0:00:16 > 0:00:21Well, you know, I haven't seen I Know Where I'm Going! for years.
0:00:21 > 0:00:22And...um...
0:00:22 > 0:00:27Then one afternoon in London I put the television on and there it was.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29I came in in the middle of it
0:00:29 > 0:00:30- and there- I- was!
0:00:30 > 0:00:32It was quite, quite interesting.
0:00:32 > 0:00:36I have to say that now that I'm an adult,
0:00:36 > 0:00:40I realise now what a wonderful film it is.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47It was about two weeks before I started shooting Raging Bull
0:00:47 > 0:00:52and I think one of the few films I hadn't seen was I Know Where I'm Going!.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54I said, "Shall we put in a tape of it?"
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Put it in the cassette player -
0:00:56 > 0:00:59tapes had just started being used -
0:00:59 > 0:01:03and we watched this film which we fell totally in love with.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08It was such an incredible... "discovery".
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Other people knew about it. I didn't.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16I remember a few months later seeing Michael again and said, "I just saw a new masterpiece."
0:01:21 > 0:01:23- You'll come with me to the station. - Tonight?
0:01:23 > 0:01:28- I'm picking up the Scotch express there.- Going to Glasgow? - The Western Isles.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31- Got your ticket? There'll be a queue.- Everything's arranged.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34- I'm going to an island called Kiloran.- Where is it?
0:01:34 > 0:01:39In the Hebrides. It takes a day and a night to get there. It's his island.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42We're going to be married there, away from people.
0:01:42 > 0:01:49It sounds silly to say it but I Know Where I'm Going! really did change my life.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51# I know where I'm going
0:01:51 > 0:01:54# And I know who's going with me
0:01:54 > 0:01:57# I know who I love
0:01:57 > 0:02:00# But the dear knows who I'll marry. #
0:02:02 > 0:02:04The film is nearly 50 years old.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07It was a great success in Britain and America at the time
0:02:07 > 0:02:11but for many years now it's been largely forgotten.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17The idea is very simple.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21That is of a girl who thinks she knows what she really wants,
0:02:21 > 0:02:23but she doesn't REALLY know.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28She thinks she wants to get to this island and for three or four days, she tries to get to this island
0:02:28 > 0:02:30because her fiance's on the island.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34When she CAN get there when the storm drops, she doesn't want to any more.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36She realises she's in love with another man.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44The film was made by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
0:02:44 > 0:02:49who had a unique partnership and a unique credit on screen.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51They called themselves the Archers
0:02:51 > 0:02:58and they signed all their films together as "written, produced and directed by Powell and Pressburger."
0:02:58 > 0:03:03They had a vision - a very unusual, rather unworldly vision
0:03:03 > 0:03:06and they pursued it with great determination.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11- WOMAN: - I liked the idea from the word go.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14It was a lovely script,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16a lovely part.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19No, I was very lucky.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23I was very lucky because I'd had that unfortunate thing happening
0:03:23 > 0:03:27of being a success in my two first films,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30which was a VERY difficult thing to follow up.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32And...
0:03:32 > 0:03:37I'd been rather choosy after Shaw's plays.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39Rather naturally, I think,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42I'd been choosy and hadn't wanted to go to Hollywood.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47And then Michael Powell and Emeric appeared with this script
0:03:47 > 0:03:50and I liked it immensely.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53I quite enjoyed doing it because it was a different role for me.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56I was playing an aristocratic lady
0:03:56 > 0:04:01and usually I'd been playing rather cutesy little Cockney kids and things like that.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03So this was a bit different,
0:04:03 > 0:04:07but it was scary in a way because it was a really serious...
0:04:07 > 0:04:11I could feel even then that it was a very classy movie.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16The film appeared before the public in December 1945
0:04:16 > 0:04:19at the end of the year in which the war was won.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24This was the moment at which everything was now under question in Britain
0:04:24 > 0:04:28and the Welfare State and so many parts of it came into being.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31So it was a time of tremendous idealism.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35It seems to me that this is a film that captures that idealism very well.
