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Tartan
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Braveheart
has been criticised for historical inaccuracies, but stormed
the box office
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For Hollywood
and other visiting film-makers Scotland has normally been synonymous
with the Highlands, the huge expanse of mountains that take up
the northern half of the country.
These days the vast majority live in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the
other towns of Central Scotland, or in Aberdeen, Dundee and the
towns on the East Coast, but visiting film-makers have shown little
interest in those areas, their people or the present day.
They have wanted Highlanders in kilts, mountains, romance and
adventure. They wanted the myth, not the reality, their own version
of Brigadoon.
Down the years a succession of foreigners donned the tartan, including
Errol Flynn in The Master of Ballantrae (1953) and Michael Caine
in Kidnapped (1971), two of the many films based on the novels
of the great Scottish story-teller Robert Louis Stevenson.
Orson
Welles appeared not only in his own version of Macbeth (1948),
but decked out in tartan in Trouble in the Glen (1954), a "comedy"
regarded by many as the nadir of "Scottish film" - and here I
use the term "Scottish film" for films set in Scotland, even though
they may have been shot on the back-lot at Burbank.
The idea of
the kilted Highlander became so powerful that producers were able
to make an entire series of films bearing the name Highlander
(1986-), initially at least tapping into the old Scottish image
of tartan, bagpipes, beauitful scenery and that reliable old Scottish
totem, Sean Connery; and then mixing in a plot about a race of
immortals that was ridiculous, but wonderfully enjoyable - some
Scottish critics took it all rather too seriously.
William Wallace came from the South of Scotland, but Mel Gibson
thought nothing of dressing him in tartan and shooting in the
Highlands (and in Ireland) in Braveheart.
Scottish history, the Scottish Highlands and foreign stars dominate
"Scottish films" from the silent era onwards. Hollywood dominated
the movie industry, but in Britain its films were supplemented
by those from studios in the south of England, so Scotland was
doubly dominated by two great powers with whom it shared a common
language. This was the era of the studio system - films were shot
primarily in studios, where directors had much more control over
conditions.
Although set largely in Scotland, Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps
(1935) shot mainly in Lime Grove Studios in London, where the
sheep ate the carefully-arranged heather. And Sandy Mackendrick's
bosses allowed him to make the arduous and historic trip to the
island of Barra to shoot Whisky Galore! (1949) only because Ealing
Studios were full. Few feature films were made in Scotland and
the only way a Scot could make a career for him or herself in
movies was to take the train down to London or the boat across
the Atlantic.
Early Scottish actors
Eric Campbell, the big bearded villain of Chaplin shorts, and
Jimmy Finlayson, the cross-eyed character in the Laurel and Hardy
films, were Scots. Although Stan Laurel was born in Lancashire
he grew up and made his stage debut in Glasgow. Donald Crisp was
born in Aberfeldy in Scotland. In Hollywood he played General
Grant in The Birth of a Nation (1915) and won an Oscar as a Welshman
in John Ford's How Green Was My Valley (1941).
The biggest stars seemed to play down their Scottishness, for
the simple reason that to be seen as Scottish relegated an actor
to character roles. Even in British films, stars rarely spoke
with regional accents. Jack Buchanan was the epitome of English
elegance, though he was born in Helensburgh, near Glasgow. He
was a song and dance man on Broadway before playing Bulldog Drummond,
a forerunner of James Bond.
Deborah Kerr also came from Helensburgh and trained as a ballet
dancer. She worked with Powell and Pressburger before going to
Hollywood, dancing with Yul Brynner in The King and I (1956) and
rolling in the surf with Burt Lancaster in From Here to Eternity
(1953).
Like Buchanan, David Niven was the epitome of a debonair English
gent and many were surprised to learn he came from Kirriemuir,
near Dundee. Only after his death did his birth certificate reveal
he had been born in London. His claim of Scottish birth had been
his biggest joke - the epitome of the English gentleman was indeed
English.
The
name's Connery, Sean Connery >>
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