The Silver Screen Oasis

Well, last night I was "power cocooning" (that's curling up with several books, maybe a 'cuppa' and the tv remote). I was just in time to catch James Cagney die for umpteenth time in The Fighting 69th (1939) and thinking, "well, at least Jim got to croak a hero this time", when what should follow up as a short but The Romance of Robert Burns (1937)!

Since tomorrow, January 25th, is Burns Night recalling the 249th birthday of the Scottish National Poet, I guess TCM thought that it would start off the celebration with this paean to the rather halting relationship depicted between Robbie Burns(Owen King) and Jean Armour(Linda Perry). The color WB short purported to show Robbie's progress from farmer to citified dandy poet and, happily, back again. In any case, I hope if you saw it, you'll share your thoughts about it, but it also got me thinking that since we have several members--a few of whom trace their families back to Scotland--would you like to list some favorite Scottish movies? I'll start us off with a few of my faves, for what it's worth:

I Know Where I'm Going
The Edge of the World
Tunes of Glory
Local Hero

Hope that you'll add your own! Thanks.

Here's a link to the "official Robert Burns site" (did Burns give his okay from the great beyond or what??)

Moira,

I would add the wonderful Bill Forsythe's (he who directed my fave, Local Hero) Comfort and Joy and Gregory's Girl.

Sorry moira:

The only Scott I know is Commander Montgomery Scott nee. James Doohan, late of the original Star Trek gang, who will live forever in the hearts of true Trek lovers.

Anne

OCH AYE !!

Moira;

Matter of fact, tomorrow evening I'll be donning kilt, plaid & sporran to help host our local Robbie Burns Night Supper at the Ceilidh House in nearby Westmoreland, NH; the proprieter, my good friend Thom Tavish Simmons, will be rendering Burns' "Address to the Haggis", and I will be leading the most cherished of all Scottish toasts, the Tribute to the Tartan:

GENTLEMEN - the TA R T A N ! ======================

Here’s to it!
The fighting sheen of it,
The yellow, the green of it,
The white, the blue of it,
The swing, the hue of it,
The dark, the red of it,
Every thread of it!

The fair have sighed for it,
The brave have died for it,
Foeman sought for it,
Heroes fought for it.
Honour the name of it,
Drink to the fame of it -
the Tartan !

And as for a list of most cherished Scottish movies . . the only ones I can think to add are a couple of Robert Louis Stevenson "home tales" - The Master of Ballantrae (with Errol Flynn and our ol' buddy, Roger Livesey), and - Kidnapped (the 90's version, with Armand Assante oddly, but wonderfully, cast as Alan Breck, and the ever-delightful Brian Blessed as bandit-chief Cluny MacPherson).
All the others I could think of - you already listed!!

Just out of curiosity, because I really don't know for sure.

Were Braveheart (Mel Gibson) and Rob Roy (Liam Neesam) about Scots?

Anne

Anne,
Braveheart & Rob Roy deal with Scotland.

As my maternal Grandfather's Grandmother was a McCrea (whose farm mailbox proudly proclaimed "Scots Since 1847") and he married a Cochran, I claim whatever Scottish-Irish-Celtic-Gaelic links that are available to add some pizzazz to an otherwise drab WASP background -- plus I love Cape Breton Island and Scotch (hold the haggis).

Favorite Scottish movie: THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

Favorite movie made by a Scot: HOUSEKEEPING (Bill Forsyth)
Runner-Up: MORVERN CALLAR (Lynne Ramsay)

I cast my vote for the I Love Lucy version of Brigadoon, featuring Bonnie Annie Lucy, the dashing Ricky MacArdo, and the two-headed Mertz monster. "Fee Fi Fo Fuddy! I smell the blood of a MacGillicuddy!"

jdb1 wrote:I cast my vote for the I Love Lucy version of Brigadoon, featuring Bonnie Annie Lucy, the dashing Ricky MacArdo, and the two-headed Mertz monster. "Fee Fi Fo Fuddy! I smell the blood of a MacGillicuddy!"

I'm trying very hard to imagine Desi Arnaz wearing anything in a tartan, and I just can't do it . .

Was that really an episode from "I Love Lucy"?!

Judith, I think that . . joo got some splannin' to do!

How about Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson as Mary, Queen of Scots (1972)

Bill(vallo)

klondike wrote:

jdb1 wrote:I cast my vote for the I Love Lucy version of Brigadoon, featuring Bonnie Annie Lucy, the dashing Ricky MacArdo, and the two-headed Mertz monster. "Fee Fi Fo Fuddy! I smell the blood of a MacGillicuddy!"

I'm trying very hard to imagine Desi Arnaz wearing anything in a tartan, and I just can't do it . .

Was that really an episode from "I Love Lucy"?!

Judith, I think that . . joo got some splannin' to do!

What???!! You mean you've never seen the "Kildoonan" musical episode? Oh, no -- that's too bad -- it's one of the funniest. This was during the Scotland portion of the Ricardo/Mertz European tour. Turns out, it was all a dream of Lucy's. (And Desi had great legs.)

Moira, et al;

Am fresh back from our Burns Supper, all stuffed w/ haggis 'n stout 'n tatties & neeps 'n Drambuie, having gorged & toasted & recited to my heart's content, and have just remembered two other fine Scottish movies: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, and Mrs. Brown.
I can highly recommend both.
There now; aren't I a clever jack when I'm half-lit?!

As the laddies say in the Highlands, "Better half-lit, than a half-wit!"

(Just kidding! All in fun, please don't gather the clans against me!
My kith and kin, the McQueens and the MacMinns, are scattered
in the lowlands, and completely disarmed!)

Mrs. Brown is one of my favorites. But the best Scottish fun you can ever have, like Judith says, is with Lucy and Desi and the terrible two-headed Drrragggon! (Unless, of course, it is Robert Burns night at the inn.)

Noone's mentioned Whiskey Galore?