Laxdale Hall

A classic tale of the canny Highlanders taking the sassenachs to the cleaners. The essence of the situation has great similarities with other contemporary movies like 'Whisky Galore', and has inspired more modern ones like 'Local Hero'.

The five owners of motor cars in the parish of Laxdale hold a tax revolt to protest the absence of a proper road into a remote village on the Wet Coast of Scotland near Skye. A parliamentary delegation is sent from London to restore order!

All acting performances are wonderful, with early appearances by character actors who went on to become household names. Prunella Scales as a very young schoolteacher; Rikki Fulton as a Glasgow poacher. I particularly enjoyed Kynaston Reeves as the Meenister, Jamieson Clark as the grocer, and of course Roddy MacMillan as the undertaker. And the general, oh the cheneral!

My favourite line is from a bit player, spoken at a public meeting. "Forty miles from the sea? No view of the Cuillins and no river? Man, I would rather live in Hell than in a place like that!"

Truly a way of life that has all but disappeared, even in Applecross where the movie was shot. On my last visit I arrived in the village by one good road and left by another.

I am a little uneasy about endorsing this semi-classic movie, filmed lovingly in a part of Scotland very close to my heart - the Applecross peninsula in a deeply remote corner of Wester Ross in the far North West Highlands. From about 1979 I became an absentee holiday home owner at #9 The Shore or to give it its posh name, #9 Shore Street. Two years prior to the purchase my daughter Gillian was born in Edinburgh with cystic fibrosis, a life-shortening medical condition. Subsequent holidays were clearly going to be difficult because of Gillian's chronic illness. But the people of Applecross wrapped my family up in cotton wool. Not only that, over the years they contributed a lot of money towards finding a cure for CF. The delightful story of the making Laxdale Hall is a tale a film historian could narrate. But the logistics must have been awesome in the extreme because at the time of filming there was a only one single track road in and one single track road out involving great courage to negotiate the fiercesome Pass of the Cattle. The film, while not up to the standard of, say, Whisky Galore or the Maggie is nevertheless not to be missed based on the book by the legendary Eric Linklater. I ask only that you blow a kiss when you pass #9 Shore Street where my late Gillian and her brother Alasdair spent many a happy, carefree holiday. And please don't forget to buy the DVD of Laxdale Hall. You won't be disappointed.

Barely any modern films can compete with this funny, family-suitable, timeless movie. A brilliant, intelligent, patriotic, 'heart-warming' film with no crude humour and certainly no interpretive, arty stuff.

The classic conflict between the government and the minorities is perfectly managed in this movie with hilarious performances by Kynaston Reeves and Roddy McMillan. The landscape and weather portrayed in the movie leave an 'authentic' and realistic feel to the plot. This old time classic leaves most modern rubbish films in the dust.

Perfect for a Friday/ Saturday night at home with friends, with a 'feel-good' finish that will leave you inspired, unlike many depressing Hollywood films these days.

A must-see for anyone.

I saw this as "Laxdale Hall" on TPTV in the UK. It is highly entertaining with a mostly convincing plot, the great Rikki Fulton had just one line which was delivered when he was in the poacher's car or van, Rikki and his wife left almost a million pounds to the RSSPCA has they had a great love of dogs.

The weather was typically Scottish with lots of rain, mostly horizontal, I hope that this didn't discourage tourists at the time. Prunella Scales did a great job of doing a Scottish accent.

Very much like a Scottish version of an Ealing comedy and every bit as good.

Well worth watching as it's very quirky and very Scottish, and very funny.

I was told many years ago that this film did not do well at the box office. Perhaps it was too Scottish for non-Scottish audiences! "Laxdale Hall" has been a favourite of mine ever since I first saw it, probably when first released. The age-old theme of Locals-v-Government always goes down well, but it is the characters who really make this film - Kynaston Reeves as the thundering minister with a passion for Macbeth, Prunella Scales as the village schoolmistress (in her first film role, but later better known as Basil's 'nest of vipers' Sybil in 'Fawlty Towers'), and best of all Roddy Macmillan as Willie-John the permanently-pessimistic undertaker who keeps expecting his father's body to be brought from the mainland by ferry but receives something else instead.

The smoothie MP sent from London wants the residents of Laxdale to up sticks and move to a fine new town going by the name of Drumleydubs. The locals are for none of this, and... well, you'll chust have to see for yourself! My favourite quotation came from Meg Buchanan during a downpour. One of the London visitors commented on the foul weather, and she told him, "I wass in London once, and they said it wass raining, but, och, you would neffer have noticed." it was probably a downpour to the Sessenachs!

!!! - - - GOOD NEWS - - - !!! LAXDALE HALL NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD from Panamint Cinema, West Lothian, Scotland - panamint.co.uk