... to the Western Isles, that magical realm off the coast of Scotland.
Well, actually I've just returned from a holiday visit — all froth and fantasy — and there's still time for you to make the trip, too. In the movies, of course. Watching "I Know Where I'm Going" is the perfect way to begin the new year.
This charming, fast-paced film follows the very determined Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) on her trek — mostly by train — to meet her rich industrialist fiancee on the Hebridean isle of Kiloran, where their wedding will take place. Alas for Joan, who always knows where she's going and has always bent others to her will, the weather won't cooperate and she finds herself stuck.
She's stuck in a strange, ramshackle old house with a mad crew of residents, including the attractive Torquil MacNeill (Roger Livesey), the Laird of Kiloran — on leave from the Navy and also trying to get to the island. She's stuck in a small village where castles and curses abound and with people unlike any she's ever met before. Most of all, she's stuck with ideas and attitudes that suddenly seem to have little value or use.
MICHAEL POWELL AND EMERIC PRESSBURGER
Roger Livesey and Wendy Hiller star in the 1945 film, "I Know Where I'm Going."
"I Know Where I'm Going" is a farce, a romance, a drama, a Hebridian documentary and plain tour-de-force filmmaking by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It must have been a joy to watch when it came out in December, 1945, at the end of the war, because it's certainly a joy to watch today. It's a movie whose values also seem especially appropriate in these potentially hard times we're all facing.
I am totally smitten with this movie: from Wendy Hiller's perfect Eliza Doolittle diction (and her ocelot hat) to the soundtrack which turns an old Irish folk song into a dazzling 1940s ditty. I watched the entire movie twice and viewed my favorite scenes — like this dream sequence — multiple times before I returned it to Netflix. And if you find yourself smitten, too, you can always go visit and stay at the Western Isles Hotel in Tobermory, Isle of Mull where most of the film was shot — including inside the hotel when it was a private residence.
MICHAEL POWELL AND EMERIC PRESSBURGER
Wendy Hiller schelps her bags on her way to find a place to stay for the night after the fog cancels her island boat trip.
Here's a review from The New York Times when the film had its American debut. (Keep your eye out for a young Petula Clark in a delicious cameo role).
And thanks to designer John Derain who listed "I Know Where I'm Going" as one of the "12 things he can't live without" in the December issue of Elle Decor. I've long been an admirer of Derain's taste in interiors and objects, and thus took a chance on this film based on his recommendation. I also like the fact that his dozen included few expensive or unattainable objects. They were personal but, like "I Know Where I'm Going," a number were available for the rest of us to enjoy.
