Biography of 'Scottish Moving Picture News / British Moving Picture News'
Newsreel and topical production
Scottish Moving Picture News was established by Green’s Film Service in Glasgow in October 1917. By early 1918 the cinema trade press was offering very positive reviews of this new arrival on the topical scene, reporting on a scoop in covering the travels of Julian the Tank Bank around Scotland, with footage shot at 11.30am appearing on screen by 3pm that afternoon. Exhibitors who booked the reel were reportedly ‘doing good business.’
By February 1918 Green’s announced that cameramen representatives had been appointed across Scotland. In Glasgow their staff cameraman was Alf Le Verne and in Aberdeen they had the veteran Joe Gray who had built a tradition of local topical production from his time with Walker’s Royal Cinematograph in the 1890’s and early 1900’s. Green’s also secured the services of Paul Robello, like Joe Gray in Aberdeen, a veteran from Walker’s Cinematograph and described in the trade press as Scotland’s first cameraman. Robello was to run the Production Department under the supervision of Bert Green. Initially a weekly release the news went bi-weekly around the late autumn of 1918 - a year after the launch of the newsreel itself.
In May 1919 - some 6 months into the new bi-weekly schedule it was noted that the name of the newsreel was to change from’ Scottish’ to ‘British’ Moving Picture News. ‘This broadening out of the title will allow of a wider scope in treatment’ reported Kine Weekly. The change of name co-incided with the rather proud claim that the SMPN had scooped it’s bigger rivals, Pathe and Gaumont, with coverage of the Asquith wedding - the marriage at Westminster of Herbert Asquith’s daughter to Rumanian Prince Bibesco.
In August 1921 and despite positive noises in trade press about levels of subscription to the British Moving Picture News there was word of another change of name - back to ‘Scottish’. A full page advert in the Kine Weekly of 11 August 1921 for the Scottish Moving Picture News runs: "General news in pictures is interesting but Scottish news in pictures for Scottish audiences is an absolute necessity. This can only be had in Scottish Moving Picture News – "the Topical for Scotland". This name change suggests some retrenchment in the face of strong competition for a national newsreel and indeed it would appear that Scottish Moving Picture News ceased operation about the end of 1922 although its parent company Green’s Film Service continued with the production of local topical films until the mid 1920’s.
Only seventeen items from the five years production of Scottish/British Moving Picture News are known to have survived. These are preserved in the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive.
Researcher: Janet McBain
Films associated with 'COCOZZA, Enrico'
18 hits
BRITISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS GREEN'S NEWSREEL: Marriage of Green / McMahon [1900]Add to my filmsA compilation reel including footage of the fairground ride called "The Whip", possibly at Green's Amusements at the Carnival in the Gallowgate, Glasgow. The film also shows the marriage in 1920 of Edward MacMahon to Mary Frances Green, daughter of George Green. |
1920 silent bw |
||
BRITISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS NO 127 and UNIVERSITY NEWS [0516]Add to my filmsCompilation of local topical and news stories of Glasgow University life, including a rugby match against Edinburgh University, the rectorial elections, and student charity day. |
1930 silent bw |
||
|
BRITISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS No 166, OPENING OF DRUMPELLIER MOSS [3617]Add to my filmsOpening of Drumpellier Moss Park, gifted to Coatbridge by Mr W. R. Carrick-Buchanan opened on 13 September 1919. [Made for local cinema. Incomplete] |
|
1919 silent bw |
BRITISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS No. 156, FUNERAL OF THE EARL OF EGLINTON AND WINTON [0565]Add to my filmsFuneral of the Earl of Eglinton and Winton at Kilwinning, 14 August 1919. |
1919 silent bw |