0:04:35 > 0:04:41They wanted to show how a bright young thing, a smart young person,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45who knows exactly what life is all about and what she wants out of it,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48discovers that in fact life has much more to offer.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52And so it's a process of her coming to understand more timeless values
0:04:52 > 0:04:55than the ones that she had learned during her upbringing.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16I'm Nancy Franklin and this is my office at the New Yorker magazine.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18I'm an editor at the New Yorker
0:05:18 > 0:05:21and I've been working here for 15 years.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27For the first few months, I was so taken with my, uh...
0:05:27 > 0:05:31with my view in my office that when anybody came into my office
0:05:31 > 0:05:36I would close the door, turn out the lights, pull up the blinds and do this...
0:05:38 > 0:05:42MUSIC: "Rhapsody In Blue" by George Gershwin
0:05:52 > 0:05:56- DISTANT MOANING CRY - What's that noise?
0:05:56 > 0:06:00- That would be the seals singing. - The seals?!
0:06:00 > 0:06:03Yes, yes. They like the warm, foggy weather.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07I remember very well the first time I saw the movie.
0:06:07 > 0:06:13I'd been watching a few Powell-Pressburger movies on the public TV station in New York
0:06:13 > 0:06:17and I'd seen a documentary about Michael Powell that was made in England
0:06:17 > 0:06:22and I was very enchanted by his movies
0:06:22 > 0:06:24and what I was learning about them.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28And then the television station showed I Know Where I'm Going
0:06:28 > 0:06:32and I taped it and I cut off the last couple of minutes of it,
0:06:32 > 0:06:37but I started watching it anyway and I realised right away that I wanted to see this movie,
0:06:37 > 0:06:40just from the opening credits alone.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43- Is this your first visit to the island?- Yes, it is.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45It's a sublime day.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47THUNDER ROLLS
0:06:50 > 0:06:53I was going through sort of a rough patch in my life.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57I had a good life, but nothing in it was particularly satisfying.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00I'd been working in the same office for ten years,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03I'd been living in the same apartment.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Everything seemed very static to me.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10And, just like the character in the movie who's swept off her feet
0:07:10 > 0:07:13by Roger Livesey,
0:07:13 > 0:07:17I was swept off my feet by this movie.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19Thank you.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23And I also had the sense after I watched the movie
0:07:23 > 0:07:26that I would go to this place where it had been made...
0:07:26 > 0:07:30It's not that I thought I'd like to go there.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32I knew that I would go there.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36I had a strange but utter certainty about it.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38I remember standing at a window
0:07:38 > 0:07:41looking out over the sea
0:07:41 > 0:07:44and over the waving grass.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Everything moved.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48The island was never still.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52Everything that grew moved.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54And I remember Emeric standing there,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57looking out and saying,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00"That's what I want."
0:08:00 > 0:08:03And he was looking at a meadow.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07The grass was about two foot, three foot high.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11And it was waving like the waves of the sea.
0:08:11 > 0:08:17The sea... The wind was moving it as though it was moving the surface of the sea.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20He said, "That's the Hebrides."
0:08:22 > 0:08:28NANCY FRANKLIN: So I crossed the ocean on a ship, something I've long wanted to do.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32There's something very old-fashioned about boarding a ship
0:08:32 > 0:08:36and then that whistle blows and you're off,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39and it takes five days to cross the ocean.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46You see these mysterious, majestic hills
0:08:46 > 0:08:49and you don't quite know what you're getting into,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52and that's one of the things that drew me to Mull,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55this sense of mystery about the place,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58which is evident in the movie.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15My name is Sue Fink and my husband and I are the owners
0:09:15 > 0:09:19of the Western Isles Hotel in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23The film I Know Where I'm Going! was filmed partly in the hotel
0:09:23 > 0:09:25in 1944.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28I first heard of I Know Where I'm Going!
0:09:28 > 0:09:32when an American walked in and asked if I'd seen the film.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34I never had seen the film
0:09:34 > 0:09:39and she wanted to see one of the rooms and told me about the film...
0:09:39 > 0:09:43We were actually unpacking our cases to move in
0:09:43 > 0:09:47and they climbed over packing cases to see the room, so I was amazed,
0:09:47 > 0:09:51and then all year I kept being asked about I Know Where I'm Going!
0:09:51 > 0:09:55and I was getting cross, because I hadn't seen the film,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59and then our first Christmas here, three friends filmed it on video
0:09:59 > 0:10:03and gave it to us as Christmas presents.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06Mr MacNeil.
0:10:06 > 0:10:07Yes?
