New articles published
Over the last few months, a number of students have been investigating further parts of our local cinema history as part of the Department of Film Studies’ module, ‘Film and the Archive’. You can read some of the latest findings online. Thee include the unlikely story of two students producing elaborate film magazines during the war, a film star visiting St Andrews to promote her latest ‘Scottish’ production in 1946, the arrival of CinemaScope in the local cinemas in the 1950s and the recent recreation of St Andrews in a LA studio for William and Kate: The...
Read MoreWilliam and Kate: The Digital Reconstruction of St Andrews
The tourist industry in St Andrews has changed significantly in the 21st 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...
Read MoreOne of a Kind: Monarch and Mercury Handmade Film Magazines
In the midst of WWII two St Andrews students came together to produce a series of film magazines. Robert Smart Edwards, aged 19 at the time, studied the arts; while William Rollo Mitchell, aged 20, studied the sciences. They took up the project during an intra-fighting period, while on leave from their studies for WWII service. Due to these circumstances, the publications were produced at Edwards’ home address, 20 Primmer Place, Cowdenbeath. The magazines were handwritten on plain, stapled, paperback notebooks. Monarch News, the first title, ran for twenty-two issues, from February 1943...
Read MorePatricia Roc, Third Most Popular British Star, Visits St Andrews Twice
In 1946, the English actress Patricia Roc visited St Andrews twice to generate publicity for The Brothers (David MacDonald/ U.K. / 1947), a film set in Scotland and targeted at Scottish audiences. These visits constituted unique occurrences in the town’s history of star appearances, helping to identify, associate and position this English actress within Scottish culture. Although not widely remembered today, Patricia Roc was well known in the 1940s for her roles in English historical melodramas like The Wicked Lady (Leslie Arliss/ U.K. / 1945). British audiences even voted her their third...
Read MoreCinemaScope Comes to St Andrews
While the two cinemas in St Andrews were often in competition with one another, the 1950s brought a wholly different adversary that threatened to seriously decrease the size of their audiences: it was the beginning of the era of television. One of Hollywood’s answers to the disappearing cinema audience was the introduction of CinemaScope in 1953. This format differentiated from the small screen, by using a widescreen image that suited westerns, historical epics, musicals and other genres that relied on panoramic shots, action scenes and spectacle. In December 1954, The New Picture House...
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