I Know Where I'm Going - 1945

Emeric Pressburger & Michael Powell are renowned for classics such as The Red Shoes, A Matter of Life and Death and Black Narcissus, yet from my experience every film they make offers not only a richly engaging film with enduring characters, but also a cinematic tour de force. And I Know Where I'm Going is no different. Starring Wendy Hiller as Joan Webster, the film hits the ground running in traditional Powell & Pressburger fashion with an inventive credit sequence which introduces us to Wendy as a child up to when we meet her as an adult. It perfectly sets up her character as driven, purposeful and willing to do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Which is the marriage of her and Sir Robert Bellinger, a wealthy industrialist. Her desire to wed him takes her all the way to the Hebrides, before she can reach the island her beau is renting she becomes stranded on Port Erraig by gales and poor weather. There she meets Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesay) who threatens to scupper her plans. What the film also does so well is tell this as a fish out of water tale. For Joan, he life has always been about striving to achieve, never stopping and living for the future. What she experiences in Tobermory is a slower pace of life, legend and history, but also a group of characters she can not easily dominate, like her family and friends back in the city.

I Know Where I'm Going is a witty, lovable romantic comedy with some excellent performances, notably Wedny Hiller, who I have never seen before, but found her captivating, engaging and utterly likeable.

The film manages to capture the environment of the coastal town, and you feel the wind and chill through Erwin Hillier's superb cinematography.

I Know Where I'm Going might not have the classic status of some of Powell and Pressburger's more famous films but it is visually as stunning and performed with equally brilliance.

A must for any fan of Powell & Pressburger who have yet to see this little gem.