0:10:07 > 0:10:10I want to ask you something.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14- Anything.- Do you mind if we sit at separate tables at lunch?
0:10:14 > 0:10:17- You do understand, don't you? - Of course I don't mind.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22- We are strangers.- Yes, but you understand why I'm asking you?
0:10:22 > 0:10:27- I think you're the most proper young lady I've ever met. - I take that as a compliment.
0:10:30 > 0:10:36I didn't really want to see the film because I thought it might spoil what people had told me about it,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40but I thought it was a lovely film and I can now understand
0:10:40 > 0:10:43why all these people come to see where it was filmed.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46FALLING WATER ROARS
0:10:52 > 0:10:56- Very difficult.- Crazy! - It was a compromise.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00- Post Office wanted it up the hill, Catriona down below.- But why here?
0:11:00 > 0:11:05It was a dry summer and they forgot that when it rains... Hello?
0:11:08 > 0:11:13- Right then, Nancy, we're coming up to the famous waterfall.- Oh, yes.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16- And the famous telephone kiosk.- Yes.
0:11:17 > 0:11:23This is where they call the Western Isles Hotel to make a reservation.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25That's correct.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30I once called a friend of mine in New York City from that phone box,
0:11:30 > 0:11:35- to see if he could hear the waterfall, and he could.- Oh, right.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39- It's all right, you have a big room. - What about you?- I have a small one.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Well, Nancy, we're at Carsaig now.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47A lot of the action happened here
0:11:47 > 0:11:50and you can remember the storyline.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53'Good evening.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56- 'Bad luck. No crossing today.- But isn't that the boat from Kiloran?
0:11:56 > 0:12:00- 'No.- If she was, it's not today she would be getting back.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04- 'But I intend to spend the night on Kiloran.- Oh.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09- 'Feasgar math, Kiloran. - Fair thu mi a maireadh...'
0:12:11 > 0:12:15- 'Is that Gaelic you're talking?- Yes. What would it be but the Gaelic?'
0:12:15 > 0:12:21This is the spot in the movie where things start to not go her way
0:12:21 > 0:12:23and she's sitting on the pier
0:12:23 > 0:12:27and looking at her itinerary and of course it just blows out of her hand
0:12:27 > 0:12:28into the water,
0:12:28 > 0:12:31and that's when you first get the sense
0:12:31 > 0:12:35that lots of other unpredictable things are gonna be happening
0:12:35 > 0:12:36in the movie.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39"Port Erraig. 5.15pm.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43"The motor boat from Kiloran will meet Miss Webster..."
0:12:46 > 0:12:49One of the funny things I've heard about the making of the movie
0:12:49 > 0:12:51when I first came to Mull
0:12:51 > 0:12:54and I asked islanders about it...
0:12:54 > 0:12:56they said
0:12:56 > 0:13:00that at the time the film-makers came here,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03the weather wasn't actually as bad as they needed it to be
0:13:03 > 0:13:05to film some of the scenes.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08So down here at Carsaig,
0:13:08 > 0:13:09I've discovered,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11they had boats out in the water there
0:13:11 > 0:13:14- with smoke machines going... - That's correct.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18- ..to actually create foggy conditions...- Yes.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20..when she's standing on the pier.
0:13:20 > 0:13:26Well, it always appeared to me that dramatic lighting in photography
0:13:26 > 0:13:27to me is a vital element.
0:13:27 > 0:13:33On I Know Where I'm Going!, it gave it a dramatic effect, besides being a great love story.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36You know, that sort of upbringing I had
0:13:36 > 0:13:38in composition
0:13:38 > 0:13:40and making use of the light and shade.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43And I love shooting against the light.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45To me, it is much more exciting
0:13:45 > 0:13:47than shooting with flat light.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51Well, I was very fortunate - I was introduced to Fritz Lang.
0:13:52 > 0:13:58The German technique was not flat lighting - it was stronger contrast.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03And to me it's amazing how it brings to life the story
0:14:03 > 0:14:05in a much more exciting manner.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08If my boat doesn't come, will you take me?
