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I Know Where I'm Going [1945]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Having seen I Know Where I'm Going, Martin Scorsese (a huge fan of filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger) declared that there were no more classics to be made in cinema. The film tells the story of Wendy Hiller's unromantic but determined young bride-to-be Joan Webster, setting forth to the Isle of Mull to marry an elderly millionaire. However, on reaching Kiloran she's prevented by adverse weather from reaching the island and must bunk down in a hotel with naval lieutenant and, it transpires, penniless Laird Torquil McNeil (Roger Livesey).

It's not hard to predict the outcome of this saga but getting there is a wonderful journey. Hiller, more famous for playing less pretty elders in later life in the likes of Murder on the Orient Express, is splendid as the softening pragmatist, while Livesey, frequently used by Powell/Pressburger, again embodies a combination of British no-nonsense decency and romanticism. The strongest, most magical presence in the movie, even in black and white, is that of the Scottish scenery, beautiful and volatile and somehow serving to aid and abet the happy ending. --David Stubbs


One of the world's great films, and romantic without being sentimental
Review date: 2007-06-06 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is one of the great romantic movies, and like all of the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger films, it's quirky and original. Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) has always known where she's going. She's headstrong and determined to marry a man who is wealthy and has position. Her fiance is an industrialist (this is at the tail end of WWII), older than she, who is living on a leased island off the coast of Scotland. They're to be married on the island, and Joan takes the train to a small village on the coast, where she'll go across on the ferry. Bad weather sets in and she has to wait at the home of another woman, a woman of common sense and little money, who also has staying with her an old friend and naval commander, Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesey).

This is Joan Webster's story, her determination to get to the island, her growing unease with MacNeil because he doesn't fit into her plans, her putting at risk a young couple who are in love and, as she comes to realize, may have better values than she does. Of course, there's a legend about the lairds of Kiloran, with a curse carved into the walls of a crumbling castle. There are villagers who are unique but not condescended to. There is an atmosphere of fog and mist and sun which is beautifully photographed. There is a storm-swept boat journey into the teeth of a giant whirlpool, all the scarier because it was filmed in the days before CGO.

Roger Livesey is terrific as MacNeil, the last of the lairds of Kiloran. He made this movie only a couple of years after he did The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp for the Archers. Here he finds himself attracted to this headstrong young woman, then falling in love with her.

Pamela Brown plays his friend. She was a first-rate actress plagued with bad health. Here she's all common sense but with also a great deal of understanding. She's a wonderful looking creature.

And there's Wendy Hiller. In my view this is the best movie role she ever had. She nails the part with her certitude, her unease knowing that despite her intentions her plans may be changing, her final recognition that she has been wrong about a lot of things.

At the end, MacNeil enters the ruins and breaks the curse...and we realise what the curse was really all about...then hears in the distance the pipers playing, slowly growing louder. These were the pipers hired to play at Joan's wedding and he last saw them and Joan as they prepared to sail across to the island. He looks out and sees the pipers, led by Joan, marching along the road toward him. And then, without strings or lush orchestrations, the old Scottish folk song kicks in sung simply...

I know where I'm going,
I know who's going with me,
The Lord knows who I love,
But the de'il knows who I'll marry.

I'll have stockings of silk,
Shoes of fine green leather,
Combs to buckle my hair
And a ring for every finger.

Feather beds are soft,
Painted rooms are bonny;
But I'd leave them all
To go with my love Johnny.

Some say he's dark,
I say he's bonny,
He's the flower of them all
My handsome, coaxing Johnny.

Well, if you don't get choked up, all you have beating in your chest is a hunk of muscle.

This is one of the great Powell and Pressburger movies. It's not just romantic, but it's romantic without being sentimental. It's a great story and a great film.

If you have an all-region DVD player you should consider the Region 1 Criterion release. The Criterion DVD transfer is excellent and the extra features are extremely good.

