One of the earliest movie depictions of Scottish history has been discovered gathering dust in a Dutch film archive. The 90-year-old French-made film tells the story of Robert the Bruce avenging his betrayal by John Lorne during the 1314 wars of independence.

The fragile, two-minute fragment has excited film historians including Janette McBain, archive curator at Scottish Screen, who said: "It is a unique find. Prior to Braveheart it is one of the first films to depict Scotland's early history."

The French Production Company, Pathe, produced the 18-minute film entitled, Robert Bruce, Episodes des Guerres de l'Independence Ecossaise.

Thistle Spotting

Colin Nawrot, a Scottish film preservation officer working at the Netherlands National Audiovisual Archive, discovered the film while sorting out a collection of unidentified newsreels in February last year. He said: "I first spotted the thistle hanging from the actor's neck."

Nawrot then noticed the familiar name of John de Lorne and the signature of Robert the Bruce.
He added: "It was nice to find something Scottish for a change. But the biggest kick of all was finding the script was based on John Barbour's romantic epic poem, The Bruce.

Nawrot began making inquiries to other archives around the world, believing there would be other copies of the film. To his surprise, larger archives in Copenhagen and the US did not have any record of the movie.

Older Still

Nawrot then contacted McBain at Scottish Screen in Glasgow. McBain made inquiries to the British Film Institute in London which established the film was older than any of them believed, having been made in 1911.

Spurred on by news of the film's age and its apparent rarity, Nawrot next contacted the French National Archive and a Pathe film expert with the intention of tracking any remaining segments of the film.

Elation, Tinged With Sadness

The response he received from the French archives was to prove pivotal in Nawrot's search.
All he received from the FNA was a journal dated 1911, which announced the film's screening in France, Britain and The Netherlands with a small print of the starring actors and a brief synopsis of the production. He said: "At that point I knew I had stumbled on to something special. My feeling was one of elation."

However, his pleasure at finding the only surviving remnant of the picture was mixed with sadness at the tiny proportion of the original he had managed to salvage. Nawrot is not, however, giving up the search. He said: "I am confident that we will find some more of the film eventually. Every day, I am amazed at what is found in archives around the world.''

The Destructive Tendency

But why do only two minutes of the original 18 remain? Nawrot believes this is the result of the common practice in the early days of the film industry of destroying film after its period of release.
He said: "The films were destroyed and because of this practice someone may have kept a mere snippet of film for posterity.''

Having discovered the film, his next job was to make sure it was preserved for future generations.
The nitrate fragment of The Bruce was sent to Amsterdam to be duplicated, once for the Dutch Audiovisual Archive and again, for Scottish Screen in Glasgow.

The discovery of the film gives a fascinating and rare insight into how Scots were represented in the early days of film. Intriguingly, and to the credit of the Pathe Production Company, that with the exception of the thistle already mentioned, there are no stereotypical Scottish features such as tartan and kilts in the film.

The French Tendency

Nawrot said: "It reflects how seriously the French studio took their productions at the time, despite the fact they were churning out thousands of short films each year."

The discovery and preservation of The Bruce also highlights the massive amount of early cinematic material which has been destroyed and continues to be lost, said Nawrot.

He believes greater attention and care must be given to unidentified early films.
He said: "Every day, many articles are destroyed because of poor cataloguing and relations between archives. So, in the future, communication between archives needs to be improved to prevent the needless destruction of important works."