0:14:08 > 0:14:10No, I will not, milady.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23I actually did Carsaig with them.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25And I got up at six o'clock in the morning
0:14:25 > 0:14:28and I went as far as Bunessan
0:14:28 > 0:14:30to get a hold of Wendy.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32She stayed in the hotel there.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34And I got her and took her back
0:14:34 > 0:14:37to be on the set - that was what they called it.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41It wasn't to be "on the job" but to be "on the set" by eight o'clock
0:14:41 > 0:14:42in the morning.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44And I drove in the dark.
0:14:44 > 0:14:45Oh, I'll never forget it,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48because I hadn't even lights. We weren't allowed lights.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51I did that every morning for Wendy.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54And she was so terribly nice.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59- Micky Powell in his book says that she stayed every night in the Western Isles Hotel.- No.- No?- No.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01No, no. That is not correct.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04That I DO know, cos I took her.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06Unless she came back and...
0:15:06 > 0:15:07You never know!
0:15:08 > 0:15:12The usual way when you don't know them terribly well...
0:15:12 > 0:15:15they sit in the back, but Wendy sat beside me
0:15:15 > 0:15:17all the time and spoke all the time.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19Oh, she was good.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21She was lovely.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25- And there was a time that you were her stand-in, because she was sick or something.- Yes...
0:15:25 > 0:15:27Tell me that story about the hat.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30We were down... You'll see the place when you go down to Carsaig...
0:15:30 > 0:15:32..down at the pier.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37And we were waiting, of course, as per usual for rain. No, it was sun we were waiting for,
0:15:37 > 0:15:39cos I was dressed in her rig-out.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42And she had this beautiful hat.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Now, what was the name of the fur?
0:15:44 > 0:15:47- Ocelot.- Ocelot, yes, exactly. Thank you.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Yes, ocelot. She had this lovely hat.
0:15:50 > 0:15:51And I had it on, of course.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53I was...as Wendy.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Then the rain came on, and I went to shelter,
0:15:56 > 0:15:59and Micky Powell said to me,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03"I'm glad to see you're sheltering the hat, the £90 hat."
0:16:03 > 0:16:08"£90?!" I said. Well, I've never had £90 in my hand,
0:16:08 > 0:16:10but I can always say I've had it on my head!
0:16:11 > 0:16:14Oh, it was lovely. I enjoyed it.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16I really had a nice time.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26Like most of their scripts, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger worked on them together an awful lot.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31But always Emeric would write the original story himself
0:16:31 > 0:16:33and do a first draft of the complete screenplay.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37And the way he would do this would be he would get the idea
0:16:37 > 0:16:39and he would write it over and over again -
0:16:39 > 0:16:43sort of hypnotically almost. He said he had to build up a rhythm in himself.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47And he would often write very quickly, so he'd write the whole story usually in one day.
0:16:47 > 0:16:52This is his original sort of four- or five-page outline of I Know Where I'm Going!.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54No dialogue at all.
0:16:54 > 0:16:55Purely description.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57And at this stage, he would show it to Michael Powell,
0:16:57 > 0:17:02and Michael Powell would make his comments, and then Emeric would go away and write a complete...
0:17:02 > 0:17:04screenplay to the film,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07usually with very little dialogue.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09Then he would give this to Michael Powell.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Michael Powell would write his own version with all the dialogue. Then it would go back to Emeric,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15who would polish it up, change it,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18do whatever, and that would be the final screenplay.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22And that's what happened in the case of I Know Where I'm Going!.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27I was lying to you! I'd rather swim in the sea than in a swimming pool!
0:17:27 > 0:17:29- TORQUIL:- I know!
0:17:29 > 0:17:32And I'd rather catch salmon in my own stream,
0:17:32 > 0:17:35- if somebody would teach me how. - I know!
0:17:35 > 0:17:37VOICES FADE
0:17:40 > 0:17:45We're in Duart Castle which is the seat of the clan McLean,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48and there's one scene here. Joan comes over for breakfast
0:17:48 > 0:17:53and she's greeted by this very grave little girl
0:17:53 > 0:17:56who walks into the room reading a book.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01She sees Joan, and she says to her, "You're Joan Webster, aren't you?"
0:18:01 > 0:18:08and Joan says, "Yes." And she says, "You're going to marry Sir Robert Bellinger, aren't you?" and she says,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12- "Yes, do you mind?" And then the little girl says... - He's rich, isn't he?
0:18:12 > 0:18:14That girl was played by Petula Clark.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18- Are you rich?- No.
