CinemaSerf

Sick of the rule of the Hanoverian government that had arrived following the deposition of King James VII/II, the Scots people are all too keen to welcome his son - the “Bonnie Prince” himself (David Niven) as he calls for a gathering of the clans at Glenfinnan and declares that he is going to restore the house of Stuart to the throne. There are sceptics, but once he manages to secure the services of the acclaimed soldier “Murray” (Jack Hawkins) and the support of many of the chieftains the length and breadth of the land, they set off to remove the “redcoats” from not just Scotland but from the whole kingdom. Initially this all goes surprisingly well as the population quite fancy the idea of a change, but as they push farther south and then face the superiority of the Duke of Cumberland (Elwyn Brook-Jones) and his thirty thousand soldiers, the wheels start to come off! It’s a gentle and romanticised view of British history from a turbulent and violent period of the 18th century, and historians and purists will probably loath it, but as an exercise in Hollywood mythology it allows Niven to exude some cheeky charisma as a character who undoubtedly had a considerable amount of personality whilst Margaret Leighton puts on her best accent as the infamous Flora MacDonald and an whole host of Scottish regulars from John Laurie to Finlay Currie to James Hayter help give it a certain tartan heather feel to it. It’s a bit long, but there’s enough action to keep the romantic elements in check and if you just sit back and enjoy it for what it is, then there are worse ways to spend 2¼ hours.