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I Know Where I'm Going!
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Wikipedia article
'I Know Where I'm Going!' is a 1945 romance film by the British-based filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey, and features Pamela Brown and Finlay Currie.
Plot
Joan Webster is a 25-year-old middle-class Englishwoman with an ambitious, independent spirit. She knows where she's going, or at least she thinks she does. She travels from her home in Manchester to the Hebrides to marry Sir Robert Bellinger, a wealthy, much older industrialist, on the (fictitious) Isle of Kiloran.
When bad weather postpones the final leg of her journey (the boat trip to Kiloran), she is forced to wait it out on the Isle of Mull, among a community of people whose values are quite different from hers. There she meets Torquil MacNeil, a naval officer trying to go home to Kiloran while on shore leave. They are sheltered for the night in the nearby home of Torquil's friend, Catriona Potts.
The next day, on their way to catch a bus to Tobermory to find a telephone, 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 associated with it only applies to the laird of Kiloran, Torquil introduces himself: he 'is' the laird, and Bellinger has only leased his island. On the bus, the locals recount several disparaging stories about Bellinger. At the coastguard station in Tobermory, Joan is able to contact Bellinger on Kiloran. She and Torquil stay at the Western Isles Hotel in Tobermory. She asks him to eat at separate tables to avert gossip. As the bad weather worsens into a full-scale gale, Torquil spends more time with Joan, who becomes increasingly torn between her ambition and her growing attraction to him.
From there, they go to Achnacroish, where Joan is surprised to re-encounter Torquil, who feigns not to know her in the presence of others. They attend a ceilidh celebrating a diamond wedding anniversary. The pipers at the ceilidh are there by default as they are also trapped en route to Kiloran and were to play at Joan's wedding.
Joan suggests to Catriona that she could sell her property to get money. Catriona says, "money isn't everything".
Desperate to salvage her carefully laid plans, Joan tries to persuade Ruairidh Mhr to take her to Kiloran immediately, but he knows conditions are far too dangerous. Joan manages to bribe young Kenny into attempting it by offering him 20: enough money to buy a half-share in Ruairidh's boat and marry Ruairidh's daughter Bridie. Torquil learns of the scheme and tries to talk Joan out of it, but she is adamant. When Catriona tells Torquil that Joan is actually running away from him, he races to the quayside and invites himself aboard. En route, the boat's engine is flooded and they are nearly 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 on. When their strength gave out, they dragged each other into the water, but not before she placed a curse on the lairds of Kiloran. From the battlements, Torquil sees Joan, accompanied by three bagpipers, marching resolutely toward him. They meet in the castle, and embrace. An inscription describes the curse: if a MacNeil of Kiloran dares step over the threshold of Moy, he shall be chained to a woman to the end of his days, "and will die in his chains".
Torquil and Joan walk away together along the lane arm in arm. "I Know Where I'm Going" is sung as the end credits roll.
Cast
* Wendy Hiller as Joan Webster
* Roger Livesey as Torquil MacNeil aka Kiloran
* Pamela Brown as Catriona Potts
* Finlay Currie as Ruairidh Mhr
* George Carney as Mr Webster
* Nancy Price as Mrs Crozier
* Catherine Lacey as Mrs Robinson, a chatterbox friend of Bellinger's who is on holiday in the area
* Jean Cadell as the Postmistress
* John Laurie as John Campbell, son of the couple whose diamond anniversary cilidh Torquil and Joan attend
* Valentine Dyall as Mr. Robinson, a business associate of Bellinger's and Mrs. Robinson's husband
* Norman Shelley as Sir Robert Bellinger (voice)
* Margot Fitzsimons as Bridie
* Murdo Morrison as Kenny
* Captain C.W.R. Knight as Colonel Barnstaple, falconer and friend of Torquil and Catriona
* Walter Hudd as Hunter, one of Bellinger's employees
* Mr Ramshaw as Torquil, the Eagle
* John Rae as Old Shepherd
* Anthony Eustrel as Hooper
* Herbert Lomas as Mr Campbell
* Graham Moffatt as RAF Sergeant
* Petula Clark as Cheril, the precocious daughter of the Robinsons
*Making their third appearance in 'I Know Where I'm Going!' were director Michael Powell's golden cocker spaniels Erik and Spangle, who had previously appeared in 'Contraband' (1940) and 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' (1943), and went on to be seen in Powell and Pressburger's 'A Matter of Life and Death', also known as 'Stairway to Heaven' (1946).,
Production
Development
Powell and Pressburger wanted to make 'A Matter of Life and Death' but filming was held up because they wanted to do the film in colour and there was a shortage of colour cameras. (Technicolor cameras and technical specialists were mostly in Hollywood during the Second World War.)Pressburger suggested that instead they make a film that was part of the "crusade against materialism", a theme they had tackled in 'A Canterbury Tale', only in a more accessible romantic comedy format.MacDonald p 242
The story was originally called 'The Misty Island'. Pressburger wanted to make a film about a girl who wants to get to an island, but by the end of the film no longer wants to. Powell suggested an island on Scotland's west coast. He and Pressburger spent several weeks researching locations and decided on the Isle of Mull.
