On 3 May 2021, filming for the first series of detective drama Karen Pirie (ITV, 2022, UK) took place at the St Andrews Cathedral grounds. This marked the first day of filming in St Andrews, which continued each weekday, and occasionally into the night, until 11 May (The Courier, 6 May 2021). 

Based on Fife author Val McDermid’s best-selling novel, The Distant Echo (2003), the three-part series follows the reopening of the unsolved murder case of Rosie Duff (Anna Russell-Martin), a 19-year-old barmaid found stabbed and strangled at the Cathedral ruins. Twenty-five years after the crime, Detective Karen Pirie is assigned to reinvestigate after a true-crime podcast sparks renewed public interest in the case (The Arts Desk, 10 October 2022).  

The small-town, coastal charm of St Andrews provides a distinct backdrop for the murder-mystery, a historic and idyllic setting shadowed by the weight of an unresolved crime. As executive producer Simon Heath claims, this made it vital for the production to dedicate a “significant chunk of time” to filming key exterior scenes across the town, capturing the eerie and unsettling atmosphere of its source material. Zach Wyatt, who portrays DS Phil Parhatka, states that filming amidst St Andrews’ “old history, castles and wide coastline really helped to […] give the show its slightly darker, modern detective flavour” (Karen Pirie Press Pack). 

To accommodate filming in St Andrews, temporary road restrictions and closures were implemented by Fife Council and managed by Crexcell Ltd. This included the suspension of the one-way system (Order 2013) on The Pends, and a ‘No Waiting / No Loading’ restriction on The Scores during weekdays, with filming presumed to have been paused on the weekend. The schedule of road closures provides insight into the production’s filming schedule. It suggests, for example, that filming took place on The Scores, between junctures for Golf Place and Murray Park in the afternoon to midnight on 3 May (Temporary Traffic Restrictions — Various Roads, St Andrews, April 2021). Between 5 and 7 May, filming took place between The Pends and Shorehead in the late evening to the early hours of the morning. This likely included filming at key locations, such as the harbour and the St Andrews Cathedral grounds. A selection of filming locations can be explored in the following: Interactive Map.

Chris Jenks, who portrays DC Jason Murray, fondly recalls filming in St Andrews, describing the town as “a really beautiful place.” Despite the dark and gritty nature of the murder-mystery, he remarks that “the whole series is a great advert for Scotland” (Karen Pirie Press Pack). Fife Councillor Jane Ann Liston shared a similar sentiment towards the show, telling The Courier, “it’s great to have a major TV production set in the town, as it will showcase how beautiful St Andrews looks” (The Courier, 6 May 2021).

A production team from World Productions, supported by TayScreen, brought experience from acclaimed dramas including Line of Duty (2012–2021) and The Bodyguard (2018) to St Andrews. The show received £364,000 of funding from Screen Scotland’s Broadcast Content Fund to support filming across Scotland, which created job opportunities and vital training for local cast and crew (Tayscreen, Scotland, 1 November 2022), while extras were recruited from St Andrews and nearby communities by Uni-versal Extras (Uni-versal Extras, “Karen Pirie”).

Emer Kenny, who served as an executive producer, writer, and actress on Karen Pirie, credited the input of a predominantly Scottish cast and crew with contributing to the show’s “authentic” feel (Assignment X, 24 November 2022).  Similarly, whilst reminiscing on her experience of filming in St Andrews, lead actress Lauren Lyle highlighted the involvement of local Fife residents.  Most notably, Lyle recalls a young female detective from Methil, the fictional hometown of Detective Pirie, who served as a police escort while filming took place at the Cathedral. The Methil detective became a great source of inspiration for Lyle, who described their interactions as though “looking into a mirror for Karen” (“Karen Pirie Press Pack”).

Heath recalls that “the town was really welcoming” to the cast and crew (TayScreen Scotland). The cast were accommodated by the five-star Fairmont Hotel, just three miles from the Cathedral, which doubled-up as a filming location. While the production’s stay was relatively short-lived, it was not without its challenges, as Heath explained: 

“Covid was still a major issue for us – we had a couple of delays to the shoot and we had to recast one of the smaller roles before we started filming.” (“Karen Pirie Press Pack”).

