Alex Mackenzie Movies

Bill Forsyth displays some of the fey quirkiness that would distinguish his later, better-known directorial efforts in 1979's That Sinking Feeling. The film details the misadventures of four aimless Scottish youths, who impulsively steal a shipment of stainless-steel sinks. Once they've made off with their booty, the boys have quite a time unloading it on prospective buyers. Much of the humor is verbal, which can be a trial for viewers unwilling to decipher the cast's thick Glasgow accents. That Sinking Feeling was released in the U.S. only after the success of Forsyth's 1980s efforts Gregory's Girl and Local Hero. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Disney's Greyfriars Bobby is a remake of A Challenge to Lassie; both are based on the same novel by Eleanor Atkinson, and both feature Donald Crisp in a major role. A true story, set in Edinburgh around 1875, the Disney version stars Alex McKenzie as the shepherd Old Jock, the owner of a loyal Skye terrier named Bobby. When Jock dies of "old age, exposure, and starvation," and is buried in the Edinburgh cemetery known as Greyfriars Kirk, Bobby spends his days playing with street children, begging for scraps, and evading the police constables, but by night he sleeps on his late master's gravesite and refuses to leave, despite graveyard caretaker John Brown's (Crisp) efforts to chase Bobby away. Slowly but surely, the taciturn Brown comes to love the steadfast dog, which brings him into conflict with stiff-necked Constable MacLean (Donald MacRae), who intends to "arrest" Bobby if Brown doesn't pay the minimal license fee. Standing on principle, Brown refuses, but a group of local children raise the necessary funds, setting the stage for a heartwarmingly Disneyesque finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this 1959 comedy, Robert MacPherson (Robert Morley) inherits his family's textile business in Edinburgh, Scotland, then hires American efficiency expert Angela Barrows (Constance Cummings) to bring the business into the modern age. The House of MacPherson has long been known as a manufacturer of fine Scottish tweed, and the company's mild-mannered head clerk, Mr. Martin (Peter Sellers), worries that the no-nonsense Barrows will ruin everything with her new-fangled ideas and eventually replace him and his co-workers with automatons. So after she installs the latest labor-saving devices, including intercoms and noisy adding machines, he sabotages them in a gradually unfolding scheme to persuade MacPherson that the old Scottish ways are still the best, that true craftsmanship requires a human touch. By this time, however, MacPherson has taken a fancy to Barrows romantically, and she can do no wrong. Then, horror of horrors, Barrows proposes that the company make synthetic tweed -- mass-produced synthetic tweed -- in an all-out effort to Americanize the Scottish firm. That's the last straw for Martin, and he thinks there is only one option left for him: to murder Barrows. Of course, meek Mr. Martin isn't exactly a natural-born killer, and he botches one attempt after another in a sequence of scenes that keep the action moving briskly along. But Martin has pluck and plenty of persistence, and he eventually hatches another plot to undo the meddlesome Barrows. The film, loosely based on a James Thurber story entitled The Catbird Seat, was directed by Charles Crichton, the same man who directed the highly successful Lavender Hill Mob. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

The small but resourceful Scots island of Todday, introduced in the 1949 Ealing comedy Whisky Galore!, made a return visit to movie screens in 1958's Rockets Galore--released in the U.S. as Mad Little Island. In the first film, the good people of Todday faced up to the appalling dilemma of a whisky shortage. Now we're in the space age, and Todday has been targeted as the location for a rocket-launching site. Banding together as before, the islanders do their best to sabotage the project under the unsuspecting noses of the blinkered British military. Mad Little Island was better received in America than it was in England, where it was perceived as an uninspired rewarming of yesterday's haggis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Also known as Geordie, the British comedy Wee Geordie was immensely popular worldwide. A slight of frame and puny gamekeeper's son named Geordie (Paul Young), who is coming of age in the Scottish highlands, grows sick and tired of being picked on. He thus decides to answer a Charles Atlas-style bodybuilding ad. Flash forward several years: the little runt is now a strapping, muscle-bound, disgustingly healthy Olympic champ (portrayed by Bill Travers, who actually did "pump up" and slim down to play this role). Evidently his muscles have spread to his head, for Geordie sees no need for emotional fulfillment, and alienates his longtime girlfriend (Norah Gorsen). But in the process, he becomes the top-ranked hammer thrower at the Highland Games and is chosen to represent the UK in the Olympics at Melbourne, Australia. When Geordie finally falls in love again, it is with towering shot-putter Helga Doris Goddard -- the first woman ever able to best him on the athletic field. Director Frank Launder cowrote the screenplay for Wee Geordie with his longtime collaborator Sidney Gilliat; the film is based on a novel by David Walker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide