Themes: Journey of Self-Discovery, Otherwise Engaged, Opposites Attract
Main Cast: Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey, Pamela Brown, George Carney, Petula Clark, Walter Hudd
Release Year: 1945
Country: UK
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
While awaiting access to England's Technicolor cameras for their upcoming super-production Stairway to Heaven, the producer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger dashed off a delightful "personal" project, I Know Where I'm Going. Young middle-class Englishwoman Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) is determined to have the finer things in life, and to that end she plans to marry Sir Robert Bellinger (Norman Shelley), a wealthy, middle-aged industrialist whom she does not love. En route to the Island of Mull, where her future husband resides, Joan is stranded in a colorful Scottish seacoast town. Inclement weather keeps her grounded for a week, during which time she falls in love with young, insouciant naval officer Torquil McNeil (Roger Livesey). Ignoring the dictates of her heart (not to mention common sense), Joan stubbornly insists upon heading out to sea towards her marriage of convenience, but the exigencies of Mother Nature finally convince her that her future resides on the Mainland. A winner all the way, I Know Where I'm Going is full of large and small delights, including a wonderful sense of regional detail and endearing, three-dimensional characterizations (even the mercenary heroine is a likeable character). The film is easily one of the best of the Powell-Pressburger films of the 1940s, and arguably the team's all-time best romantic drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Michael Powell's and Ermeric Pressburger's I Know Where I'm Going was an unexpected movie at the time of its release. The two filmmakers, who usually shared joint credit as writer-producer-directors, had previously delighted audiences (and outraged officialdom) with their unusual films dealing with war-related subjects: 49th Parallel, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, and A Canterbury Tale. I Know Where I'm Going was set during the war but takes place in Scotland, far from the fighting; the only sign of the world war being fought is the presence of some men in uniform, the austerity of life, and the fact that the hero (Roger Livesey) has only a short leave home, his first visit in five years. But the real focus of I Know Where I'm Going was how people would live, and approach life, after the war: specifically, whether the heroine (Wendy Hiller) would continue to be motivated by materialism or whether she (and the audience) would learn something better. Powell and Pressburger, who went corporately and creatively under the name of The Archers, had a message to send: that there were more joys to be found in the texture of life than in any material comforts, and that this lesson would be a more vital result of the war than the military victory that was already taken for granted. In many ways, I Know Where I'm Going was the first postwar film, anticipating such American classics as The Best Years of Our Lives, It's a Wonderful Life, and even, on the darker side of life, Crossfire. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Norman Shelley - Sir Robert Bellinger; Finlay Currie - Ruairdh Mor; Capt. Duncan MacKechnie - Captain of "Lochinvar"; Nancy Price - Mrs. Crozier; Capt. C.W.R. Knight - Col. Barnstaple; Catherine Lacey - Mrs. Robinson; Valentine Dyall - Mr. Robinson; John Laurie - John Campbell; Ian Sadler - Ian; Jean Cadell - Postmistress; Murdo Morrison - Kenny; Margot Fitzsimmons - Bridie; Arthur Chesney - Harmonica Player; Anthony Eustrel - Hooper; Jean Houston - Singer in the Céilidh; Maxwell Kennedy - Singer in the Céilidh; Kitty Kirwan - Mrs. Campbell; Herbert Lomas - Mr. Campbell; Duncan McIntyre - Old Shepherd's Son; Ivy Milton - Peigi; Graham Moffatt - RAF Sergeant; John Rae - Old Shepherd; Boyd Stevens - Singer in the Céilidh; Donald Strachan - Shepherd; Alec Faversham - Martin
Credit
Alfred Junge - Art Director, George R. Busby - Associate Producer, Michael Powell - Director, Emeric Pressburger - Director, John Seabourne - Editor, Allan Gray - Composer (Music Score), Walter Goehr - Musical Direction/Supervision, Cecil Cooney - Camera Operator, Erwin Hillier - Cinematographer, Michael Powell - Producer, Emeric Pressburger - Producer, George Blackwell - Special Effects, Charles Staffell - Special Effects, Gordon K. McCallum - Sound/Sound Designer, Michael Powell - Screenwriter, Emeric Pressburger - Screenwriter
Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) is a young middle-class Englishwoman with an ambitious, independent spirit. She knows where she's going, or she thinks she does. She travels from her home in Manchester to the Hebrides to marry Sir Robert Bellinger, a very wealthy, much older industrialist, on the Isle of Kiloran.