In May 2021, the advised health and safety protocol for film production across Scotland fell under the guidelines provided by the British Film Commission. According to Heath, time pressures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic caused adjustments in the production timeline. For instance, while the original novel is set in winter, the adaptation shifted the setting to spring to align with the revised filming schedule (TayScreen Scotland).

Despite this, filming in St Andrews proceeded with minimal issues, benefitting from the emptiness of the town following a year of intermittent lockdowns. Lyle reflects on its eerily quiet atmosphere, noting that the town felt almost deserted. The Fairmont Hotel, for instance, remained largely empty aside from “a couple of golf tourists” in residence (The Sunday Post, 20 September 2022). 

Without the usual bustle of students, tourists and locals, the mid-pandemic stillness of St Andrews offered a distinctive backdrop for filming that perfectly captured the haunting atmosphere of McDermid’s novel. The town, caught in an unsettling moment of tranquility, allowed for a finished product which authentically portrays the sense of unrest at the heart of The Distant Echo. 

Jessica Johnson (2024) 

Works Cited:

Abbie Bernstein, “KAREN PIRIE: Series creator and actor Emer Kenny on new Britbox murder mystery – Exclusive Interview,” Assignment X, 24 November 2022.

Joanna Bremner, “My St Andrews: Fife author Val McDermid on her favourite things about the university town,” The Courier, 27 May 2024. 

British Film Commission, “Working Safely During COVID-19 in Film and High-end TV Drama Production,” 5 April 2023. 

Stephen Gallacher, “TV: Guilty – I stole the soap! Confessions of Karen Pirie crimefighter Lauren Lyle,” The Sunday Post, 20 September 2022.

Made in Scotland, “Karen Pirie,” Screen Scotland (Accessed November 19, 2024).

Neil Henderson. “Filming for a major new TV crime drama has started in St Andrews this week.” The Courier, 6 May 2021. 

Road Closures, “Temporary Traffic Restrictions — Various Roads, St Andrews,” April 2021.

Adam Sweeting, “Karen Pirie, ITV review – Cold Case Mystery drags itself across the Finish Line,” The Arts Desk, 10 October 2022.

TayScreen Scotland, “Major New ITV Crime Drama, Karen Pirie Has Received Huge Acclaim,” TayScreen Scotland, 1 November 2022.

Uni-versal Extras, “Karen Pirie.” (Accessed November 19, 2024).

Word Productions, “Karen Pirie Press Pack,” Itv.com, September 19, 2022.  

This was evidently a question that local residents were also asking. The only St Andrews cinema in 1912, La Scala, felt compelled to “apologize in advance” to its patrons in the week after the shipwreck as it did not have any films of the disaster or the ship [St Andrews Citizen, 12 October 1912, 1]. This public notice highlights both the demand for such films and the local interest in the event. Put into context, this interest in shipwrecks is unsurprising: the Titanic sank in April of that year, generating a heady mix of public concern and morbid fascination. In St Andrews, La Scala kept locals up to date by screening the only existing footage of the Titanic (captured by Gaumont) barely two weeks after its sinking [St Andrews Citizen, 27 April 1912, 1; 4 May 1912, 4]. It continued this story by later showing more Gaumont Titanic-related footage, which now included scenes of survivors in New York and the Carpathia [St Andrews Citizen, 11 May 1912, 1]. These films were also screened at the Cupar Market in August [St Andrews Citizen, 10 August 1912, 3.]. The story continued to capture the public imagination and more than a year after the disaster, Perils of the Atlantic, a Gaumont fiction film inspired by the catastrophe, reached St Andrews and was screened in La Scala [St Andrews Citizen, May 17, 1913, 1; 24 May 1913, 4]. 

While La Scala initially claimed that there were no films of the Princess Wilhelmina, an article in the St Andrews Citizen at the end of October 1912 confirmed the “cinematographing of the recent wreck” [St Andrews Citizen, 26 October 1912, 4]. A film company went to West Sands to reenact the sinking and while the company remains unknown, they were presumably local as they were able to wait until there was for suitably stormy weather for filming to enable a more realistic recreation. 

