Scottish Screen Archive

Title: ST. KILDA - THE LONELY ISLANDS

Reference number: 0911

Date: 1967

Director: d. Christopher Mylne

Sponsor: Films of Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland

Sound: sound

Colour: col

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 37.22 mins

Genre: sponsored, documentary

Description: The island of St. Kilda - its birdlife and the restoration work by the National Trust for Scotland.

Films of Scotland's first film produced for television.
International Festival of Films of Exploration, Trento, 1967.

See paper archives file for script and stills.

See also refs 1896, 0418 and 0793.

Credits: comm. s. Michael Robson
nar. John Arnott
cam. ass. Keith Moffat
dub. mix. John Goodwin
grap. des. Jim Nicholson
ph. & ed. Christopher Mylne

Shotlist: [Beginning missing] Shot taken over the shoulder of a person as they leaf through an old book (.07) Shots of sea birds flying over heavy seas (.37) Long shot of one of the islands (.46) Closer shot of seabirds on rock face (1.09) l/s of the two islands (1.13) Old map of the island of St. Kilda (1.18) General shots from a boat as it approaches the island (3.05) shots of surf breaking against rocks (3.28) Shots of seabirds on rocky ledge (3.50) Shots of seabirds in flight (4.10) shots of the islands' highest point, a cliff on Hirta (4.47) Variety of seabirds and fauna on the islands (7.01) l/s of seabirds on rock (7.17) shots of grey seals in water and gvs of the islands (8.39) Shots of ruined buildings on village street (9.03) Shots of surf breaking on rock, high winds whip up the surf, shots of seals caught in heavy seas (10.49) shots of birds in ruined houses (12.15) Shots of the original settlement buildings, now in ruins (12.49) More ruined buildings on another part of the island (14.04) Shots of ruins of a turf dyke (14.21) Shots of wild sheep on hillsides (15.42) Shots of a seabird on cliff (16.28) Stills of inhabitants of St. Kilda catching birds and collecting eggs on cliff. Women and children with a catch of dead birds. Shots of a circular group of people at a "share-out". Man catches a bird with a snare (17.27) shots of puffins on land, in the sea and in flight (18.27) l/s of Borera (18.38) Shot of the island's landing place (18.40) Drawing of an open boat approaching the landing site (18.46) A montage of stills featuring the St. Kildans with rowing boats (19.03) Drawing of a man landing from a boat (19.11) Gannets and other seabirds on rocks. shots of the cleets, used by the islanders to store foodstuffs, etc. (20.51) Shots of cleets alongside the ruins of the village street (22.03) Views of the St. Kilda graveyard (22.30) Shots of houses in village street (23.14) A field mouse (24.00) shots of the ruins of houses built in 1860, the last houses built prior to the evacuation in August 1930 (24.36) Stills of the islanders before evacuation. Shots of the island's "parliament", women at their spinning wheels, men with bales of woven tweed, a girl holding a scythe and a family group (26.38) dramatised re-enactment of the ritual on Lovers' Stone (27.38) Various stills of the graveyard, a family group, tourists to the islands, the island school and the island church (28.40) Still of a group of people in the village street, a party on a working holiday which has been organised by the National Trust for Scotland. shots of the members of the party at work restoring the crumbling buildings. One house is in the process of being re-roofed, as it is intended to become a museum to house a collection of household items found on the island (31.28) Shots of one of the party, an old man who was actually born on the island (31.58) pan from the village street to the army camp (31.13) Shots of a radar aerial (32.25) Ext. and int. views of the new post office on St. Kilda (33.05) Shots of a man preparing a letter for the "tin can" post. He seals it in the hollow of a small wooden boat attached to an inflated football bladder (33.50) He casts it into the sea (34.47) L/s of people on the island (35.11) general shots around the islands (35.35) Shots of scientists as they tend to the wild sheep on the island. Shots of other wildlife indigenous to St. Kilda (36.26) Sunset over the islands (36.58) ecs (37.22)

Please see Understanding catalogue records for help interpreting this information.