Perhaps one reason why this aspect of Scottish film history has been so neglected is that so little of it survives today as actual moving images. Most of the indigenous feature films made by Scots in the first half of the century are lost, as opposed to the wealth of topical, sponsored and documentary film that is now preserved in British film archives.
On the occasion of the centenary of cinema, the Scottish Film Archive is mounting one last effort to rediscover this history. It will, inevitably, be a last effort, as time is sadly against us. Shot on nitrate film stock these celluloid historical records are decomposing, subject to an inherent chemical reaction which will ensure their decay to a pile of fine powdery dust. It may already be too late! But it may be that someone, somewhere has a reel of film, a family heirloom perhaps, a private passion, a collectable, something picked up at a jumble sale. It has been estimated that by the year 2000 all nitrate film stock, last manufactured in the 1950's, will have begun to disintegrate. That roll of film in the attic or the garden shed will be quietly self destructing in the dark. This search is the race against time to find and copy these original reels before they are lost to all, to rediscover the lost history of Scottish film-making.
A story of Scottish feature film production, 1900-1950
Tales of Jacobite heroes and Highland rogues have provided generations of film-makers with a supply of good adventurous theatrical tales, the very stuff of cinema. Indeed at the birth of what might have become a Scottish film industry it was the exploits of our own Rob Roy MacGregor that were transferred to celluloid. The first three-reel feature to be made in Britain and the first known story film made in Scotland, Rob Roy was released in 1911. Local actor John Clyde took the title role in a drama shot in fairly basic studio premises at Rouken Glen on the southern edge of Glasgow. Originally constructed as a tram depot, the building's lighting was still linked to the electrical current from the tramway power station. Every time a tram passed, it caused automatic "fade out" and then "fade in". If two trams passed at the same time, the power "faded out" altogether!
The studios survived the First World War, producing a number of short comedies, including one with Dora Lindsay, a "low comedienne", who was subsequently to pursue her career in Australia "where her talents would be better appreciated". Even cinema exhibitors, the Glasgow family business the Green's, dipped their toe in the waters with a two reel comedy His Highness released in 1916 (and since disappeared). The future was looking reasonably bright. The Ace Film Producing Company proudly announced the opening of their new studio premises on the same site at Rouken Glen in October 1919, with "lighting installation equal to fully 80,000 candle power" (presumably to dispense with the vagaries of the tramway system!). Production of a five-reel Scottish romance had already started. The Harp King was released in December 1919 having enjoyed record attendance at the Scottish trade show in the Cinema House, Renfield Street. "It exceeded all expectations" trumpeted The Scottish Cinema, despite "a slight fog that filled the hall". Such was the confidence in their future that Ace Films set up the A1 Acting College, advertising for "Cinema aspirants to train for cinema acting".
The studios were taken over by Broadway Cinema Productions, who released the most ambitious production thus far, Fitba' Daft, in 1921. Adapted from a comedy sketch by James Milligan, it concerned the misfortune of a temperance observer who mistakenly drinks whisky thinking it to be vinegar. The scenes that created most excitement however were shot at Ibrox Park. Alan Morton of Rangers football club was seen executing the famous "Morton lob". Morton needed several attempts at the lob before the scene was safely "in the can" after which he quipped "must have my boots on the wrong feet." The film ran for an exceptional six weeks at the Regent Cinema. Sadly, like Rob Roy and The Harp King, no copies of this film are known to have survived.
Film-making had ceased in Rouken Glen by 1924 and it was to be another twenty years before Glasgow saw another attempt to set up feature film studios. Film production continued in fits and starts, Scotland being used as a location setting for a number of features. Producer Will Kellino requisitioned a special train to convey artists and props to the Trossachs for the filming of Gaumont's Rob Roy in 1922. The Scottish Kinema Record covered the progress of shooting which embraced the skills of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to infuse realism into the fight scenes.
