Biography of 'Templar Films '
Production company
Templar Film Studios was formed in 1949 by Robert Riddell-Black, David Low and Bill Russell, in a rented attic in Hope Street, Glasgow, moving to Clyde Street in 1951. The company was officially incorporated and registered as a business on the 4th March 1950, and by 1954 they had moved to larger premises in Lyndoch Street, Glasgow. The name was inspired by the medieval Knights Templar, who had at one time been so poor that two knights had to share one horse. Black and Low had one camera between them!
For the first six years Templar Films worked on a shoestring, shooting news for NBC in America, Gaumont-British News and the BBC Scotland’s Television Newsreel. They began to make religious and current affairs programmes such as Panorama for the BBC. In 1955 Low was shooting weekly football coverage and doing film-processing work for television. The company’s commitments to the BBC were growing and by 1960, it was given the production of a weekly programme called ‘Compass’.
Templar attracted many new entrants to the industry who as trainee cameramen and directors learnt their craft on production of documentaries for agencies such the Films of Scotland Committee and industrial sponsors. Templar Films along with Campbell Harper and Thames & Clyde became a mainstay of the Scottish film production industry in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Their best known title Seawards the Great Ships, took two years to make, and in 1961 won the first Hollywood Oscar in the short live action short category.
The company won over 30 international awards for its documentary and industrial films. While several directors and cameramen left, David Low became a director/cameraman and remained Riddell -Black’s right-hand man throughout most of the company’s life. Their partnership split in the mid 1970s when Black closed the Lynedoch St studio and moved to an industrial unit in Broadmeadows Industrial Estate, Dumbarton. The company finally ceased trading in 1980.
Researcher: Joan Allan
Films associated with 'COCOZZA, Enrico'
VIROLOGY DEPT. [5212]Add to my filmsExteriors and interiors of the "Institute of Virology" (at Glasgow University?). We see a scientist at work in the laboratory. |
1961 mute bw |
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WALKERS SUGAR REFINERY I [5151]Add to my filmsOffcut footage of Walkers Sugar Refinery, Greenock. Shows manufacturing processes inside sugary refinery, including testing and packing. |
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1965 mute bw |
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WALKERS SUGAR REFINERY II [5152]Add to my filmsGeneral views of the production line at John Walker's Sugar factory in Greenock. Refining, packing and transportation processes are shown. |
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1965 mute bw |
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WALKERS SUGAR REFINERY III [5153]Add to my filmsGeneral views of sugar cargo being unloaded from ship into trucks at dockside and subsequent transfer of sugar from truck to storage warehouse at Walkers Sugar Refinery, Greenock. |
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1965 mute bw |
'WANDERER' [5207]Add to my filmsThe sailing boat 'Wanderer' prepares to set sail and leaves the pier, watched by a crowd of people. |
1961 mute bw |
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WEAVE ME A RAINBOW [2245]Add to my filmsA feature on the Scottish woollen industry for the National Association of Scottish Woollen Manufacturers. |
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1962 sound col |
WEIR HOUSES [8841]Add to my filmsNews footage of a terrace of modern Weir split-level houses and interior shots of the furnished show-house. |
1960 mute bw |
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WESTCLOX FACTORY [8464]Add to my filmsWomen working on the shop floor of the Westclox factory in Dunbartonshire. |
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1960 mute bw |
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WHAKATANE LAUNCH [8836]Add to my filmsFootage of the cargo ship MV 'Whakatane' being launched at Alexander Stephen's yard in Glasgow - shots of workers, platform party guests and the ship on the river after launch. |
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1954 silent col |
WHITHORN [5503]Add to my filmsTown buildings and landscape, Isle of Whithorn, Whithorn and Wigtown. |
1965 silent bw |
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WICK SLIPWAY [5160]Add to my filmsGeneral views of work being carried out on Wick Slipway. |
1965 mute bw |
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WICK STORM [5455]Add to my filmsFootage of Wick during a very severe storm with waves breaking over the harbour and seafront walls. |
1959 mute bw |
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WILMA RUSSELL YACHT [5163]Add to my filmsA new yacht, named 'Wilma Russell' of Leith, is waved off from the Forth Corinthian Yacht Club. Includes brief interior shots of the cabin. |
1961 mute bw |
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WINSTON CHURCHILL VISITS ABERDEEN [2797]Add to my filmsWinston Churchill, accompanied by his wife and daughter plant a tree in the home of Sir Thomas and Lady Jaffrey and the University of Aberdeen confers on him the Honorary Degree of LLD. [See also refs. 4025 and 4563]. |
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1946 silent bw |
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WINTER IN SCOTLAND [2479]Add to my filmsOne of a series of films introducing aspects of the four seasons in Scotland, made specially for use in primary schools. |
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1960 silent col |
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WYNDFORD FLATS [5481]Add to my filmsGeneral views of the Wyndford High Rise Flats, Maryhill. Glasgow - built on the site of Maryhill Barracks. |
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1963 mute bw |
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YACHT 'SCEPTRE' AT ROBERTSON'S YARD, SANDBANK [8593]Add to my filmsThe yacht 'Sceptre' and Alexander Robertson & Sons' boat-building yard at Sandbank. |
Onsite only |
1958 mute bw |
'ZERANG' [5178]Add to my filmsThe (fire?) ship 'Zerang' at sail. Includes interior shots of cabin and equipment, as well as hoses in operation from deck. |
1961 mute bw |
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