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Reviews


There's always someone
Review date: 2007-06-05 Rating: 6 out of 10

I hate to be a killjoy but I bought the DVD of this film having read all the rave reviews on Amazon, but I was disappointed. Yes, the sets are interesting and give a glimpse of life in a distant time and place, but the acting is stiff and unconvincing and everything about this film seems too obviously contrived. You can't empathise with any of the characters. They are just too 'stiff upper lip'. Don't get me wrong, I was born in the (v late) forties, I have great nostalgia for the 50s and love the classic films of that time, but frankly, we can do this sort of thing so much better now. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

Great film!
Review date: 2007-05-07 Rating: 10 out of 10

I know where I'm going is one of my favourite film. This fil is deceptively simple, but makes most modern romantic comedies look rather boring! A young lady gets on the main land waiting to travel to an island in the Inner Hebrides to get married and finds herself always in the company of a charming navel officer..
The chemistry between the two is interesting to watch, so real it could be real life. He is always leaning in towards her or moving close to her. She is strongly attracted, but she fights it as well.
The photography is spectacular.





Be sure to obtain the Criterion version.
Review date: 2006-04-28 Rating: 10 out of 10

"I know where I'm going,
I know who's going with me,"

A young lady (Windy Hiller) pretty much knows what she wants in life. On her way to her wedding on a remote Scottish island she is delayed long enough to experience a different way of life and a reality that she was never exposed to. Here she finds different values and the difference between real nobility and the early version of plastic money. She is overwhelmed by her new discovery and the man (Roger Livesey) who introduced her to it. Now she must desperately escape or be lost forever in this different world.

I was surprised to find that a young girl in the movie was Petula Clark.

There are advantages to having a movie with a story that is not based on a book. You can enjoy the story for what it is and not have to compare. However this may make a good play. In the Criterion extras you will find speculation on the pro's and con's of remaking the movie.

This film is impressive on its own but the Criterion treatment adds many fascinating dimensions that make you have to re-watch the film just to se the parts that you missed while paying attention though the plotline and scenery.

There is a commentary track that covers the entire film. A behind the scenes stills that even has a commentary. Home movies add to the information about the designers of the story and producers. There is a section from "The edge of the World." A great insight and a different way off looking at the story are found in "I Know Where I'm Going! Revisited" a 30 minute making of. The location photo essay allows you to see if the color is what you imagined (maybe better).


Nostalic, enchanting, beautiful
Review date: 2005-10-17 Rating: 10 out of 10

I love this little gem of a film. It's a romance about a spirited and somewhat annoying and stubborn young woman (Wendy Hiller), who becomes engaged to a wealthy older man, simply because it is materially advantageous for her to do so. She travels to the Western Isles of Scotland, hoping to meet up with her fiancé, but when the bad weather keeps her stranded, she encounters the local laird (played by the wonderful Roger Livesey), and her plans, as well as her feelings begin to go awry.

The story will at first, seem rather quaint and old fashioned to the modern viewer, as will the character's mannerisms and speech, but the film captures a wonderful mythic, fairytale atmosphere, which is both nostalgic and enchanting. It's also a metaphorical love story, a scathing critique of materialism, just as relevant to us today as it was back in the 1940s.

Much of the film is shot on location, using local people as extras - though, incredibly the scenes with Livesey were all done in the studio. Powell's sensitive feel for myth and landscape yields some extraordinarily haunting and beautiful scenes, and the dream sequence is ingenious and delightful - it's a technical masterpiece, admired by all the great directors of today, including Scorcese. A film that will appeal to aspiring movie-makers and those who still have romance in their souls!

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Roger Livsey
Wendy Hiller

Creators:
Roger Livsey (Primary Contributor)
Wendy Hiller (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: ITV DVD
Manufacturer: ITV DVD
EAN: 5037115050830
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Black & White, PAL,
Release date: 2003-07-07
Audience rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region code: 2
Running time: 91 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1945
Language: English (Original Language)

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