On Tuesday 22 October filming began. The actors, seven men in total, were brought out by a lifeboat on the actual wreck using a line: “It must have required considerable courage on the part of the men to leap from the ship into the stormy water and practically entrust their lives to what appeared a frail line […] The experience was worse than when the actual wreck took place, as on that occasion the men were taken direct off the ship into the boat” [St Andrews Citizen, 26 October 1912, 4]. According to a St Andrews resident whose father played a member of the Princess Wilhelmina crew in the film, the actors were paid £5 for their performance [St Andrews in Focus, May-June 2005, 22-23].

The Princess Wilhelmina film shot in St Andrews was released three months later, playing in La Scala for a week in January 1913. The screenings supposedly “attracted large audiences,” although as this account in the newspaper was likely part of the cinema’s promotional materials, it may not be entirely accurate [St Andrews Citizen, 25 January 1913, p.4]. There is no evidence of the film playing elsewhere.

While its appearance in town was short-lived, and it is now presumed lost like so many shipwrecks of the period, the film has left a larger mark on the town as it predates the earliest surviving films of St Andrews. What’s more, unlike the surviving 1916 St Andrews films, the Princess Wilhelmina film is not documentary footage but a carefully staged reconstruction of an event, purely intended for dramatic purposes.

The relationship between shipwrecks and the St Andrews cinema does not end there. Following the disaster of October 1912, and the awful year that 1912 was for ships and boats both in Scotland and around the world, the cinema started fundraising for Lifeboat Crew of St Andrews and the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society [St Andrews Citizen, 9 November 1912, 1]. In the days and weeks following the wreck of Princess Wilhelmina, charity screenings at La Scala were organised to support the Lifeboat crew [St Andrews Citizen, 5 October 1912, 1; 12 October 1912, 1]. Other towns in Fife followed: the Kirkcaldy Theater hosted a spectacle called “The Loss of the Titanic” to fundraise for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution [Fife Free Press, 28 June 1913, 1]. These charity screenings reveal a tension in the workings and aims of the cinema, as it became an ever more popular, established – and regulated – venue. By showing shipwreck films, such as those depicting or inspired by the Titanic or Princess Wilhelmina, the cinema capitalized on real-life tragedies to attract crowds and generate profit. However, by hosting fundraising events, the cinema moved beyond profit-driven motives. It began to position itself as a “morally good” force in town, presenting itself not merely as a business, but as a venue that could contribute to local causes and support the well-being of St Andreans in the wake of tragedy.

Manon Caillard (2024)

Works cited: 

Dr. John H Wilson, “Princess Wilhelmina,” Wilson’s Lantern Slides Collection, Special Collections – Photographic Collections, University of St Andrews Library, October 1 1912.  

“Watched by Thousands,” Dundee Evening Telegraph, 1 October 1912, 1.

“King’s Theatre, Kirkcaldy,” Fife Free Press, June 28, 1913, 1.

“Cinematograph Picture Theatre,” St Andrews Citizen, 27 April 1912, 1. 

“Picture Theatre”, St Andrews Citizen, 4 May 1912, 4; 11 May  1912, 1; 5 October, 1; 12 October 1912, 1; 9 November 1912, 1; 25 January 1913, 4; 17 May  1913, 1; 24 May 1913, 4. 

“Within the fluthers,” St Andrews Citizen, 10 August 1912, 3.

“Cinematographing the recent wreck,” St Andrews Citizen, 26 October 1912, 4.

Leslie-Anne Lettice, “Ask the Curator,” St Andrews in Focus, May-June 2005, 22-23,https://issuu.com/mikecollins9119/docs/issue10mayjun2005

The photograph known as St. Andrews, North Street, Fishergate, Women and Children Baiting the Line depicts a group of fisherfolk, predominantly women and children, baiting fishing lines. Found today in the National Galleries Scotland, it was taken by the hugely influential photographers, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, and is estimated to date from 1845. 

Yet, this image would be revisited and reworked throughout the ages and across media. The earliest surviving moving images of St Andrews – dating back to 1916 ­– also depict fisherfolk and show a remarkably similar image, taken from almost exactly the same spot on North Street, of women working baiting lines. By 1916, the image represented a world, and culture, that was now disappearing, but it would be preserved through this film, and the photograph that preceded it. Indeed in 1963, the footage was shown again at the Cinema House to mark its fiftieth anniversary and even today, the images of the Fisherfolk remain enduring images of St Andrews’ past and, a significant marker of the town’s rich photographic heritage. 

