Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940)

This article examines films produced in the UK and the US during the years 1934-5, each of which presents Scottishness in different manners. The commonly held belief after Scotch Reels intervention is that early cinema treated Scotland as a fantasy realm mixing either Kailyard or Tartanry . Scotland was presented as being like that through the works and the global reach of writers such as Walter Scott and J. M. Barrie. The eighteenth and nineteenth century writers and novelists packaged and presented Scotland for the world and to the world in accordance with Hall's (1994, p. 402) concept of the imagined past, not the factual past. Following Sillars and Stenhouse (2008), this article appraises early sound cinematic representations of Scotland in order to assess whether productions from either side of the Atlantic can be seen as simply doing this or whether there were degrees of verisimilitude woven into the stories told. Does Kracauer's (1949, p. 53) assertion that Hollywood portrayals of foreign characters were simply "vague attitudes", which resulted in concrete types, stand true? Utilising contemporaneous reports as well as analysis of production and performance techniques the article examines four films: The 39 Steps (Hitchcock, 1935);

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Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940)

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Hitchcock Discovers America: The Selznick‐Era Films

Hitchcock Discovers America: The Selznick‐Era Films

When Scotland Started to Speak (and Be Heard): UK and US Scottishness, 1934 and 1935

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