Five Great Films About Scotland

I Know Where I'm Going, Whisky Galore, Culloden, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Macbeth

Apr 15, 2009

A brief celebration of some of the best films made in Scotland; I Know Where I'm Going, Whisky Galore, Culloden, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Macbeth.

For a small country, Scotland has been lucky enough to have had some great films made there. Here are five of the best, with a brief description of why they all say more about Scotland than a certain film about William Wallace.

I Know Where I’m Going!

Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) knows exactly what she wants from life; a rich man who owns his own island. As luck would have it she has already found one and is about to embark on a journey to the Hebridean isle of Killoran. (It’s made up, but filming was done on the Isle of Mull). Joan finds Scotland affecting. Her earlier dreams seem foolish in comparison, especially when she meets Torquil (Roger Livesey), a charismatic stranger who accompanies her along the way.

1943, and the war has accidentally brought about prohibition on the island of Todday. Luckily a boat carrying whisky runs aground giving the islanders an opportunity to indulge in a spot of smuggling. What had seemed a dull, lifeless existence now teems with music and laughter. The pompous Captain Wagget tries to spoil the fun by pointing out the Islanders are a bunch of thieves, but he is no match for the wiliness of the whisky-drinkers.

A brutal antidote to Mel Gibson’s heavily romanticized Braveheart, Watkins docudrama shows the infamous battle at Culloden from the perspectives of everybody involved. Bonnie Prince Charlie is cold, aloof and refuses to listen to advice from his generals. Scots are shown fighting for the Crown, believing it to be in the best interests of Scotland. The massacre that follows is politically motivated and intended to put down any future attempts of another Jacobite uprising; to make it clear the days of battlefield heroics were emphatically over.

Holmes and Watson take the sleeper train to Inverness to solve a case involving a beautiful amnesiac, a sextuplet of missing circus midgets, and the Loch Ness Monster. Sinister locals warn them to stay away from the Loch. Such encounters are unlikely to happen to anybody visiting these days. Loch Ness is Scotland's answer to Disneyland; though unlike Uncle Walt, our monster never existed. Just kidding, Walt Disney's Estate. Robert Stephens is perfect as Holmes; louche, world-weary and funny, he is wise enough to know love is best avoided whenever possible.

Orson Welles 1948 version is the more imaginative, though Polanski's brutal approach suits Shakespeare's play. Financed by Playboy Magazine, Polanski is lucky he was not forced to cast a Playmate as Lady Macbeth, though it does explain why Francesca Annis spends half the film naked. Still, Annis can be thankful she wasn't forced to wear bunny ears and a bob-tail.

The copyright of the article Five Great Films About Scotland in British Films is owned by Kevin Sturton. Permission to republish Five Great Films About Scotland in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.