Pearl Fishing (1961)

Perth, Scotland.



Various shots of the beautiful Scottish countryside; rolling hills and a babbling stream - aah, the joys of nature!



A Hillman estate car pulls up beside the South Esk River; Pearl Fisher Bill Abernethy gets out and, with the help of his father, takes from the roof of the car a primitive-looking canvas boat. Commentator tells us Bill was taught everything he knows about pearl fishing by his father. Bill carries it on his shoulder to the river, gets in and starts to float slowly down the river on the current.



M/S of him lying on his front on the boat, looking for mussels through a glass-bottomed bucket and holding onto a forked stick which he uses to fish the mussels out with.



Nice M/S looking up the river with mountains seen in the background. We then see Bill on the river bank in waders; he climbs down into the river and walks about, looking through the bucket. He finds a mussel and sits on the river bank to open it up. C/U of the open mussel shows there is a pearl inside; Bill puts it in a small cotton-wool-lined tin with lots of others.



C/U of hundreds of pearls spread out o a sheet of paper; one is picked out with tweezers and weighed by jewellers assistant Rosemary McCullum at a goldsmiths in Perth. We pan across another pile of pearls to show some pearl necklaces and brooches.



Note: On file is an article from The Guardian about Bill, and a copy of a letter from Pathe to Bill about the filming of this story.
FILM ID:145.06

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