British Pathé: The Highland Games (1969)

The hills are alive with the smell of heather and the sounds of bagpipes during the week of the Highland Games in Braemar, Scotland. This British Pathé newsreel shows footage of the event from the 1969 games. The annual Scottish sport ceremony was sponsored by the Royal Highland Society and gathered dignitaries from throughout Scotland - even the British monarch and her children attended this event since they lived in nearby Balmoral castle. 

This traditional test of "men who really are men" included cannon ball tossing, log throwing, tug-of-war games, hammer throwing, and highland jig dancing. Of course, the Queen handed out the prizes to the winners which made them all the more proud to be Scotsmen. 

Ready to watch The Highland Games? Simply click on the link below: 

The Highland Games (1969) - 1:44 minutes 

Similar British Pathé newsreels:

Highland Games (1957) - 2:47 minutes

Braemar Gathering - In Colour (1957) - 3:44 minutes

Braeman Games aka Braemar Gathering ( 1968 ) - 2:08 minutes

Paganini Strikes Again (1977) - A CFF Film

We are continuing our coverage of Children's Film Foundation (CFF) films with Paganini Strikes Again, a rare mystery/adventure from 1977. The "Paganini" in the title refers to Mike (Andrew Bowen) and his friend Bill (Philip Bliss) who are both violin students. On their way to music class, they get stuck in the elevator of a small building and from their viewpoint are only able to see work boots of a man running up a flight of stairs. They later find out that a robbery had taken place and realize that this was the robber escaping. 

Inspector Mainwaring (John Arnatt) of the London police does not believe their shoe clue is enough to begin a search and so the boys decide to play detectives themselves and hunt down the man with the boots. Unbeknownst to them, he happens to be the uncle of one of their classmates. 

Paganini Strikes Again cannot really be classified as a mystery because everything is shown to the audience. The robbery is evident, and it is clear that Raddings (Dudley Sutton) is the criminal. However, watching the boys track him down is entertaining and for light Saturday afternoon juvenile fare (which this was intended to be) Paganini Strikes Again is pleasant enough. It doesn't rank as one of the best CFF films, nor the worst. 

Both Bowen and Bliss do a good job of acting as the young musician detectives. Bowen had done some acting previously (Bachelor Father) and would later appear in the television series Grange Hill. Dudley Sutton (Lovejoy), a veteran of British television, plays one of his usual nasty criminal roles. Arnatt is good as the Inspector, Patrick Jordan plays a detective, and Julia Dawn Cole has a small part as the sister of one of the boys. 

Paganini Strikes Again is currently not available on DVD or on Youtube, but check every once in a while as it may appear again. 

The Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie Game

 

It's that time of the month again.... stumping time! Here we have a clever scene (at least, we think so) featuring a man in a convertible. No hints, just a picture. Remember this movie? 

As always, if you are not familiar with the rules to the Impossibly Difficult Name that Movie game or the prize, click here!

GAME OVER. 

Congratulations to Betty for correctly identifying this screenshot from Good Neighbor Sam (1964) starring Jack Lemmon and Romy Schneider. In this scene, this unknown actor is being filmed for a Hertz television commercial and has just been "dropped" into the driver's seat. 

Film Albums: The Avengers Album

This month's film album is actually a compact disc album and it's an oldie and a goodie: The Avengers by the London Studio Orchestra. The cover states in big letters that it also includes themes from Dr. Strangelove, First Men in the Moon, etc... but Laurie Johnson's name is in small print at the bottom. The album really should have been called "The Music of Laurie Johnson" because it features a lovely sampling of some of his most popular themes. 

This was a Varese Sarabande release (VCD 47270) that implements songs from one of its Soundtrack Series LP releases from 1982 titled The Avengers. 

Of course, "The Avengers" theme is the highlight of the album but you don't want to miss hearing "The Joker" theme from the famous Emma Peel episode, or the lovely romance theme from "First Men in the Moon." The themes to "Hedda" and "Captain Kronos" are also worth listening to. 

Click here to listen to the album in full on Youtube. 

Track Listing

The Avengers - Suite

Theme 

Pandora

The Joker

The New Avengers - Suite

Theme 

Cat Amongst the Pigeons

Obsession

Tale of the Big Why

Dr. Strangelove

The Bomb Run

First Men in the Moon

Title

Moonscape and Descent

The Selenites

Trek to the Giant Doors

Monster Caterpillar

Eclipse and Staircase

Escape of the Sphere

End Title

Hedda - Suite

Title

Hedda and Thea

Judge Brack

Hedda and Lovborg

The Manuscript

Death and End Title

Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter

Title

Death Duel

Top Picks: The Avengers, The Joker, First Men in the Moon main title, Hedda main title.

From the Archives: The Princess and the Pirate (1944)

In this still from The Princess and the Pirate (1944), Bob Hope is in the company of dangerous pirates and knows it! What he doesn't know yet is how to get out of the sticky situation that he is in... but he'll think of something. He always does! 

From the Archives is our latest series of posts where we share photos from the Silverbanks Pictures collection. Some of these may have been sold in the past, and others may still be available for purchase at our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Silverbanks-Pictures