Pressburger wrote the screenplay in four days. "It just burst out, you couldn't hold back," he said.
The movie was originally meant to star Deborah Kerr and James Mason but Kerr could not get out of her contract with MGM, so they cast Wendy Hiller.MacDonald p 245 Hiller was originally cast in the three roles Kerr played in 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' but had to withdraw because she got pregnant.Powell and Pressburger: the war years
Badder, David. Sight and Sound; London Vol. 48, Iss. 1, (Winter 1978): 8.
Six weeks before filming, Mason pulled out of the movie, saying he did not want to go on location. Roger Livesey read the script and asked to play the role. Powell thought he was too old and portly but Livesey lost "ten or twelve pounds" (four or five kilos) and lightened his hair; Powell was convinced,Powell (1986) p 476 but Livesey was appearing in a West End play, 'The Banbury Nose', during the shoot, so he was unable to go on location.MacDonald p 243
Filming
Shooting took place on the Isle of Mull and at Denham Studios.It was the second and last collaboration between the co-directors and cinematographer Erwin Hillier (who shot the entire film without a light meter).In the documentary 'I Know Where I'm Going Revisited' (1994) on the Criterion DVD
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 shows the small boat battling the Corryvreckan whirlpool. This was a combination of footage shot at Corryvreckan between the Hebridean islands of Scarba and Jura, and Bealach a'Choin Ghlais (Sound of the Grey Dogs) between Scarba and Lunga.
*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.
*The close-up shots of the people in the boat were all done in the studio, with a boat on gimbals being rocked in all directions by some hefty studio hands while others threw buckets of water at them. These were filmed with the shots made from the boat with the hand-held camera projected behind them.
*Further trickery joined some of the long- and middle-distance shots together with those made in the tank into a single frame.
Though much of the film was shot in the Hebrides, Livesey was not able to travel to Scotland because he was performing in a West End play, 'The Banbury Nose' by Peter Ustinov, at the time of filming. Thus all his scenes were shot in the studio at Denham, and a double (coached by Livesey in London) was used in all of his scenes shot in Scotland. These 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 followed by a shot showing Livesey's face.Powell (1986): 476
The film was budgeted at 200,000 and went 30,000 over. The actors received 50,000, of which one third went to Hiller. The whirlpool cost 40,000.MacDonald
Powell shot a scene at the end of the film where Catriona follows Torquil into the castle, to emphasise her love for him, but decided to cut it.
Music
John Laurie was the choreographer and arranger for the cilidh sequences.Powell (1986: 537538) The puirt beul "Macaphee"[http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/45_IKWIG/Macaphee.html Macaphee song] was performed by Boyd Steven, Maxwell Kennedy and Jean Houston of the Glasgow Orpheus Choir. The song sung at the cilidh that Torquil translates for Joan is a traditional Gaelic song "Ho ro, mo nighean donn bhidheach", originally translated into English as "Ho ro My Nut Brown Maiden" by John Stuart Blackie in 1882. It is also played by three pipers marching toward Moy Castle at the start of the final scene. The film's other music is traditional Scottish and Irish songs[http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/45_IKWIG/Music.html Music in IKWIG] and original music by Allan Gray.Locations
* On the Isle of Mull
** Carsaig Bay – Carsaig Pier and boathouses, Carsaig House (Erraig), telephone box next to the waterfall.
** Moy Castle – Castle of Moy
** Duart Castle – Castle of Sorne
** Torosay Castle – Achnacroish
* Gulf of Corryvreckan – the whirlpool
Reception
Box office
The film was a hit at the box office and recovered its cost in the UK alone.MacDonald p 249U.S. release
The film was one of the first five movies from the Rank Organisation to receive a release in the U.S. under a new arrangement. The others were 'Caesar and Cleopatra', 'The Rake's Progress', 'Brief Encounter' and 'The Wicked Lady'.Reviews
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 commercialised as a show place." Raymond Chandler, 'Letters'.
*"The cast makes the best possible use of some natural, unforced dialogue, and there is some glorious outdoor photography." 'The Times', 14 November 1945
*"[It] has interest and integrity. It deserves to have successors." 'The Guardian', 16 November 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
*The film critic Barry Norman included it among his 100 greatest films of all time.
*The film critic Molly Haskell included it among her 10 greatest films of all time in the 2012 'Sight & Sound' poll.
Pressburger said that, when he visited Paramount Pictures in 1947, the head of the script department told him they considered the film's screenplay perfect and frequently watched it for inspiration.
See also
* 'Leap Year', a 2010 film loosely based on 'I Know Where I'm Going'
References
Notes
Bibliography
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