WHO could forget the exciting surge of pride when the contingent representing the island "showed the flag" parading in their Bermuda shorts at Salt Lake's Winter Olympics opening ceremony?

It's about to happen again and in a few weeks we'll be taking readers to Greece, exploring some special travel possibilities for those attending the summer Olympics.

Focusing in that direction, this Easter week it seemed appropriate to concentrate on something with a strong positive message. And since Bermudians are still thinking and talking films after the annual international film festival, a particular film . . . one of this writer's personal favourites . . . immediately came to mind.

It combines everything . . . a powerful message . . . the 1924 Olympics . . . and a look at some very worthy travel destinations. is high on my top ten list. But it got off to a very tenuous start.

I'll never forget the way it was launched. Before release, films are normally screened in two ways. There's an exhibitor screening months in advance so theatre owners can bid on the production. Then just before the film opens, the press are invited to another screening to prepare their review.

But our weekly travel column about films made on interesting locations around the world needed to be at a few weeks in advance. That section of the paper was pre-printed early. And with each enhancement of its enormous printing plant, deadlines somehow got even earlier.

For that reason we were the only press allowed to attend exhibitor screenings. But only after solemnly promising never to make comments to theatre owners that might influence their opinion. No matter how ghastly a film might be, it was out of the question to leave . . . and there were times you wanted to! But we kept our promise, making no comments. But theatre owners certainly made many colourful ones!

Sometimes, because of conflicting travel commitments, we attended regular studio press screenings with fellow journalists like Claudia Cassidy, Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert and others. Ebert always appeared with giant shopping bag-size popcorn and sat in the back row consuming it.

Before release of , we received a call from an executive of Plitt Theatres, the giant chain which had purchased Balaban and Katz threatres. We knew him well from screenings held in the screening room above the Chicago Theatre, which it owned.

"We'd like to have a personal screening of a film for you and Jim," he said. "I know you two like Masterpiece Theatre productions (we often wrote about them) and it's that kind of production. But I just don't think it's commercial."

"Commercial" is theatre trade jargon for: "We don't think it will sell and make a good profit." Our impression was totally different. We felt it so powerful a film it would likely win an Academy Award, which it eventually did. Four of them, in fact.

How often have you seen a film in recent years that you felt warranted a second viewing? We personally found the settings, story-line and musical score of so intriguing that after that initial screening, we ignored jet lag to watch it a second time en route home from Australia via Qantas. That airline has a policy of showing such first-run films, so that it was being featured on board a month before its release in Chicago.

Filmed in the tradition of classic British art films and definitely reminiscent of a Masterpiece Theatre-type production, it tells the story of two swift and exceptional young men with their eyes on the 1924 Olympic gold medal for track.

is a Jewish law student at Cambridge who runs to prove he can excel in an Anglo-Saxon world, the other an aspiring Presbyterian missionary who runs for God. Their story is all the more fascinating because it is true.

The film locations are as impressive as the story. Settings range from the stately halls of Cambridge (just over an hour from London) to the marvellously moody landscapes of Scotland's countryside and Edinburgh's environs. It is easy to see why Eric Liddell, the China-born son of Scots missionaries, takes such pride in being a Scot and considers his Highlands so special. Although those sequences are short, they capture the beauty which later prompts him to say: "It's a sight and a half, isn't it?"

In those sequences, the vast openness of heather-covered mountains with scenery stretching far as the eye can see is wondrous. And it makes one catch one's breath just remembering the scene where he runs in a competition with the distracting view in the background.

It's actually Sma' Glen near Perth, used as site of the Highland Games where Liddell hands out prizes. The Scotland-Ireland athletic meeting where he preaches to the crowd was filmed at Inverleith, Edinburgh. You'll also catch a glimpse of him running with the famous castle in the background, as well as other Edinburgh locations.

What about that dramatic opening scene with athletes running along an isolated beach with Vangelis theme music swelling as high as the surf? That was West Sands Beach, St. Andrews, Scotland.

