McArthur, Colin 1934–

PERSONAL: Born May 21, 1934, in Glasgow, Scotland; son of Colin (a sheet-metal worker) and Helen (a domestic servant; maiden name, Kirsop) McArthur; married Valeria Alcala, 1963 (divorced, 1972); married Tara Ramdeen (a teacher), 1972; children: Elena, Marni, Ravi. Ethnicity: "White." Education: University of Glasgow, M.A. (with honors), 1961; Jordanhill College of Education, teacher's certificate, 1962. Politics: "Socialist."

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 6 Salem Rd., London W2 4BU, England.

CAREER: Schoolteacher in England, 1962–68; British Film Institute, London, England, head of distribution division, 1968–84; writer and part-time teacher, 1984–. Military service: British Army, private, 1952–54.

WRITINGS:

Underworld U.S.A., Viking (New York, NY), 1972.

Television and History, British Film Institute (London, England), 1978.

(Editor) Scotch Reels: Scotland in Cinema and Television, British Film Institute (London, England), 1982.

(With Ian Barnard) Director's Guide, Elsevier Science and Technology (Oxford, England), 1990.

(With Fritz Lang) The Big Heat, British Film Institute (London, England), 1992.

The Casablanca File, Half Brick Images (London, England), c. 1992.

Whisky Galore! and the Maggie: A British Film Guide, I.B. Tauris & Co. (London, England), 2002.

Brigadoon, Braveheart, and the Scots: Distortions of Scotland in Hollywood Cinema, I.B. Tauris & Co. (London, England), 2003.

Contributor to books, including From Limelight to Satellite, edited by E. Dick, [London, England]; Scots on Scotch, edited by P. Hills, Mainstream (Edinburgh, Scotland); Random Access, edited by P. Buchler, [London, England]; Border Crossing, edited by J. Hill and others, [London, England]; and The Cinematic City, edited by D.B. Clark, Routledge (London, England). Contributor to periodicals, including Journal for the Study of British Cultures and Scottish Affairs.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A critical work about the clash between notions of "high art" and "mass art" in Hollywood movies, 1930–60; two screenplays.

SIDELIGHTS: Colin McArthur told CA: "At one level, writing—whether of film criticism or screenplays—is a psychological necessity. At another level it is an attempt to understand and comment on the world.

"Although much of my early critical writing was on Hollywood, and it has remained an abiding critical interest, in recent years much of both my critical and creative writing has been about Scotland, particularly about its historical representation in art and discourse and the ideological and political implications of this in modern Scotland.

"The major influences on my critical writing have been the writers Edward Said, Tom Nairn, and Malcolm Chapman, and on my screenplays the political thrillers of Constantine Costa-Gavras and Francesco Rosi.

"My writing process is almost a form of automatic writing in that I am rarely fully conscious of what I want to say until I write it. Much of the material relevant to (particularly) critical writing lies like an iceberg below the conscious mind, but seeps to the surface in the process of writing."