This new restoration of the 1945 classic, I Know Where I’m Going, currently screening across the UK, brings to new audiences a great British romantic comedy. And the importance of such restoration work cannot be overstated. The British Film Institute, fulfilling the National Film Archive’s mission, gaining funding from various sources, has done a great service. Many are familiar with Powell and Pressburger’s glorious The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus. Far fewer with this wonderful, enchanting film.
This is a very idiosyncratic production. Filmed in black-and-white while cameras and colour film stock were awaited for the production of A Matter of Life and Death, its unique mix of the contemporary with the fantastic allows the visual brilliance which characterises their work. And this film is steeped in the Highlands, filmed in magnificent Hebridean locations as well as at Denham.
When heiress Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) – a decisive, purposeful young woman – resolves to marry wealthy, middle-aged industrialist Sir Robert Bellinger, she sets off for the isle of Kiloran. Unable to reach the island because of the weather, she is forced to stay in Mull, where she meets Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesey). He is the Laird of Kiloran, returning on leave from wartime service. While Joan is tetchy and impatient at the interruption to her plans for an island wedding, Torquil is calmness personified, being familiar with the vagaries of climate. An initially spiky Joan thaws over the next few days, and is increasingly bewitched.
The excellent protagonists are supported by a talented cast: George Carney brings a perfect variety touch to the part of Joan’s father, Pamela Brown is breezy and practical as Catriona Potts, Torquil’s friend. John Laurie is great as the lively Campbell host – and choreographer – of his parents’ magnificent anniversary ceilidh. This rollicking scene sees Joan irresistibly drawn into the benevolent web of Highland ways. We hear much good Gaelic; and lovely music, traditional and scored, from the Glasgow Orpheus Choir, evoking the film’s pervasive magical, anti-materialistic tone.
The meeting between Joan and Torquil is the collision of two world-views: one where value is based on an emotionally constipated affluence; against one rooted in sheer humanity. Light-hearted details, such as Torquil and Catriona’s friend Colonel Barnstaple obsessively caring for a golden eagle, Catriona’s massive dogs, couthy and wise locals, mingle with ancient legends. We know where our sympathies are going. Powell and Pressburger’s superb dialogue highlights the central dynamics. One revealing scene sees Joan in a stilted radio conversation at the coastguard station, with an arrogant, high-handed Berenger, contrasting tellingly with Torquil’s easy rapport with everyone.
The film boasts a great production team. Erwin Hillier’s cinematography, Allan Gray’s music, Alfred Junge’s art direction and John Seabourne’s editing give us the most perfect narrative fluency and many magical moments. An example is a dizzying montage of Joan’s imagined future life as she travels north on the sleeper train. The sequence engages us thoroughly in her fantasy: just as later elements draw us into legends and superstitions. Perhaps the most stunning is the climactic scene at sea, which cost a fifth of the entire budget. While Ruairidh Mhor (Finlay Currie) has refused to take Joan across to Kiloran until the storm has abated, she bribes a young boatman to make the crossing. A concerned Torquil insists on joining them, and the little boat is soon foundering amidst wild winds and waves. They are all but claimed by the Corryvreckan whirlpool. This scene is a superbly-edited feast of creative camerawork on location and in the studio. It is totally involving.
Much lingers long in the memory, after seeing a film as wonderful as I Know Where I’m Going. Here’s an exchange:
Joan: People here are very poor, I suppose.
Torquil: No, they just haven’t got money.
A masterpiece.
Screened at Eden Court, Inverness