Anyone who has visited that area will also understand the absolute devotion with which Sunday is observed, a very key factor in the film's plot.

my first trip to Harris-Lewis in the Outer Hebrides (and there have been many because of my fondness for both the Inner and Outer Hebrides), I learned planes did not fly or ferries run on that day. Food served on Sunday in the hotel dining room had been prepared on Saturday. One walked to church, did not drive. And except for churches, the area is quite literally sealed shut that day.

Locals were still talking about a photographer from who had gone out photographing on Sunday and returned to find his belongings packed and deposited outside the croft where he had rented a room.

Two Glasgow dentists were sitting in my Stornoway hotel's lounge before dinner. They were telling me about their research trip studying decay problems of local children's teeth, while having an aperitif from a bottle sitting on the sofa beside them. When the proprietor, a very formidable woman, entered the room, they immediately hid the bottle amid the cushions.

Travel restrictions are less stringent there today. But in this increasingly fast-paced world, it was refreshing to see the Sabbath being observed with devotion rather than totally ignored as it is in so many places.

So realistic is this production that one comes away feeling one has actually visited Cambridge and been a part of its campus life. And what a campus. As you will see, the guide books are not exaggerating when they describe "buildings of mediaeval splendour".

KING'S College Chapel, in fact, dates to the 15th century. We first discovered Cambridge en route back to London after exploring East Anglia, a little-known-but-worth-discovering area in the southeast of England. Truly a university town, it is even more impressive in person than seen on screen.

The quadrangle where Abrahams achieves a running feat unduplicated in 700 years is only one of many such sites. Emphasis is on Caius College, one of the many which make up the university. Queens', Trinity, St. John's and Jesus are other architectural standouts.

But the visitor with time will want to wander through the university at leisure exploring them all. Yes, those richly panelled halls and elegant quarters where Sir John Gielgud served as provost of Trinity College with such authority are indeed typical.

Harold Abrahams actually studied law here as shown, competed in the Olympics and went on to become a well-known English sports commentator, writer and barrister until his death in 1978.

Eric Liddell, the strong-principled Scots preacher who refused to break the Sabbath and compete in the Olympics on Sunday, even under pressure from the Prince of Wales, returned to China the year after his victory in the 1924 Olympics. He was interned by the Japanese in a prisoner-of-war camp at Weihsien, Shantung Province, where his death was announced in 1945.

"Life is a race," he had said in one of the sermons which often followed his competitions. "Everyone races in their own way." And that's really what this film is all about . . . the determination of two men driven to compete for different reasons and their refusal to accept defeat.

On a French Riviera cruise aboard a half a dozen years ago, an interesting film follow-up occurred. During a festive dinner at the captain's table, one of the guests was an Englishwoman involved in the film industry. It was an unusually long and crowded rectangular table. Passengers at our end were so interesting, those at the far side went unnoticed. At meal's end, the Englishwoman said: "I'd like to introduce you to my husband."

AND in great surprise, I found myself facing Nigel Havers who had been seated at the opposite end. He played an important film role as Lord Lindsay, the wealthy, titled student who . . . but I'd better not reveal what he did so as to spoil the suspense for those who haven't yet seen the film and will be renting or buying it.

Turns out Nigel and his wife were on board making a travelogue for British television. Each time we stopped to chat in places like Monte Carlo, St. Tropez and Nice, they were on their way to film a segment for the production. Getting in and out of a tender for just the right photo angle . . . carrying packages up the gangway from a shopping adventure in Cannes, etc.

NOT only did this widely acclaimed movie win "best film" at both American and British Academy Awards, but it did the same at Cannes Film Festival and Golden Globes.

Nominated for seven Oscars, it carried away four in the US . . . best picture, best musical score (a soaring, magical one by Vangelis) . . . best costume design and best supporting actor ? Ian Holm, who played the coach for Abrahams.

This is unquestionably a production that has everything ? travel, inspiration, superb acting and a great lesson in life . . .

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