On the east coast screen stars Violet Hopson and Stewart Rome were treated as visiting celebrities whilst filming in the Arbroath area. Miss Hopson was invited to inspect Dundee's newest fire engine, scenes that were recorded in a local topical film by one of the town's cinemas. The film in production, Christie Johnstone, adapted from the novel by Charles Reade, was released in 1921.
In 1927 George Pearson directed Harry Lauder in his first screen role as Dickson McCunn in the big screen adaptation of John Buchan's novel Huntingtower, recruiting local lads to fill out the ranks of the "Gorbals Die-Hards" gang. Sadly this is another title on the missing list.
As the silent era drew to a close, Londoner Maurice Sandground approached Scots entrepreneur Malcolm A Irvine with a proposition for a film production based on the life of Robert Burns. Released in 1926 under the name of Scottish Film Academy, it cleared its production costs of around £600 on the first week's showing at the Coliseum in Glasgow. Spurred on by the success Sandground produced the Life of Sir Walter Scott, "an excellent and educational production" according to the Scotsman. It was however less successful and to cut his losses Sandground cut the two films together releasing them in 1928 as Immortals of Bonnie Scotland. Subsequent distribution in London and Canada was unfortunately to be curtailed by the coming of sound pictures.
As the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of cinema approached, there was considerable feeling amongst the film community that Scotland was selling itself short in terms of feature film. Yet the difficulties were not ignored. By then a leading figure in the industry in Scotland, Malcolm A Irvine, wrote in 1946: "At the moment we find it impossible to produce feature films in Scotland in their entirety, having neither the personnel nor the equipment for large scale productions. During the past twenty years Scotland has produced its own Talkie and Sound Recording equipment. It has made dozens of every kind of short film not excepting a full-length cartoon. Producers have been working quietly on Industrial films, Musical and Dramatic shorts, and also sponsored films for Government departments. All are competent to turn out good work, and all have experience in every branch of film production. They have what the Americans call 'the know how' but cannot apply it to feature productions for lack of proper studio facilities and personnel."
"For years we have surveyed the depressing spectacle of clever young film producers and technicians going south in search of wider experience and greater opportunity. That the great majority of them have made good is a compliment to their inherent ability and general training. But that is not getting the home industry anywhere. The remaining personnel will become old and effete, and even the existing standard of production will languish. The largely creative nature of film production requires freshness of outlook and enterprise, and these are difficult to maintain in the face of depressing conditions such as inadequate equipment and limited financial resources."
It was in this climate that a new company, Scottish National Film Studios, was launched in Glasgow in 1946. The Managing Director was Joseph MacLeod, author, stage producer and formerly BBC newsreader. The intent was to produce educational, scientific, religious and short or interest films with subsequent expansion to entertainment and full length feature films.
A draft programme of feature films was drawn up with the intention of building studio facilities near Inverness. This production base, it was claimed, would ultimately employ 1,000 technicians. Whilst these ambitious plans were being promoted work started on a road safety film, Someone Wasn't Thinking, shot in the busy Glasgow city centre streets. Although the film was completed, the studio project did not long outlive it, the company having failed to raise the necessary £60,000 capital they required to support the scheme. Effectively, operations ceased in 1947.
Experience in making documentary and educational film was to encourage another West of Scotland unit to dip a toe into the risky waters of feature film production. Elder-Dalrymple Films had small studios in Ayr from where they produced instructional, documentary and travel films. In 1946 they obtained limited commercial release for a short drama of adventure on the high seas, Perchance to Sail. In the early 1950s the company, now known as Elder Productions, had moved up to Glasgow converting a Gothic style building behind the Saracen's Head public house into film studios. From there they produced a sixty minutes story film starring Campbell Hastie. The Little Singer failed to secure national release (one of the reasons apparently due to the unintelligibility of the Glasgow accent), but it did well on local screenings. Again, like its predecessors, the film has subsequently disappeared.