A film claimed by both English and Scots

Rating: 6/10 (10 July 2007)

Eric Liddell is a Scottish national hero but prior to this film being made few Scots born in the second half of the 20th century had heard of him. The Scottish locations, some of which are meant to be England, such as the famous opening scene where St Andrews stands in for Broadstairs in Kent and the London restaurant which is actually the Cafe Royal in Edinburgh, add to its appeal to Scots. But some say it is a very English film, with its Oxbridge educated gentleman athletes taking on the world. It is a good film although a bit overrated. It has also said it was a film for Thatcher's Britain, whatever that may mean. It certainly is very much a film of its time. It came out at the time when just about every new TV drama series on the BBC and ITV was set in the 1920s and 30s and it features two stalwarts of these series in its cast, namely Cheryl Campbell and Nigel Havers. There are, however, some rather unpardonable anachronisms in it. 1980s cars can be seen in quite a few shots and the ship that takes the athletes over to France has a radar mast. If the film were made nowadays the ship would be a CGI effect and the whole film would look a lot more realistic with the help of some CGI. But on the whole it is good although not quite all that it is cracked up to be. When it was made there were not as many films being made for the cinema, in fact it looked possible that the big screen would die out altogether, and this was one reason why it stood out. Another reason it stood out was that it depicted two decent upright guys. Mind you, I don't agree with Liddell's sabbatarianism, and the film's writer, Colin Welland, said he didn't either. But Liddell is portrayed as a surprisingly kind and warm man for a sabbatarian although after telling the boy off for playing football on Sunday I think he would have great difficulty in convincing the boy that God wasn't a spoilsport. It was sad that Ian Charleson died young like two other members of the cast, Brad Davis and Jeremy Sinden. A good film but very much of its time.