0:18:18 > 0:18:23I remember the scene where I'm sitting at the end of this long, long table in a baronial hall
0:18:23 > 0:18:27with my glasses, and I was wearing jodhpurs - very grand -
0:18:27 > 0:18:33and because I didn't have a stand-in, I had to be there for a long, long time,
0:18:33 > 0:18:38and I was too terrified to ask permission to go to the loo.
0:18:38 > 0:18:45I wanted to wee like mad, and I just daren't ask, I was so frightened of Michael Powell.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49So much so that I eventually wee-ed in my jodhpurs.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53And, er...of course, I was too scared to move.
0:18:53 > 0:18:59I had to wait until the lunch break and then I sort of sidled off when everybody else had gone,
0:18:59 > 0:19:05and spent the lunch break drying my jodhpurs on the radiator! Isn't that sad?
0:19:06 > 0:19:11NANCY: The scene that was in this room was actually shot in a set in London
0:19:11 > 0:19:14so, although it looks exactly like this room,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18in fact, it was not shot here.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21I did all my stuff at Denham Studios, um...
0:19:21 > 0:19:25In fact, I didn't even realise that it was all taking place in Scotland
0:19:25 > 0:19:27until it was virtually over for me.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29I heard some funny accents
0:19:29 > 0:19:36but I didn't realise that we were supposed to be in a Scottish grand house, castle.
0:19:36 > 0:19:42Authenticity was very important to Pressburger, and in particular to Powell.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45He wanted to get the look of it right, and the feel of it,
0:19:45 > 0:19:51and everything about the place was important to him -
0:19:51 > 0:19:54the sound of people's voices, the singing,
0:19:54 > 0:20:00every particular thing about the island, he wanted to get right.
0:20:00 > 0:20:06The paradox is that, um...in fact, when they were filming this movie,
0:20:06 > 0:20:09Roger Livesey, as Michael Powell says in his book,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13never came within 500 miles of the Western Isles.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17He was working in a play in London at the time and couldn't get away
0:20:17 > 0:20:19and, on the island,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23a double was used. He had to be trained to walk like Roger Livesey,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26especially while he was wearing a kilt.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28'It did have its difficulties,'
0:20:28 > 0:20:31except there were no close-ups, you see.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Everything that was taken with his stand-in
0:20:34 > 0:20:38was long shot or medium shot,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41and naturally he was the right shape.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46So, when we came to the close-ups in the studio,
0:20:46 > 0:20:49well, that was perfectly all right
0:20:49 > 0:20:51with Roger.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55That was just a technical thing that one accepts in films.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58'Back projection was the only media we had then.'
0:20:58 > 0:21:02It wasn't really reliable because it was old equipment
0:21:02 > 0:21:04which needed replacing,
0:21:04 > 0:21:09and in that time, during the war period, we couldn't replace anything,
0:21:09 > 0:21:13so I used deep-focus photography on that
0:21:13 > 0:21:17to bring together the background and the foreground
0:21:17 > 0:21:20without the use of light meters.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23There weren't any light meters available at that time
0:21:23 > 0:21:25so it was all done by eye
0:21:25 > 0:21:29and just...human touch, put it this way.
0:21:30 > 0:21:36Powell himself said that, years later, when he watched the movie,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40he couldn't always tell which scenes had the double of Roger Livesey
0:21:40 > 0:21:43and which scenes had Roger Livesey himself.
0:21:43 > 0:21:48And he said that it was probably the cleverest thing he ever did in movies,
0:21:48 > 0:21:50and I think it probably was.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54Everybody who worked on this film was foreign to Scotland,
0:21:54 > 0:21:59and of course, even Michael Powell... Michael Powell is not really a standard Englishman.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04He was educated for a large part of his film-making career in the south of France.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08But there's Allan Gray, the composer, who's German, Polish-German,
0:22:08 > 0:22:11there's Alfred Junge who's German, the designer of the film,
0:22:11 > 0:22:17and there's Erwin Hillier who's the cameraman. He had been in England for ten years,
0:22:17 > 0:22:22but was actually brought up in Germany, and the first film he worked on was Fritz Lang's M,
0:22:22 > 0:22:26so it was all "continentals" as they were called at the time.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28In the case of Emeric's contribution,
0:22:28 > 0:22:34I think Emeric had a very subtle understanding of national difference,
0:22:34 > 0:22:39and perhaps because he came from outside of Scotland and indeed outside of Britain,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43he saw this in a way which allowed him to be a little clearer
0:22:43 > 0:22:48about how to identify those qualities that made for a sense of place, a sense of culture.
