The Tall Blond Man With One Black Shoe - 1972 A delightful French comedy from Yves Robert in which a bloated set of bagpipes falls on the floor and begins to play by itself.
TAPS - 1981 - A movie starring George C. Scott, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise, and Timothy Hutton about cadets at a military school who take arms to prevent its closing. Early in the film there is a scene of a pass & review of the cadets and there is a pipe and drum corps marching, but not playing. They flash by for roughly 5 seconds, just holding their pipes, and then they're gone.
Tea with Mussolini - When the allies marched into town, there were the pipers. A left handed piper (who?) was in the front rank.
The Three Lives of Thomasina - 1963 This Disney film has a little boy playing the pipes at a cat's funeral. Tomasina is the cat and and the boy plays Macintosh's Lament (very only a few mistakes) and Loch Lomond. He's obviously not really playing and his hands are reversed on the chanter. At one point he drops the pipes but the bag remains fully inflated.
Theodore Tugboat (PBS Children's TV series) In one episode, the harbor master tries to learn bagpipes.
Third Rock from the Sun - ( TV series) In one episode, as Harry flushes his pet spider down the toilet, Tommy plays Amazing Grace on the pipes. He doesn't even try to finger the chanter, though, which is probably just as well.
The Thirty Nine Steps -1978 A piper plays at an English manor where the hero is hiding out. The hero, Richard Hannay, played by Robert Powell, is on the run (literally, i.e. afoot) from a bunch of German spies (the setting is England & Scotland, immediately before WWI). He stumbles into a shooting party, gives a good account of himself, and is invited to join the group for dinner, where the guests are summoned downstairs by a piper. At the same party our Hannay catches the eye of a guest, Miss Alex Mackenzie (Karen Dotrice, also of The Three Lives of Thomasina, above), whom he wins in the end.
The Three Musketeers - The Queen's Diamonds - (1973) 105 minutes. Director Richard Lester and starring Oliver Reed, Charlton Heston and Raquel Welch, this is a comic version of Alexandre Dumas' adventure tale in a era of poverty and virtual slavery designed to satisfy the whims of the king. There is a Flemish piper performing at a coaching Inn.
The Three Stooges - but which movie? One had piping scenes in a Scottish isle. The film ended with a skeleton in a closet playing the pipes and terrifying the trio.
Tiny Toon Adventures - 1992 (9/16) Episode 82: My Brilliant Revenge. Plucky is practicing while Hamton is trying to watch TV. Hamton eventually gets fed up with repeatedly asking Plucky to stop and smashes the pipes. Plucky plots his revenge by rigging Hamton's chair up to blast the pipes on a recording full volume whenever Hamton sits in it. Before Hamton sets off the trap he apologizes to Plucky. Plucky tries to warn Hamton about the trap but is too late. Hamton sits, the trap springs, and Hamton's house gets destroyed by the ensuing explosion of pipe music. Apparently the tune Plucky is practicing is Scotland the Brave.
| What is the historical evidence for pipes on the Titanic? A third-class passenger, Eugene Daly, played the (highland) pipes on the tender going out to the ship and then played Erin's Lament on the deck as the ship sailed away. He survived; his pipes did not. He placed an insurance claim for them in the US for $50. When a few things were recently brought up from the Titanic, among them was a set of highland bagpipes in a leather case (Daly's?). |
Titanic - 1997 - Eric Rigler plays the Uilleann pipes on the ship.
Today Show - 1994 - One show (with Bryant Gumbal) was done from Edinburgh, Scotland. They had the Edinburgh Police Pipeband in full dress playing on the march in Princess Street Gardens.
Tommy Boy - 1995. This film contains a funeral for Tommy's father. A solo piper and a pipe band play Amazing Grace. It features a number of Saturday Night Live performers.
Traveller - 1981. A film from (about?) Ireland, directed by Joe Comerford and written by Neil Jordan. Davy Spillane plays the main role. He also plays the Uilleann pipes on two occasions: first a dance tune near the beginning and later a slow air. There is also a scene in a pub in which he plays a dance tune on the whistle. Is this movie also known as The Road North.
Treasure Island - 1950. Robert Newton plays Long John Silver. A tune called Setting Sail is played on the Galician pipes (gaita galega), however, the melody is based upon a Galician traditional song known as Muineira de Freixido. There was a 1934 version of Treasure Island in which Wallace Beery played Long John Silver, but no one has reported any piping in it.
Treasure Island - 1990 This TNT version of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic premiered on cable in 1991 and is now available on VHS. It stared Charlton Heston as Long John Silver and Christian Bale as Jim Hawkins, Oliver Reid as Captain Billy Bones, and Christopher Lee as Blind Pew. The Chieftains provide music (now available on their "Reel Music" CD), and the Uilleann pipes are the featured instrument.
Tristan and Isolde - 1979. This is a retelling of the Arthurian Romance featuring an original score by Paddy Moloney. This is perhaps the first example of an extended original composition on which the Uilleann pipes were combined with a full symphony orchestra and this set the stage for composers like Shaun Davey and Bill Whelan. Although the film was not released, it has made its way onto TV. It may be out on video. Star Trek fans take note: a young Kate Mulgrew plays Isolde. Other actors include Richard Burton, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Niall Toibin.
Trouble in the Glen - 1953 Orson Welles plays a boo-hiss character who inherits a property and a castle. The piping scenes contain the tunes The 42nd Highlanders and The Athol Highlanders, plus some others.
Trouble in Mind - 1985 Filmed in Seattle, Washington, USA the picture had a parade scene with the City of Seattle Pipe Band, with Pipe Major Ken Briggs and Drum Sgt. Buddy Maxwell. Trouble In Mind was directed by Alan Rudolph and starred Kris Kristofferson, Keith Carradine, Lori Singer, Genevieve Bujold, Devine, and John Carradine.
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Tunes of Glory - 1960 105 minutes. Directed by Ronald Neame and starring Alec Guinness and John Mills, this is supposed to be the all-time greatest piping movie, and indeed, the title refers to the bagpipe music. Alec Guinness plays a former Pipe Major and excellent piper, although he is not shown piping in the movie. He is now the Commander (Lt. Colonel) of a Battalion which seems to resemble the Gordons (although the tartan is an original which looks vaguely like MacDonald of Glengarry). The Commander's daughter (Susanna York in her first movie) causes her father great concern by becoming the sweetheart of a pipe corporal. Frequently to be heard is the tune, The Black Bear. The pipe band was that of the London Scottish Regiment under P/M Dee de Laspee. The film has been released on video.