Rob Roy with live accompaniment by David Allison

This impressive and rarely screened biopic of one of Scotland’s best-known outlaws, stars David Hawthorne in full tartan kilt and tammy and tells the story of the MacGregors in the early 18th century.  

Shot entirely on location in the Trossachs and nearby Stirling Castle, (the 10th Duke of Argyll also gave permission to the production to film on his estates), the film makes liberal use of Scots for the intertitles (“dinnae fash yersel”) and includes epic fight scenes, with over 800 men of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders enlisted as extras in a dramatic battle.

At the opening of the film, screenwriter Alicia Ramsey explains via the first intertitle that this is not an adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's novel, but the story of the principal events in the life of the famous outlaw (“To Scotland, not to Scott, did we go for the facts…").  Never prone to letting these “facts” get in the way of a good story, the film is a gleeful adventure yarn with a strong romantic streak. 

David Allison

Multi-instrumentalist and composer, David Allison, will accompany the film with a new score commissioned by the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival (HippFest). David has created a number of successful live soundtracks for silent films, including 'The Island Tapes' and 'The St Kilda Tapes' which toured internationally and sold out at festivals such as Celtic Connections. As well as last year’s HippFest opening title 'The Last of the Mohicans' (1920), and the 1922 horror classic 'Nosferatu' (HippFest 2011), David has produced three solo studio albums: 'Reporting', 'Guitar Gi-tar' and 'Acoustic Movies'.

Presented by The Queen's Hall.