Hill and Adamson’s reputation was already established by the time of this photo in 1845. Indeed in 1844 the King of Saxony had his portrait taken at their studio – established a year earlier – while visiting Edinburgh (Caledonian Mercury, 5 August 1844). Their work was informed by the photographic process they adopted, the Calotype. This was an early process developed by William Henry Fox Talbot, which consisted of coating paper in silver iodide. The name derives from the Greek – Kalos and Tupos meaning beautiful and impression – and Hill certainly saw this in the Calotype process: “The rough and unequal texture throughout the paper is the main cause of the calotype failing in details … and this is the very life of it. They look like the imperfect work of man … and not the much diminished perfect work of God” (The National Galleries Scotland. “Hill and Adamson”). We can see photography as an art form starting to develop here.  

When revisiting this 1845 photograph, it is important to remember the careful planning and staging involved. The technical limitations of the time – a long exposure meant that subjects needed to remain still for up to a minute – ensured that Hill and Adamson had to carefully choreograph their image. Many of the decisions made here would appear to be aesthetic choices, for example adding depth by showing the woman holding the child, walking across the street. However, the Fishergate Calotypes can be found in the Series of Calotype Views of St Andrews which Hill and Adamson published in 1846, alongside “straightforward architectural and topographical calotypes of St. Andrews,” which were primarily presented as historical documents (Smith, 1981, 34). 

Graham Smith notes a tension here, as the Fishergate photographs’ foreground people not buildings. He concludes that “it is evident that the calotypes are elaborately composed tableaux rather than casual or journalistic records of the daily activities of the St. Andrews fisher folk” (Smith, 1981, 34). There may also have been a social or political motivation here as well, drawing attention to the squalid conditions of the fisher people. For audiences today, the photographs undoubtedly offer both artistic and historical value.  

The photograph assumes additional significance given Hill and Adamson’s prominent place in the early history of photography. John Adamson, Robert’s older brother, had teamed-up with David Brewster, a physicist and lecturer at the University of St Andrews and in 1841, they had developed the first Calotype portrait in Scotland (made possible as Talbot never patented his process in Scotland). John then taught this technique to his brother. It was around this time that David Brewster introduced Hill, who was struggling with a commissioned painting, to Robert Adamson. Their partnership would significantly advance photography and the visual arts, both globally but also in St Andrews, where their legacy could be felt across the many photography shops that appeared over the next half century. 

Cameron Mumford (2020)

Works Cited: 

“The King of Saxony,” Caledonian Mercury, 5 August 1844. 

Daniel, Malcom, “David Octavius Hill (1802-1870) and Robert Adamson (1821-1848),” The Met Museum, October 2004. 

“Hill and Adamson,” The National Galleries Scotland. 

 “Robert Adamson & David Octavius Hill, St Andrews, North Street, Fishergate, Women and Children Baiting the Line,” The National Galleries Scotland.  

Smith, Graham, “Hill & Adamson at St. Andrews: The Fishergate Calotypes,” The Print Collector’s Newsletter Vol. 12, No. 2 (May-June 1981), 33-37.  

Imagined and real spaces. The Old Course on screen.

The tourist industry in St Andrews has changed significantly in the 21^st century, now defined as much by Prince William’s four years at the University, as it is by the more traditional markers (Golf and the University). As the birthplace of Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s love story, faded cut-outs of the couple’s faces sit in souvenir shop windows, prospective students learn which halls the couple resided in, while a coffee shop pokes fun at this popular fascination with a sign that reads “Where Kate dumped Wills.” Given such international interest in the Royal family, it is little surprise that St Andrews should also be the setting for a made-for-television film about the couple.

However, what is striking here is that while much of William and Kate (2011) is set in St Andrews, filming did not take place in the town. So while East Sands turned in to the Kent beaches in Chariots of Fire, and the Cathedral grounds provided the unidentified setting for the final action scene in the Bollywood film Aarzoo, the creators of William and Kate chose not to film in St Andrews, instead casting other locations to ‘fill in’ for the town.

Days after their engagement was announced on 16 November 2010, the rapid production of William and Kate began. Lifetime, an American television channel, collaborated with director Mark Rosman and screenwriter Nancey Silvers to tell the couple’s budding love story. Barely five months later, and a week before the Royal wedding, the film aired in the UK and internationally. While prospective international tourists – and indeed university students – witnessed a fairytale setting, one defined by a heritage most recently popularized in British exports such as Harry Potter, for local residents the depiction of St Andrews was more striking.

