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Sir Harry Lauder visits the Regent Picture House, Glasgow to view "Huntingtower"

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Description

The famous Scottish singer, Sir Harry Lauder visits the Regent Picture House, Glasgow, to view "Huntingtower" (the feature film adaptation of John Buchan's novel). Footage includes long queues outside cinema, and Sir Harry shaking hands with both cast and cinema personnel. This short, local topical film was made on the Friday morning by James Hart. By teatime the newsreel film had been developed and printed as was run as a prologue to the main feature. Audiences delighted in spotting themselves in amongst the crowd up on the big screen. William McGaw, manager of the Regent Cinema at the time the film was made, and featured in this film, won awards for showmanship during his career as a cinema manager, he was a great publicist.

Questions & Activities

Questions

  • Who was Sir Harry Lauder?
  • Who would be an equivalent star today?
  • What was the demograph of his audience?
  • What do you think the film 'Huntingtower' was about?
  • Why were the boys dressed up as they were?
  • Why do you see so many shots of people queuing and what is significant about this?

Activities

Geography / History: Cinemas were once the dominant form of enterntainment in our industrial cities. Research the history of cinemas (or Kinemas as they were originally called) in Glasgow. Find which old cinemas still exist as cinemas or in another form and which cinemas have been demolished. Display this on a map.

Media Studies: Research the progression of entertainment and early film stars like Harry Lauder from theatre and music hall through to silent cinema. Then look at how many survived into the era of the 'talkies'.

Media Studies: Compare this film with Vera Reynolds visits the Regent Picture house. Note the difference in camera angles and shots. How is this film different and what is significant about this? Who is/are the main star(s) of this film?

Drama / English / Computing Studies: Write or storyboard a simple scenario e.g. a man trying to persuade another man to give up his seat at a performance and film it (or act it out) in the style of a silent film.

Music: Research the themes and styles of popular songs between the wars. Compare these with the musical and lyrical structure of modern pop songs.

English / Media Studies: Hitchcock's adaptation of John Buchan's novel 'The Thirty Nine Steps' is often regarded as the defining movie thriller that all others have striven to emulate. Research the work of John Buchan through novels and film adaptations and then discuss the elements of story, mystery, suspense and tension his stories employ.

Maths / Problem Solving / Design: Design your own cinema to fit in a city centre location, with eight screens and a total capacity of 1000 people. You must also take account of fire regulations, disabled access, comfort facilities and kiosks.

Enterprise: Set up and run your own school cinema to show the films you produce. You need to consider publicity, advertising, technical equipment, seating, health and safety, confectionary/popcorn sales, etc.

Clip Details

Record Id 007-000-000-373-C
Resource Rights Holder National Library of Scotland
Project Ref 7936
Date 1928
Genre Local Topical, Documentary
School Subject Drama, English, Mathematics, Media Studies, Music, History, Geography
Subject Matter Enterprise
Who James Hart (filmmaker), Regent Picture House, Glasgow (sponsor)
Where Glasgow
Event Film Premiere
Attributes Black and White, Silent
Clip Length 2:21
Film Length 02:21
References http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/STA/lauder/index.html http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/glasgow/ http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/glasgow/demolished.php