||
|
BRITISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS NO. 165, ROTHESAY PEACE CELEBRATIONS [2336]Add to my filmsFootage of the peace celebrations, including the parade, crowds and band. General Sir Hunter Weston takes the salute at the Town Hall. An effigy of Kaiser Bill is hoisted up the mast of a boat. |
|
1919 silent bw |
|
BRITISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS, ARDROSSAN SHIPYARD [0560]Add to my filmsThe various stages involved in the construction of vessels at the Ardrossan Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co shipyard. 'Pentland Firth' and "Cromarty Firth" on the stocks, and launch of 'Hunstanworth'. |
|
1919 silent bw |
|
BRITISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS: Wedding of Alys Couper and Douglas Lindsay [1659]Add to my filmsThe wedding of Alys Couper and Douglas Lindsay, son of Sir John Lindsay, the Town Clerk of Glasgow, at Glasgow Cathedral, June 1920. |
|
1920 silent bw |
|
PATRIOTIC PORKERS [2995]Add to my filmsA wartime propaganda film on the benefits of saving household refuse to feed pigs and provide cheap food. |
|
1918 silent bw |
|
SCOTTISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS NO. 120, SCOTTISH GRAND NATIONAL [0576]Add to my filmsFilm of the Scottish Grand National at Bogside (between Irvine and Kilwinning), Ayrshire, won by "The Turk, II". |
|
1919 silent bw |
SCOTTISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS NO. 32 [1238A]Add to my filmsScenes of flooding of the river Clyde and footage of the "Tank bank" week in Aberdeen to raise funds for the war effort. [£2 million was raised in a week in Aberdeen]. [See also ref. 1238B]. |
1918 silent bw |
||
|
SCOTTISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS NO. 32 [1238B]Add to my filmsFootage of "Julian the Tank Bank" in Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen to raise money for the war effort. |
|
1918 silent bw |
|
SCOTTISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS No. 46 [3616]Add to my filmsBrief shots of the Lowland Regiment the Cameronians leaving Glasgow Cathedral in 1918 after a ceremony where they deposited their flag in the Cathedral to commemorate the heroic services of the regiment in France. |
|
1918 silent bw |
|
SCOTTISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS, RETURN OF THE INTERNED [2583]Add to my filmsTaken at Leith in 1918, the film shows the arrival by ship of internees returning from Europe, with the request "watch the picture carefully, and see if you can identify anyone." |
|
1918 silent bw |
|
SCOTTISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS, ROUTE MARCH 1st BATTALION LANARKSHIRE VOLUNTEER REGIMENT [0376]Add to my films1st Battalion Lanarkshire Volunteer Regiment march through Coatbridge, March 1917 in furtherance of the National Service scheme. |
|
1917 silent bw |
|
SCOTTISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS: FUNERAL OF LIEUTENANT GEORGE DINWOODIE [1458]Add to my filmsFuneral of a young Glasgow Airman, Lieutenant George Dinwoodie, RAF, killed in an accident while flying in Yorkshire. Shots of bearers carrying the coffin onto the horse-drawn hearse which moves off followed by a carriage filled with flowers, 1917. |
|
1917 silent bw |
|
SCOTTISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS: TANK BANK ABERDEEN, AERIAL DISPLAY EDINBURGH [1236]Add to my filmsThe "tank bank" campaign in Aberdeen, an aerial display and sports at Powderhall, Edinburgh. |
|
1918 silent bw |
|
SCOTTISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS: Royal Visit to Edinburgh [3360]Add to my filmsScottish Moving Picture News. First post - Armistice Royal visit of George V, Queen Mary and the Prince of Wales to Edinburgh, 21 November 1918. |
|
1918 silent bw |
|
SCOTTISH MOVING PICTURE NEWS: Wedding of John Glaister and Isobel Lindsay [2833]Add to my filmsThe First World War was still raging when the wedding of Captain John Glaister RAMC, son of Prof John Glaister and Isobel Lindsay, daughter of Sir John Lindsay took place at Glasgow Cathedral, 25th May, 1918. |
|
1918 silent bw |
18 hits