Courtesy of Scottish Screen Archive

In Face of Scotland (1938), Basil Wright set out to answer the question 'What and why is the Scot?' He shows us how Scotland resisted invasion in Roman times, how Scots embraced Calvinism, were moulded by the industrial revolution and emerge in the twentieth century as sturdy and democratic. He concludes by re-discovering, at a Glasgow football match, vigour and strength in the character of the working man.

This film was one of a group of seven documentaries produced by the Films of Scotland Committee (set up in 1937), under the supervision of John Grierson and made for screening in the Empire Cinema at the 1938 Empire Exhibition held in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. The Committee was charged with the task of producing a series of films on Scottish life. The group of seven titles was much publicised, the subject of comment in newspapers and on radio at the time. Years later, film industry observers hailed the project as unique in film history and successful in every way.

Kenneth Broom

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