'I Know Where I'm Going!' (1945)

Superlatives cannot suffice to give justice, or homage, to 'I Know Where I'm Going'. This is, simply, one of the most delightful and enchanting films. Ever. Expect it to remain so.

On screen Wendy Hiller is always luminous, and her acting superb. Here, in Roger Livesey's brilliantly understated company - which all of today's leading men (with the exceptions of Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman) would do well to study and emulate, Hiller devotes an unforgettable performance. But I most loved Pamela Brown's glowing effort as Catroina Potts, whom Emeric Pressburger mistook to think ugly: for Brown is one of the loveliest, most entrancing women ever to have graced the screen; in fact, I feel she's in a class by herself, a class never to be entered by another. As radiantly and a sun, a moon, a star, a galaxy, Brown's face and eyes are sheer, transfixing magic.

The location filming yielded an exemplar of black & white cinematography, and the editing in 'I Know Where I'm Going' is its happy equal. The supporting cast, the marvleous special effects, and the whimsical inventiveness of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger all conspired congenially to bait and hook me forever: when I die I hope the afterlife, if there is one, will be of their black & white splendor. I shall watch again and again this dear, splendid film and always appreciate and enjoy its goodness.

Never mind the plot, my dears, just do not miss this cinema jewel. Let 'I Know Where I'm Going' steal your breath away, and then swell your breast with fresh, heady gales of atmosphere. Be enchanted.

Fmovies: Perhaps the most charming movie I have ever seen. So beautifully filmed and mirthfully realized. Wendy Hiller & Roger Livesey are both brilliant and irrepressible. The Scot spirit is most beautifully realized. From start to finish, one of the most enjoyable viewings I've ever had.

The title, "I Know Where I'm Going," refers to a declaration made by the film's heroine, Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller), a middle-class English girl who's determined to get to the top of the social rung by any means legal. Thus, at the story's outset, we learn she has just become engaged to Sir Robert Bellinger, one of the richest industrialists in Britain. She knows where she's going all right: To the Scottish isle of Killoran, by train and by boat, where her future as Lady Bellinger is to be confirmed in matrimony.

Yet as far as Joan is concerned, Killoran may as well be a distant planet, for either thick fog or a high wind makes it impossible for her to ferry across to Gretna Green. It's as if the atmosphere, something in the climate, or perhaps the old legends and superstitions that proliferate the Highlands are conspiring to keep her from obtaining everything she's ever wanted from the time she was a child.

It's obvious to the Scottish locals that the island of Killoran is highly suspect as the key to Joan's future happiness. Yet she is stubborn, even bribing a boy to pilot a small boat to Killoran in the midst of a huge squall – a move that proves nearly fatal. She's determined to get "where she is going," but she's turned away -- by the elements as well as by a slow realization that she has become emotionally attached to a naval officer on leave (Roger Livesey) who she has just encountered.

Michael Powell, the director, keeps things moving at an agreeable pace. There isn't a single wasted motion in this modest little film. The minor characters are memorable: Pamela Brown, as Catriona, who is introduced silhouetted against the gray Northern sky, her hand tethered to a leash restraining dogs as they make their way up a brae; Finley Curray, whose weather-beaten face says more about his salty character than the terse, excellent dialogue he is given; and there's a cameo by a pre-teen Petula Clark.

'I Know Where I'm Going!' fmovies. Whenever I am asked what my favorite movie of all time is, I laugh and say it's an impossible question, but if pressed, I usually say it's I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING. I never, ever tire of watching this movie. It is a beautiful picture in every way. On the one hand, it is perfectly crafted with extraordinary visuals ("a new visual trick every minute," said Powell), and on the other, the story is a gem of romanticism.

The movie is ultimately about Wendy Hiller's character coming to terms with her emotions, with her romanticism, with the idea that love is something one cannot and should not control, and that the greatest thing about love is allowing it to wash over you and transform you. Hiller is transformed, and the process is a miraculous sight to behold. You will be transformed, too. The movie gets you to experience the process of falling in love, and it does so through a magnificent story and acting, and directing choices which especially use the Hebrides landscape to sort of cast a spell on the characters and on you. The landscape is one of the most special elements of this picture. See how carefully Hiller's train journey is presented..... it's like she's being transported to another world, a powerful world of romanticism and emotion.

On the surface, there is not much "plot" to this picture. But underneath, there is so much going on that the movie is tremendously engaging on an emotional level. It also contains what I think is the greatest, most joyous movie wedding of all time!

If I could take only one movie with me to a desert island, this would be it. Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey are so vibrant and every scene is a joy to watch.

Part of the chemistry is that Hiller is assertive and on top of everything and Livesey is more vulnerable and searching -- she resists him and he reaches out to her -- I think of Virginia Woolf's line about how the sexiest thing is if a woman is "man-womanly" and a man is "woman-manly."

My favorite moment comes early on, when Hiller says, about the eccentric colonel, "He's an odd one, isn't he," and Livesey responds, "Who isn't." There's so much feeling and humanity in how he says this -- so much depth -- I fall in love with his character and this movie every time.

It's a shame that so few people have seen this gem of a movie during the last half century, as it is a little masterpiece, perfectly honed and crafted, without an unnecessary scene or line of dialogue. This is the kind of neglected film you dream about discovering, but so rarely do. Of all the celebrated productions given the world by the multi-talented team of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, this is the one that should stand as their monument.

The story, in its very bare bones is this: a stubborn & headstrong young woman of Manchester travels to Scotland's Inner Hebrides to marry her very rich fiancé on the remote island he's rented. Foul weather strands her on the Isle of Mull where she meets a rather dashing, if somewhat penniless, laird. Then...you'll have to see the rest for yourself. Suffice it to say that the plot includes a ruined castle, an ancient curse, and the terrifying whirlpool of Corryvreckan...

Dame Wendy Hiller & Roger Livesey are perfect as the main characters. The excellent supporting cast includes Walter Hudd as a highly efficient private secretary, Finlay Currie as a craggy old fisherman, Capt. C. W. R. Knight, F.Z.S. as an eccentric English colonel with a passion for raptors, Pamela Brown as a no-nonsense Islander, gentle Jean Cadell as the Tobermory postmistress, Catherine Lacey & Valentine Dyall as a slightly boorish English couple tenanting a large castle, young Petula Clark as their serious little daughter, Nancy Price as an elderly aristocratic Scotswoman with wonderful memories & John Laurie as a boisterous soldier celebrating his parents' Diamond Anniversary.

The splendid Glasgow Orpheus Choir appears as performers at the Campbell Céilidh. The production is greatly enhanced by location filming on Mull, and Erwin Hillier's special photographic effects.