Raising the Standard

Just over a year ago.as s I watched and listened to the coverage of The Death of the Queen, I was filled, as I have been with great sadness and was listening to a discussion about the Royal Standard being raised at Buckingham Palace and other palaces in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

I try to relate items from such events to this Blog and to the film world of the relevant era.

The Still from the Film ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ 1948 shows the Prince played by David Niven raising the Standard at Glenfinnan.

What a beautiful place it is and what a wonderful and iconic scene

Alexander Korda put a lot of effort and money into this, but it did not fare too well at the Box Office. It does look an expensive film when you are watching it and it is spectacular in Technicolor with wonderful shots of the Scottish Highlands.

In my view David Niven just did not look the part and my own view is that he was mis-cast in this. I have always liked Margaret Leighton – she was with David Niven again in The Elusive Pimpernel in 1951 but again that was not successful although again it have a quite lavish budget and again was in Technicolor.

Mind you, sandwiched between these two films, David Niven was back in Hollywood and made ‘Enchantment’ for Sam Goldwyn which I enjoyed

Margaert Leighton had a leading role a year later in ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ – a film I love – very English in it’s style but a great story from a stage play