Please read Understanding catalogue records for help interpreting this information and Using footage for more information about accessing this film.

Title: LAND OF INVENTION

Reference number: 0301

Date: 1940

Director: d. Andrew Buchanan

Sponsor: British Council

Production company: British Films

Sound: sound

Original format: 35mm

Colour: bw

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 11 mins

Description: The macadamised road, the first locomotive engine, gas lighting, the steam-hammer, electric telephone and chloroform are among the Scottish inventions shown.

Credits: ph. Henry Cooper
ed. James Anderson
comm. s. John Selous
Western Electric Sound System

Shotlist: Credits (.17) general scenes of rural landscapes, Highland cows, fishing nets hanging up to dry (1.19) shots from car on road (1.30) Macadam's plans for road-making. Drawing (1.40) men at work on road surface. Horse and cart on road (1.55) St. Enoch Square in Glasgow. l/s of traffic and buildings (1.59) Glasgow city centre streets. c/u of pedestrians and traffic and view from roof top (2.09) statue of James Watt, Glasgow University gatehouse, pages from Watt's notebook of theories, and drawing of steam engines. Model of early prototype steam engine (3.01) LMS steam locomotive on tracks and being hoisted on board vessel (3.22) birthplace in Ayrshire of William Murdoch. Shots of children enacting how Murdoch used a clay pipe to discover gas light (4.25) print of Murdoch's original gas holder (4.28) industrial scenes, coal pit workings, factory chimney, etc. (4.40) shop floor foundry, steam hammers working in iron works at Bridgewater. Inventions of James Naysmith (5.00) statue of J.B. Neilson. Shots of a blast furnace inside the Clyde Iron Works in Glasgow (5.20) birthplace of Thomas Telford, Dumfries (5.43) l/s from small fishing village of Forth rail bridge and ferry pier (5.56) ruins of Torphichen Mill, Linlithgow, birthplace of Henry Bell. Portrait of Bell and wooden model of the "Comet" (6.30) various shots of shipyards, gantries, etc. c/u of men in yards, rivetting, welding, etc. (6.49) c/u of steam pistons (6.51) "Queen Elizabeth " going down the slipway into the water (7.12) tramp steamers and puffer in heavy seas beneath a lighthouse (7.34) shots of model and then the actual Bell Rock lighthouse (7.56) Alexander Graham Bell's house in Edinburgh. Early telephone apparatus and modern switchboard (8.53) shot of pedestrians and traffic [trams, etc] in Edinburgh's Princes Street, looking west. Statue of James Young simpson, pioneer of chloroform. Shots of early apparatus and modern equipment for anaesthetics (9.46) l/s of Princes Street. Trams, buses, buildings, etc. St. Andrew's House. Aerial shots (10.25)