The film opens with two shots of the beautiful coastal town, followed by an aerial shot of medieval university buildings. The majestic landscapes paired with the architecture convinces the audience that this is the University of St Andrews, yet it is obvious to the insider that the Great Quadrangle at the University of Oxford assumes the role of the Scottish University (and, if in any doubt, the classic red double-decker bus is a further clue!).

We next see William being taken to university by his father Prince Charles, played by Chariots of Fire’s Ben Cross. The two walk down a corridor with a view of the majestic Hamilton Grand, another shot that may shock locals. Nothing looks out of the ordinary for those unfamiliar with St Andrews, yet the perfectly placed building through which father and son walk is clearly digitally imposed. It is safe to assume that a film studio would not get planning permission to build on the Old Course and so while Ben Cross and the Hamilton Grand (which was renamed the Carlton Hotel in Chariots) may be reunited on screen, the two remain in an LA studio.

During production, director Rosman spoke of sending his cast and crew overseas with the Daily Mail stating, ‘To sell the fact that we’re in the world of the Royals, we need lavish sets, exotic locales, plus England and Scotland. We have a small budget and we’re in Los Angeles. Money is tight.’ Rosman is evidently interested in bringing the isolated town to a broader audience, even with a small production window and limited budget, and so uses digital compositor Chase Bickel to reimagine St Andrews for the screen. In turn, set decorator Penelope Stames helped turned UCLA’s campus and the interior of LA’s Park Plaza Hotel into different St Andrews locations. When interviewed by Hello Magazine, she stated, ‘It’s Scotland. It [the film’s story] is supposed to be in St Andrews, or some hotel, or somewhere – what do I know? I’m an American.’ Convenience seemed to be more important than accuracy, therefore causing St Andrews to look more like an Ivy League than the historical British university.

Producer Frank Konigsber felt William and Kate was able to make the love story and town ‘more accessible to millions.’ While the Americanized film may have upset locals, the inaccuracy of the digitally rebuilt town could also be seen as a “blessing in disguise,” according to Camilla Luddington, who played the princess-to-be. This recreated fantasy world helped to present St Andrews and its University to international tourists and what’s more, the rebuilt town would create an even greater appreciation for those who identify with the non-digitized beauty of St Andrews.

Emalani Artiss (May 2016)

Works cited

http://www.accesshollywood.com/articles/lifetimes-william-kate-actors-say-real-royal-couple-apparently-loved-their-made-for-tv-movie-100437/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1359114/Prince-William-Kate-Middleton-actors-seen-time-royal-couple.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1365634/Wigs-budget-I-just-play-William-little-hair.html

http://www.scotsman.com/news/will-and-kate-the-movie-sickeningly-sweet-and-st-andrews-is-all-built-in-red-brick-1-1596026

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/04/13/william-kate-lifetime-movie-8-crazy-scenes.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8472038/William-and-Kate-the-Movie-review.html

While best known, in cinematic terms, for his scores for Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue (Harold French, 1953) and The Green Man (Robert Day, 1956, which received a BAFTA nomination), Thorpe Davie composed a total of seventeen scores between 1946 and 1960.  Many of his early film works were collaborations with Scottish director David MacDonald, as the pair worked on four productions together during the late 1940s and early 1950s. These included Snowbound (1948), their second collaboration, based on a novel by Hammond Innes and starring David Price, Stanley Holloway and Herbert Lom.

Thorpe Davie began composing the score for Snowbound in 1947, the same year that he founded the University’s Department of Music. Set in a rustic cabin hidden away in the Alps, Snowbound follows Neil Blair (Price) as he assumes the role of a screenwriter with writer’s block who spies on his fellow guests, who appear to have deadly information on treasure buried during the second World War. This tale of international espionage was produced by the London-based Gainsborough Studios, which was famed for its melodramas and early support of Alfred Hitchcock.  Significantly, all of the materials were sent to Thorpe Davie’s home address at 5 North Street in the heart of St Andrews, suggesting that his work on this international studio feature was done locally and during post-production.

