Chris Mylne made a great many films during his career, as this list demonstrates. In the large majority of cases, he performed all the main roles himself – as cameraman, sound-recordist, editor, director and producer; for many films he also wrote the script and narrated the commentary. Significant exceptions are noted in the right-hand column.
The 3rd column indicates which films are held by the Scottish Moving Image Archive (National Library of Scotland), and a link is included if it is available to view online. The 4th column indicates which films are available to view from this site, and links re-direct to the relevant page.
Title | Year | Copy in SMIA? | Available on this site? | Made for | Notes |
The Isle of Foula | 1955/6 | No | No | Silent, colour | |
Brathay on Foula | 1956 | No | Yes | Brathay Expedition Group | Silent, B/W |
St Kilda | 1957 | Yes | No | National Trust for Scotland | Silent, colour. Shows the village before restoration, and the early Army encampment; edited by WJ MacLean |
Highland Birds | 1957 | Yes | No | RSPB | Initial filming by George Edwards; commentary by James Fisher |
Island of Birds | 1958 | No | No | RSPB | About Havergate Island in Suffolk |
Reed Warblers | 1958 | No | No | RSPB | B/W, commentary by Philip Brown |
Reserved for Birds | 1958 | No | Yes | RSPB | Commentary by James Fisher |
Sea Bird Summer | 1959 | No | No | RSPB | Commentary by James Fisher |
Foula Visit | 1959 | No | Yes | Silent, B/W; informal record of visit to make BBC Radio programme | |
Isle of Foula | 1959 | No | Yes | Silent, colour; extended version of the 1955/6 film | |
Isle of May Bird Observatory | 1959 | No | No | RSPB | Silent, B/W |
Garden Birds | 1960 | No | No | RSPB | Commentary by David Attenborough |
Urchin of the Hedgerow | 1961 | No | No | BBC “Look” series | On hedgehogs |
Swallows at the Mill | 1962 | No | Yes (incomplete) | RSPB | Chris was made an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS) for this film |
Ospreys Return | 1962 | No | Yes | RSPB | Silent, B/W; edited by PE Brown & FD Hamilton |
A Waterbird’s World | 1962 | No | No | RSPB | Chris was made a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS) for this film, in 1964 |
Birds of Strathspey | 1962 | No | No | RSPB | Additional film and commentary by Anthony Clay |
St Kilda, the Lonely Islands | 1967 | Yes | Yes | Films of Scotland | Shown on BBC1 and BBC2 |
Vikings of Shetland | 1968 | Yes (clip only) | No | Educational Films of Scotland | About Up Helly Aa |
Return of the Reindeer | 1968 | No | No | Educational Films of Scotland | |
Stranger on the Bass | 1968 | Yes | Yes | Educational Films of Scotland | About a Black-browed Albatross in a gannet colony |
A Place for Wildlife | 1970 | No | No | Scottish Wildlife Trust | Shown on BBC Scotland; Bronze Medal, Budapest Film Festival 1971 |
Operation Osprey | 1970 | Yes | No | RSPB | |
Isle of Rhum | 1970 | Yes | Yes | Films of Scotland | Special Prize of the Jury, Budapest Film Festival 1971; also available for purchase on DVD from Panamint Cinema |
NTS Appeal | 1971 | Yes | No | National Trust for Scotland | Promotional film to attract new members |
Who Cares for Scotland? | 1972 | No | No | Countryside Commission for Scotland | Shown on BBC1 |
Open Today | 1972 | Yes | No | Scotland’s Garden Scheme | |
A Sampling of Scotland | 1973 | Yes | No | National Trust for Scotland | |
Proud Predators | 1973 | No | Yes | Scottish birds of prey | |
Canal Boys | 1974 | No | No | Set on the Union Canal, Linlithgow | |
The Booby Prize | 1975 | No | No | Edited and produced by Chris, using film taken by Bryan Nelson, about boobies on Christmas Island | |
A Pride of Penguins | 1976 | Yes | No | Films of Scotland | Shot in 35mm. Certificate of Merit, 13th International Film Festival, Chicago |
A Day on Handa | 1976 | No | No | ||
Who Cares for Animals? | 1976 | No | No | Scottish SPCA | |
Shetland Inspector | 1977 | No | No | Scottish SPCA | |
Owls | 1977 | No | Yes | Educational Films of Scotland | |
The Highlands for Wildlife | 1978 | Yes | No | Scottish Wildlife Trust | |
Scotland – a Heritage | 1979 | No | Yes | National Trust for Scotland | Commentary by Iain Cuthbertson; shown on BBC1 |
Fair Isle – the Happy Island | 1979 | Yes | Yes | ||
Wildlife of St Kilda | 1980 | Yes | Yes | ||
St Kilda Story | 1980 | No | Yes | Commentary by Magnus Magnusson | |
The Sletthallen Project | 1982 | No | No | Hans Rasmus Astrup | A story of grouse estate management in Norway |
The Remarkable Willow Grouse | 1982 | No | Yes | Shown on BBC, 1983; edited version later shown on ITV; screened at Wildscreen 84 | |
A Caring Society | 1987 | Yes | Yes | Scottish SPCA | |
Thrushes | 1986/7 | N/A | N/A | Anglia TV | Never completed |
Action for Animals | 1988 | Yes | No | Scottish SPCA |
Note on equipment
For most of Chris’s film-making career, his principal equipment consisted of:
- Bolex EL 16mm cine camera with Angenieux 10:1 zoom lens and Vario-Switar 18-100 Zoom, plus 2,400 foot magazines
- Back-up Bolex H16 clockwork cine camera
- Kilfitt 400mm and 600mm f5.6 telephoto lenses
- Switar 10mm, 25mm, 100mm and 150mm lenses
- Bolex tripod with Miller fluid head
- Uher 4000 Report-L portable tape-recorder and Grampian DP4 microphone
Film was mostly Kodak Ektachrome (High Speed or Commercial) Reversal or Fuji Reversal; latterly Eastman or Fuji colour negative (High Speed).
The earliest films were edited in the Genetics Department of Edinburgh University. All his freelance films were made in a home editing suite where films were viewed, cut and spliced, and sound-tracks added.