawrence Normand and Gareth Roberts, University of Exeter Press, 2000)