Although the film does not register in the canon of classic cinema, it did help launch the careers of some of its actors.  For Dennis Price, Snowbound came just a year before the celebrated British comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949).  He would eventually go on to make Victim (Basil Dearden, 1961) with Dirk Bogarde.

This project also marks a very interesting time in Thorpe Davie’s career as an academic and composer with broadening horizons.  It came at a moment when he was revolutionising the University’s approach to the study of music, setting up a department and running events in St Andrews while simultaneously contributing to cinematic productions that would reach an international audience.

Emma Mason

Works Cited

A Descriptive List of the Cedric Thorpe Davie Collection. St Andrews University Library. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. <http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/media/special-collections/documents/Cedric_Thorpe_Davie_list_Correspondence.pdf>.

“Snowbound.” IMDb. IMDb.com, Web. 15 Apr. 2014. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040808/?ref_=nm_flmg_com_15>.

More than 20 years after the filming of Chariots of Fire (1981, UK, Hudson), St Andrews was once again the location for a feature film set in the 1920s which celebrated traditional values, triumph over adversity and sporting endeavour. In this case, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius tells the story of American golfer Robert Tyre Jones Jr, who remains a hugely significant figure within St Andrews’ history. Having won both the British Open in 1927 and the British Amateur Championship in 1930 on the Old Course, Bobby Jones would later receive the Freedom of the City in 1958. The film was intended to consolidate Jones’ legacy – both within the town and internationally – and indeed was partly imagined as a fundraiser for a number of charities. Today, the University offers scholarship programmes in his name.

The stars of the film – which include Jim Caviezel, Claire Forlani and Malcolm McDowell – worked alongside many local actors who were recruited as extras in two casting sessions held at the Macdonald Rusacks Hotel. Speaking of his experiences as an extra in the film, Alan Woolley told The Citizen that it was “tremendous and a lot of fun” appearing as “background golfers on local courses” (The Citizen, 10 September 2003).  With more than a thousand extras recruited by the Perthshire-based company Casting Call, the Bobby Jones film used North East Fife to represent a number of locations across the UK. The crowds of 1920s golf spectators largely comprised local extras.

The film enjoyed a ‘gala’ premiere on 9 June 2004 at the New Picture House in St Andrews, which was followed by a fundraising event in the University’s Younger Hall. For St Andrews, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius further cemented the long-lasting relationship between Bobby Jones and the Scottish town, while once more showcasing, for international audiences, the iconic scenery on the big screen.

Debbie Lawrie

Works cited:

‘Ace Film Role for Alan’, The Citizen, Fife Today, 10 September 2003

“Bobby Jones Wins British Open”, The Des Moines Register, Iowa, 16 July 1927

‘Casting Call Gives Citizens Their 15 Minutes of Fame’, The Citizen, Fife Today, 28 August 2003

‘St Andrews Audience Say ‘Bobby Jones’ Film is Ace’, The Citizen, Fife Today, 11 June 2004

www.bobbyjonesthemovie.com

With additional thanks to: Julie Craik (Tayscreen) and David Morris (New Picture House)

First, Puttnam discussed how they came to shoot the film in St Andrews.

Puttnam on finding St Andrews

He further discussed the two days spent filming on the beach.

Filming on West Sands

The shoot took place against the jarring backdrop of international news events.

The Iran hostage crisis

Puttnam also recalled changes that were made to the film’s structure after filming in St Andrews and, in particular, the late addition of Vangelis’ music.

Vangelis and the Moscow Olympics

Puttnam recalled watching the film with Sean Connery, who was quick to point out the presence of St Andrews on screen.

‘That’s not the Carlton Hotel’

Finally, he discussed the film’s longevity and its re-release to coincide with the 2012 Olympics.

Re-release for London 2012

For more on the film’s shoot in St Andrews, visit here.

—Tom Rice & Joshua Yumibe

Film Courtesy of Scottish Screen Archive.

Frances Hedges Montgomery was elected Burgh Councillor of St Andrews in 1930. In the two years prior to her election, she made twelve short films (with help from her companion and family’s live in Nanny). Six of these followed her family experiences in and around St Andrews. The remaining films were shot in other areas of Scotland with a similar domestic focus. The films are currently held at the Scottish Screen Archive in Glasgow although a selection of them are available for viewing on-line and in the St Andrews University library.

