HE WAS an amateur film maker whose ambitions were stopped in their tracks by the Second World War. But now Harry Birrell – who it is claimed created “a unique window into the past” – will today fulfil those dreams posthumously, as a documentary featuring his unseen footage of 20th century life is given its world premiere as part of the Glasgow Film Festival.
Harry Birrell Presents: Films of Love and War – screened at the Glasgow Film Theatre today – was conceived by his granddaughter Carina Birrell, an actress and producer who got the idea after auditioning for a part about a young woman tracing the history of her soldier grandfather.
Her own relative had served in Burma with a Gurkha regiment during the Second World War, with his unique footage stored on old film reels owned by the family. The archives also include films from Nepal and Mumbai.
The actress, who starred in horror film Wandering Rose, brought filmmaker Matt Pinder on board and the two forged partnerships with Hopscotch Films, BBC Scotland and Creative Scotland. Rising star Richard Madden, who won a Golden Globe for his role as David Budd in BBC television hit Bodyguard and is now tipped to play the next James Bond, provided the voice-over. The script is based on diaries that accompanied the footage Birrell shot.
The treasure trove of footage included important moments in Scottish social history such as the building of the Forth Road Bridge, the Queen’s coronation and the last tram to run in Glasgow. Other films captured ordinary Scottish life in the 20th century, from ice skating on Loch Earn to skateboarding in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove park in the seventies.
Freelance film maker Pinder first came across Harry Birrell whilst making a series for the BBC about the history of home movie making in Scotland and numerous cine enthusiasts urged him to find Birrell’s “incredible” collection. His “quest” led him to some “rusty old trunks in the garden shed” at the family home.
“I think Harry’s collection is totally unique,” he said. “The films from his service career in WW2 are incredible in so many ways. How he was able to keep rolling whilst commanding a battalion of Gurkhas in the Indian army, trekking through the Himalayas on missions to find new supply routes from India to China, on sorties deep behind the enemy lines in the Burma campaign, is unbelievable.
“But I also really love some of the more personal footage that Harry recorded.”
These include films that capture “the bittersweet moments of falling in love before being sent off to war” in 1940, shot on the island of Arran.
“Not only do we have all this incredible, previously unseen footage through some of the most dynamic periods of the 20th century, we also have his diaries,” added Pinder.
“The diaries are what binds all the footage together to create a real and vivid story of one man’s journey through love and war. I hope that it will encourage people to look at the world like Harry did, with a sense of adventure and wonder.”
Carina Birrell added: “For me the archive represents something important. We don’t document anything anymore – everything is instantaneous – so as a body of work it feels incredibly important.”
She claimed the whole process – from exploring the footage with Pinder to involving Madden – was “incredibly joyous” and has led to a film of which she believes her grandfather would be rightfully proud.
“In a different time he would have been a filmmaker. Just before the war he was penning letters to IMG and then the war knocked his plans off course and he signed up. By the time it finished he decided to stay in that world.
“He was a surveyor drawing maps, and his mother pushed him towards something that would have stability and security. As a result, filmmaking remained as his very dear hobby.”
Birrell now hopes that the film will tour the UK, following today’s Glasgow premiere.
Allan Hunter, Glasgow Film Festival co-director, said he was “really thrilled” to be hosting the premier. “It is such a tender, personal family story but also much more than that,” he added. “It is the story of an adventurous spirit but has a wonderful sense of innocence and curiosity to it that makes it very appealing. It is nostalgic and touching at the same time, offering a window into the recent past that is irresistible.”
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