A rare screening of a 1922 silent film depicting the life of Scottish outlaw and folk hero Rob Roy will be showcased in Dundee in the new year.
The biopic, which stars David Hawthorne in full tartan kilt and tammy, tells the story of the MacGregor clan in the early 18th century and will be played at Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) on January 24.
Accompanying the rare silent source from the British Film Institute National Archive, the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival has commissioned multi-instrumentalist and composer David Allison to create a new score.
Rob Roy is a famous historical figure, known to many as a Scottish Robin Hood as he became a folk hero who fought for the underdog.
His tale was first told by Sir Walter Scott in 1818.
Shot entirely in the Trossachs and Stirling Castle, the film uses Scots for the inter-titles and includes epic fight scenes, with over 800 men of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders listed as extras in a dramatic battle.
The MacGregor clan fought in the Jacobite uprising of 1689, but after Rob Roy’s father was imprisoned for treason, he abandoned politics to take up a cattle-dealing business.
The film follows Rob Roy’s fight for revenge on the Duke of Montrose.
Rob Roy borrowed £1,000 from the Duke to purchase cattle for the following year’s market, but his land drover sold it on and disappeared with the funds.
After an unsuccessful search for the drover, Rob Roy returned to find he had been bankrupted and outlawed by the Duke of Montrose. His land had been seized and his family evicted.
He sought revenge on the Duke through a sustained campaign of cattle-rustling, theft and banditry.
The film has undergone a tour of Scotland part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival and has already played venues such as Stirling Castle.
The film’s premiere in 1922 caused pandemonium in the streets of Glasgow, as soldiers, policemen and film fanatics crammed the streets ahead of its release.
Alice Black, head of cinema at DCA said: “At DCA we believe it is important to cherish and celebrate film history and it is a great pleasure and a privilege to be able to bring this classic telling of the Rob Roy story to a Dundee audience.
“Of course silent films are never really silent and David Allison’s wonderful accompaniment makes this a very special and rare cinema event.”
The showcases are set for Dundee in January, and Edinburgh on February 14 at Queen’s Hall.