The Montgomery films represent one the most comprehensive filmic records of St Andrews for that period. Although the collection has an explicit family focus, and one might think of them as only suitable for learning about the concerns of a particular family, these films also serve to either affirm or question our ideas of the interwar, gentrified class.

The largest part of the Montgomery collection concerns family outings, focusing on the activities of the children. The picturesque framing and composition of each shot is suggestive of an earlier sense of aesthetics. Indeed, in one of the holiday films the children are filmed being photographed by their Nanny, suggesting the overlap between the older art of photography and the newly introduced practise of film (Montgomery Family Outings, 1930).

In a later film (Town Council Election, 1930) the children are filmed blowing bubbles from soap. The film recalls Millais’ painting “Bubbles” and expresses an almost Victorian attitude towards children. Similarly, we are given an impression of 1930’s childcare from the constant presence of a live in Nanny, both in front of and behind the camera.

Alternatively, as these films were made to record Mrs Montgomery’s inauguration to a place on local government (Town Council Election, 1930), they also serve as a record of the changing attitude to women’s rights. Indeed, signs held up amidst the crowd of voters proclaim ‘Women’s Rights, vote for Mrs Montgomery’. This is perhaps not so surprising in the context of St Andrews given that the University was one of the first to accept women as undergraduates with Agnes Forbes Blackadder graduating in 1895. Councillor Montgomery’s film therefore links St Andrews with a deserved reputation for forward thinking and equality. Although she was certainly not the first female councillor, her election is still entwined with the ongoing fight for equality heralded by such local women as Dundee’s Agnes Husband.

In all, the Montgomery collection assists us in understanding a specific moment in the history of St Andrews. The roles played by women and children in the interwar period are presented in these films, evident in both what is filmed and how. To that end, these personal films provide both an interesting snapshot of a local life and an image of broader social, cultural and historical changes  that resonate with national and international audiences.

Conor McKeown

Rogue was founded in 2000 by student Jon Livesey. Early members of the society included Richard Poet and Frances Stirk (who subsequently married). Noted early productions included ‘Tequila’ and ‘Therapist’ – the protagonist of which was both a rapist, as well as the victims’ therapist (hence the word play on ‘Therapist’).

The films produced in these first couple of years were screened during the summer of 2002 at a Festival not dissimilar to the present day Half Cut.

2002-3 saw a hiatus in production, but the Rogue members helped instead on setting up a film festival called iMovie (subsequently renamed Campus Film Fest), which was modelled on a concept imported by David Roemer, a Bobby Jones Scholar from Emory University. The premise of the festival was that teams of 10 people had a week to make a short film, with a maximum running time of 5 minutes. The festival continued until 2006. This event can be regarded as a precursor of the present ’60 Hour Film Blitz’.

2005 saw the inaugural edition of the Half Cut Film Festival, which is now part of the On the Rocks Arts Festival (and is currently known as Half Cut SFF). As Scotland’s only student run short film festival, Half Cut has become an invaluable showcase for student filmmakers around Scotland.

In 2007-8 Naysun Alae Carrew became President of Rogue, producing a series of clay animations (Trouble in Paradise I-IV) and other shorts to great critical acclaim from the Half Cut judges.

In 2010 Rogue became one of the six sub-committees of the Student’s Association. Despite this increased presence within the University, there has been a marked decrease in the number of films produced by Rogue in the past two years. Possible explanations for this include the ‘democratization’ of film production (more students own good quality equipment), a lack of continued investment in cameras and post-production facilities by the Student’s Association, and the ease of distribution through online platforms and social media.

Consequently the society has shifted its focus from funding and providing technical support for ultra low-budget, local student film productions, to supporting higher budget, semi-professional documentaries or St Andrews student film projects, which are being carried out elsewhere. Recent examples include ‘Daughters of Dolma’ and ‘Chinese Whisper’. We could refer to the current stage as the ‘globalisation’ of Rogue.

Starting from the academic year 2012-13, the society will be rebranded into Ré Productions for copyright reasons.

Notable Rogue Alumni:

 The most notable Rogue member to date, Naysun Alae-Carew, won a BAFTA Best New Talent Award in 2011 for his short film ‘Zombie Musical’.

