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

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Directors:

Michael Powell
Emeric Pressburger

Writers:

Michael Powell (written by) &
Emeric Pressburger (written by)

Release Date:

9 August 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Joan Webster is an ambitious and stubborn middle-class English woman determined to move forward since her childhood...

Plot Keywords:

Island | Scotland | Hawk | Train | Eagle

Cast

Wendy Hiller	...	Joan Webster
Roger Livesey	...	Torquil MacNeil
Pamela Brown	...	Catriona
Finlay Currie	...	Ruairidh Mhór
George Carney	...	Mr. Webster
Nancy Price	...	Mrs. Crozier
Catherine Lacey	...	Mrs. Robinson
Jean Cadell	...	Postmistress
John Laurie	...	John Campbell
Valentine Dyall	...	Mr. Robinson
Norman Shelley	...	Sir Robert Bellinger (on radio telephone) (voice)
Margot Fitzsimons	...	Bridie
Murdo Morrison	...	Kenny
Captain C.W.R. Knight	...	Colonel Barnstaple (as Captain C.W.R. Knight, F.Z.S.)
Walter Hudd	...	Hunter

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Scottish Gaelic

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Not Rated | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U (video rating) (1991) (uncut) | UK:U (original rating) (cut) | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK

Company:

Archers, The

Trivia:

The art department spent £40,000 - mainly on the tank and the whirlpool.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: The reflection of a boom mic is visible in a picture frame in Joan's hotel room.

Quotes:

Catriona Potts: You'll stay here tonight of course.
Joan Webster: Well I don't want to be any trouble.
Catriona Potts: Oh it's no trouble at all. Besides I haven't heard any intelligent female nonsense for months.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Arena: A Pretty British Affair" (1981)

Soundtrack:

I Know Where I'm Going

There's not much to say about this film, apart from the fact that it's gorgeous and irrestistable

Two things, though, you should watch for:

(1) Our first glimpse of Scotland comes as part of the heroine's queer dream on the train: we see a series of friendly rounded hills, all made out of tartan. It's a lovely image. It's also our first hint that our heroine has even the tiniest bit of romanticism about her. It later takes every force of man and nature in the real Scotland to bring it out.

(2) The locals she stays with are a nice bunch. They're not cloyingly sweet; but Powell and Pressburger don't present us with insularity and narrow-mindedness as if such traits are meant to be endearing, in the way that so many hymns of praise to small communities do. Anyway: watch for the cameo given to Petula Clark, that young girl with glasses. She only gets a few lines, but it's a great part.

This is only the second Powell/Pressburger film I've seen (and only the fourth film of Powell's). I'm impressed. Are they all this good?