Kilts and Silent Movies.

http://www.arranbanner.co.uk/news/fu...an_search.html

Family tie to silent film sparks Arran search
Published: 03 August, 2007

In 1923 two of the world's most famous film stars - both British - arrived
on Arran to make a silent picture.

London-born Gladys Cooper and heart-throb of silent screen melodrama Ivor
Novello were the main stars of Bonnie Prince Charlie which was filmed in the
Whiting Bay area, with Cooper as Flora MacDonald.

Now Arran Banner subscriber Jane Collie, whose father and uncle were extras
in the movie, wants to find out more.

Jane, of Elderslie, Renfrewshire, has already delved into the archives at
the Heritage Museum at Rosaburn but is hoping other readers might have more
tangible mementos of the filming, such as old photographs.

At the museum Jane found a 1924 clipping in the Ardrossan and Saltcoats
Herald, West Coast and Arran Advertiser in which Cooper spoke of her
experience on Arran, taken from an interview with Royal Magazine.

In the newspaper clipping Dame Gladys revealed that she would never forget
the beauty of Arran nor being given the chance to play one of the most
romantic characters in Scottish history.

However, filming was not without its difficulties.

She recalled: '.one day we travelled twenty miles by car and then had to
walk another mile over great boulders to get just a few shots. That was all
in the day's work and nobody minded it a scrap.'

But she found being continually followed by fans hard to deal with. She
said: 'All I had to complain of was the solid mass of humanity that followed
us around every day with dogged persistence.

'Oh, those spectators! The entire island was thrilled to the bone over this
'fillum'.

'They would turn up in their hundreds, those sober-faced Scotch people, and
follow us for miles.

'I must confess I found it a little disconcerting to have six hundred eyes
focussed upon me as well as the camera, and I mentioned this to the
producer, who did all that was humanly possible to dodge the crowd .In the
end there was nothing to do but treat the sightseers as part of the scenery
and carry on.'

Apparently, Novello, Welsh-born David Ivor Davies, loved his kilt so much he
wore it even when not filming.

He ignored Cooper's warning that the locals would not like his appropriation
of their national dress, with the result that a large degree of hostility
followed him during filming.

But he didn't care about that and carried on regardless.

He also played the stirring music of Wagner's to help him to drum up his
emotions for the parts he was playing.

If you can help Jane with her research work you can contact her at

jane.collie(at)colprod(dot)com