Other alumni who had a defining role on the early years of the society include:

• Jon Livesey  – Rogue Productions founder and President 2000-3. Has worked as a cinematographer on various grade A film projects and TV shows
• Ben Hecking – Rogue member 2002-6; Cinematographer, currently based in London.
• Richard Poet – Rogue member 2000-2; Visual effects editor, based in Glasgow. Worked on such projects as The Dark Knight. He also won a BAFTA for his direction of a music video.

Ioanid Nagy-Vizitiu

Jan Read with his mentor Fritz Lang.

One of the most significant film industry figures to hail from St Andrews is the scriptwriter Jan Read, who was born in St Andrews in 1917.

During his adolescence Read became passionately interested in photography and made regular trips to the cinema, falling in love with Katharine Hepburn and Greta Garbo and developing a taste for musicals with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. As he grew older his viewing habits matured and he was soon engrossed in foreign language films by the likes of René Clair and Marcel Pagnol. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) made a particularly strong impression on him when it screened at The Cinema House.

Jan soon began to harbour dreams of working for the cinema, but it was not easy for someone from a place like St Andrews to break into the world of film. Indeed in his autobiography, Young Man in Movieland (Scarecrow Press, 2004), Read is astonished at ‘how wide the gulf was between life in the quiet Scots town where I was brought up and the career I had cut out for myself…Life in that northern outpost was in fact nearer to Jane Austen than it was to today.’ (p.2) Moreover, his father, a Professor of Chemistry at the University, thought movies frivolous and would certainly not have approved of such a career. So Jan enrolled in university to study chemistry, first in Cambridge and then, when the city proved not to his liking, St Andrews.

During this time he had his first practical encounter with film when he was engaged to shoot a 45minute, 16mm film on St Leonards School (the film now resides in the Scottish Screen Archive). While studying for his degree he also ran the University Film Society, which held regular screenings in one of the town’s cinemas.

By the time he graduated, Read had finally revealed his ambitions to his father, qualifying them by saying that he wanted to make documentaries, which he felt his father would find more respectable. His father introduced him to the documentary filmmaker Paul Rotha who landed Read his first professional job as an assistant on a documentary shot in Truro.

After spending the early 1940s working as a chemist to support the war effort Read applied for a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship to study the ‘semi-documentaries’ then being produced in the U.S. To his surprise he was accepted and soon found himself in New York, working (un-credited) for producer Louis de Rochemont on Elia Kazan’s Boomerang! (1947). He then made his way West to Hollywood where he began mixing with the stars he had once watched on the silver screen in St Andrews. He also met and became friends with Fritz Lang, whose Metropolis had so impressed him at The Cinema House, and was later to describe the German émigré filmmaker as his ‘mentor’.

Read returned to the UK when his fellowship ran out in 1947. At this time a Hollywood embargo imposed in response to an import tax levied by the British Government on American films meant that British production was being increased to meet the demands of cinema exhibitors. This gave Read the opportunity to step up the career ladder, obtaining his first scriptwriting job for Gainsborough Pictures. Perhaps the most significant project he worked on was The Blue Lamp, for which he wrote the original treatment. Gainsborough turned down his idea and Read sold the project to Ealing; the film was directed by Basil Dearden and released in 1950, going on to become one of the acknowledged classics of British cinema.

When production was scaled back in the early 1950s, Read left Gainsborough to pursue a career as a freelance scriptwriter. Over the next two decades he penned dozens of films and television series.

One of the best known of these is Jason and the Argonauts (1963). As part of his background research, Jan drew heavily on A Handbook of Greek Mythology, a book written by one of his father’s friends, a professor at St Andrews University. Memories of St Andrews influenced a number of other unlikely projects as well. The television series Dr. Finlay’s Casebook (1962-1965) was based on a novel by A.J. Cronin about a country doctor in the Scottish Highlands, Memoirs of a Black Bag. In scripting the many episodes, Read drew on some of the eccentric university professors he had met through his father – not to mention his recollections of having his tonsils removed by a doctor from Dundee on the drawing room table!

In the early-Seventies Read retired from writing for the cinema to pursue a successful career writing about his other passions – wine, travel and food. In 2004 he published his autobiography, Young Man in Movieland (Scarecrow Press), which recounts his journey through the world of cinema.

Alex Marlow-Mann