When bad weather postpones the final leg of her journey—a boat to Kiloran—she is forced to wait it out on the Isle of Mull, among a community of people whose values are quite foreign to her. There she meets Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesey), a handsome naval officer trying to go home to Kiloran for some shore leave. They spend the night in the nearby home of Torquil's friend, Catriona Potts (Pamela Brown).
The next day, on their way to catch a bus into town, they come upon the ruins of Moy Castle. Joan wants to take a look inside, but Torquil refuses to go in. When she reminds him that the terrible curse only applies to the Laird of Kiloran, Torquil introduces himself: he is the laird, and Bellinger has only leased his island. As the bad weather turns into a full-scale gale, Torquil takes advantage of the delay to woo Joan, who becomes increasingly torn between her ambition and her growing attraction to him.
Desperate to salvage her carefully-laid plans, Joan tries to persuade Ruairidh Mhór (Finlay Currie) to take her across to the island immediately, but the experienced sailor knows conditions are far too dangerous. Joan manages to bribe young Kenny (Murdo Morrison) into attempting it by offering him enough money to buy a half share in Ruairidh's boat and marry Ruairidh's daughter Bridie (Margot Fitzsimons). Torquil learns of the scheme and tries to talk Joan out of it, but when she proves adamant, he invites himself aboard. The boat's engine gets flooded and they are caught in the Corryvreckan whirlpool, but Torquil is able to restart the motor just in time and they return safely to Mull.
At last, the weather clears. Joan asks Torquil for a parting kiss before they go their separate ways. Torquil enters Moy Castle, and the curse takes effect almost immediately. Centuries earlier, Torquil's ancestor had stormed the castle to capture his unfaithful wife and her lover. He had them bound together and cast into a water-filled dungeon with only a small stone to stand upon. When their strength gave out, they dragged each other into the water, but not before she placed a curse on all the Lairds of Kiloran. Any who dared to step over the threshold would be chained to a woman to the end of his days. From the battlement, Torquil sees Joan marching resolutely toward him.
Cast
Mrs. Webster and Kiloran watching the céilidh dance
From various topographical references and a map briefly shown in the film, it is clear that the Isle of Kiloran is based on Colonsay. The name Kiloran was borrowed from one of Colonsay's bays, Kiloran Bay. The heroine of the film is trying to get to Kiloran (Colonsay), but nobody ever gets there. No footage was shot on Colonsay.
One of the most complex scenes is the small boat battling through the Corryvreckan whirlpool. This was a clever combination of footage shot at Corryvreckan between the Hebridean islands of Scarba and Jura and the Gray Dogs (Bealach a'Choin Ghlais) between Scarba and Lunga.[4]
There are some long distance shots looking down over the area, shot from one of the islands.
There are some middle distance and close-up shots that were made from a small boat with a hand-held camera.
There were some model shots, done in the tank at the studio. These had gelatin added to the water so that it would hold its shape better and would look better when scaled up. Usually the way that waves break and the size of water drops is a give-away for model shots done in a tank.
Then there were also the close-up shots of the people in the boat. These were all done in the studio, with a boat on gimbals being rocked in all directions by some hefty studio hands while other studio hands threw buckets of water at them. These were filmed with the shots made from the boat with the hand-held camera projected behind them.
Even then, there was further trickery where they joined together some of the long and middle distance shots with those made in the tank in a single frame.[5]
Roger Livesey was not able to travel to Scotland, as he was performing in a West End play, The Banbury Nose by Peter Ustinov, so all of his scenes were shot in the studio at Denham and a double was used in all of his scenes shot in Scotland. These shots were then mixed so that the same scene would often have a middle distance shot of the double and then a closeup of Livesey or a shot of the double's back and then a shot showing Livesey's face.
John Laurie was the choreographer and arranger for the ceilidh sequences.[6] The puirt a beul was performed by Boyd Steven, Maxwell Kennedy and Jean Houston of the Glasgow Orpheus Choir.[7]
Reception
The film has received accolades from many critics:
"I've never seen a picture which smelled of the wind and rain in quite this way nor one which so beautifully exploited the kind of scenery people actually live with, rather than the kind which is commercialized as a show place." - Raymond Chandler, Letters.[8]
"The cast makes the best possible use of some natural, unforced dialogue, and there is some glorious outdoor photography." - The Times, November 14, 1945
"[It] has interest and integrity. It deserves to have successors." - The Guardian, November 16, 1945
"I reached the point of thinking there were no more masterpieces to discover, until I saw I Know Where I'm Going!" - Martin Scorsese[3]
The film critic Barry Norman included it among his 100 greatest films of all time.
