July 1927: Sir Harry Lauder in “Huntingtower” – Film Scenes in Glasgow Street – Sauchiehall Street – Walking Up Dalhousie Street – the “Gorbals Diehards”

An article on page six of the Evening Telegraph and Post (Dundee Evening Telegraph, in The British Newspaper

Archive), on Monday the 4th of July, 1927, reads:

 

“SIR HARRY LAUDER IN

‘HUNTINGTOWER.’

Film Scenes in Glasgow Street.

 

Two scenes in ‘Huntingtower,’ the film adaptation of Mr John Buchan’s novel, in which Sir Harry Lauder

and a party of Glasgow boys take part, were enacted in Glasgow for reproduction by cinematograph.

 

For this purpose premises at the corner of Sauchiehall Street and Dalhousie Street were fitted up to represent

the shop of Dickson McCunn, the character which Sir Harry Lauder plays.

 

The first scene taken showed McCunn, with the ‘Gorbals Diehards,’ a band of boys who find amusement in

teasing the grocer, watching from a window above the shop a parade of Boy Scouts.

 

The filming of the scenes, which was carried out in bright sunshine, caused considerable interest, and the

crowds of people who gathered in the early forenoon helped to create the correct setting for the episode. The

parade of Boy Scouts was provided by Glasgow members of the organisation, who, headed by pipers, marched

past the shop.

 

The scene had to be photographed twice, as the public on the first occasion paid too great attention to the party

at the window, and there was too little enthusiasm shown for the parade. The second filming, however, was

satisfactory, and the crowd responded well to the instructions of the director.

 

The second scene was enacted at a later hour when the crowd had dispersed. This showed the grocer leaving his

shop to go for a walk in the country, and he was photographed as he walked up the incline of Dalhousie Street.”

 

 

 

The British Newspaper Archive.

 

 

 

George Fairfull-Smith, August 2025.