At the movies

IN THE FIRST of a new series we share a bucket of popcorn and a jumbo soft drink with Linsay asking about her favourite film.

After over 30 years in marketing and public relations, she opened Art & Craft Collective, a gallery and gift shop on the Southside of Edinburgh which celebrates its fifth birthday this year.

Linsay said: “I’ve loved cinema almost all my life: I remember being allowed to stay up late and watch King Kong in black and white on the TV with my gran when I was about five. I was thrilled to be up late but terrified! I don’t count scary movies amongst my favourites.”

MY TOP FILM - THE SEARCHERS

“I’ve chosen a film I can watch time and again: The Searchers, the 1956 Western starring John Wayne and Natalie Wood, directed by John Ford. I’m not a massive John Wayne or Western fan but this is a classic. Beautifully filmed and a subtle story.

“Natalie Wood plays the young daughter of a homesteader captured by Comanches and taken to live with the tribe. Wayne is the uncle who searches for her long after everyone else has given up. I won’t spoil the end but it is bitter sweet and unexpected. I love it for the dogged determination of John Wayne’s character who won’t be persuaded from what he believes is right. He succeeds against the odds but is shown as a rather sad loner who ploughs his own furrow.“

“It is a good metaphor for the small business owner: don’t be distracted from what you believe is the right path. Keep trying despite setbacks. Accept that sometimes it is a lonely road but hold true to your vision to succeed.

“I watched the ‘women’s pictures’ of the 1930s and 1940s starring Bette Davis or Joan Crawford, often on TV on Saturday afternoons when I was a teenager and there were only three channels. I think I absorbed a sense of style from these movies and an image of a strong woman and how she should behave - outdated now but served me well in the formative years of my career.”