I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING

UK, 1945, 91 minutes, Black and white.
Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey, Pamela Brown, Nancy Price, Finlay Currie, John Laurie, George Carney, Walter Hudd.
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

I Know Where I'm Going is one of the many films of The Archers, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger during the '40s. However, it is one of their lighter films of the period - which included The 49th Parallel, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Stairway to Heaven, Black Narcissus and Red Shoes.

The film is set in the islands of northern Scotland - landscapes familiar to Michael Powell from his 1937 film The Edge of the World.

Wendy Hiller is a strong heroine, Roger Livesey (who had been Colonel Blimp) is a sympathetic Kiloran. The supporting cast includes Pamela Brown, Finlay Currie in his native Scotland, John Laurie also Scot.

The film is set in the middle of the '40s, moving from smart London to the outlying areas of Scotland and its isles, focusing on the rugged landscapes, the life of the people, the confrontations with the sea.

1. The work of The Archers, writing and directing? Their contribution to British cinema of the '40s? Their classics?

2. '40s style, black and white photography, London, the Scottish coast and islands, the sea? The musical score and the title song? The local Scottish songs?

3. The title and Joan's words, a determined woman, her journey and change?

4. The humorous documentary commentary of the early sequences, Joan as a child, determined, growing up? Expecting success? The meeting with her father, their interchange, the restaurant, telling him of her decision to marry? Her choice, motivation, hopes?

5. The journey to Scotland, the physical journey, the emotional journey? The title and its ironies?

6. The train journey, sleeping in, the hurried alighting, the meeting at the station? Going north? Her determination to go to the island to meet her husband? The block of the weather, the storms, the people?

7. Meeting Kiloran, his background, navy, on leave? The mystical Scottish aspects of legend, curses? The castle and his not going in? The revelation that he was the laird? The atmosphere of the realistic '40s and the mystical Scottish tradition?

8. Joan and her having to stay, trying to cope, boarding with Catriona? The village? The boat-owner and his daughter, the young man and his wanting to marry, his being willing to take Joan in the boat for 20 pounds?

9. The experience of the stay, the continuity of the bad weather, the understanding of Catriona, going on the bus, sharing the festivities, the pipers and the dancers? The hospitality of the Scots?

10. The growing determination? The opposition to her going, the boat-owner, the daughter pleading for her fiance, Kiloran and his anger? Her arrogant determination?

11. Kiloran deciding to go, the trip, the high seas, the storms and the rain, the engine cutting out, bailing the water, trying to get the engine going, veering towards the whirlpool? The experience of the danger?

12. Joan and her fiance, his age, on the island? The question of the eagle and its training?

13. Her return to the coast, Catriona and her help, wise advice? Kiloran, the declaration of love? His going into the castle, reading the curse? Joan bringing the pipers? The transformation and a happy future with Kiloran?