0:22:48 > 0:22:54Michael also, of course, was steeped in a romantic view of national identity.
0:22:54 > 0:23:00I think the key to understanding Michael's approach was to remember his great interest in Kipling.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05Kipling believed that the past was always present in the present
0:23:05 > 0:23:10and it would show through if you just allowed yourself to be open to it.
0:23:10 > 0:23:16Another thing which was very typical of their work is the element of mysticism in it.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Now, a lot of people have said that this film, this mysticism
0:23:20 > 0:23:24is very sort of Celtic and it's very of the Western Isles,
0:23:24 > 0:23:28of the rural traditions, the folklore.
0:23:28 > 0:23:34I think, yes, there's an element of that but, actually, if you look at it it's Jewish, in a way.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38It's Emeric Pressburger, the Hungarian Jew in Britain.
0:23:38 > 0:23:44And all these little phrases that people come up with, the famous line about, um...
0:23:44 > 0:23:49"People around here are very poor." "No, they just don't have very much money."
0:23:49 > 0:23:53"That's the same thing, isn't it?" "No."
0:23:53 > 0:23:58It's almost like Isaac Bashevis Singer's rabbinical Jewish wisdom,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00and there it is in the Highlands.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06Hollywood is talking of remaking this film.
0:24:06 > 0:24:12Scott Rudin has optioned it. Do you think a film like this can be remade? How would you remake it?
0:24:12 > 0:24:16I would never remake it, but there are a lot of films that could...
0:24:16 > 0:24:20You could take the idea - a person wants to get to an island,
0:24:20 > 0:24:25never does, winds up on another island with another man, marries the other one.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28You can make it for today's generation.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33Although this particular film is something that you can't...
0:24:33 > 0:24:37recapture the beauty of the first impressions.
0:24:39 > 0:24:40I want you to kiss me.
0:24:44 > 0:24:46It has an emotional impact that, er...
0:24:47 > 0:24:53..is overwhelming each time. It's very interesting. I don't know if you can get that today.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55I mean, who knows? But...
0:24:57 > 0:24:58Kiloran!
0:25:04 > 0:25:05Corrivreckan.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09You're looking at the island of Scarba with the cloud on top of it.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12To the left of that is the island of Jura.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16In-between Scarba and Jura lies the whirlpool.
0:25:16 > 0:25:22The whirlpool itself was not only dangerous, at times nearly impossible
0:25:22 > 0:25:28because you don't realise the power of the whirlpool itself.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37How old were you when you worked on the movie?
0:25:40 > 0:25:43That's giving my age away! I would say about 20 years.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51It was supposed to start at 3 o'clock but we went out at 2.45.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55Where was the director of the movie when all this was happening?
0:25:55 > 0:26:02- They were on the top of the island of Scarba, right on the very top, filming right down.- I see.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11Unfortunately, the spring tide was very strong
0:26:11 > 0:26:17and I looked to the shore and I said to my father, "This boat's going backwards."
0:26:17 > 0:26:20He said, "Just cut the rope. Let's get into Scarba."
0:26:20 > 0:26:24I managed to get into Scarba, with a bit of difficulty I would say.
0:26:24 > 0:26:29When I came back in the evening when we'd finished shooting,
0:26:29 > 0:26:34I mentioned to Michael Powell that we had to go through it again.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39So he said, "What went wrong?" I said, "We used the wrong lenses."
0:26:39 > 0:26:45I must admit, that's the first time I ever put a drop of whisky in my mouth.
0:26:45 > 0:26:51When I went home, my mother wasn't too happy because I was well under the weather.
0:26:53 > 0:27:00The difference was fantastic on the second journey. Instead of using the normal lens, I used telephoto lenses.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04It's brought the whole thing to life.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10When I saw the film, when I saw the boat, I closed my eyes...
0:27:10 > 0:27:14for a minute because the...
0:27:14 > 0:27:17it takes back memories, really.
0:27:24 > 0:27:31"Dear, lovely woman. Your letters and your photographs of Moy Castle brought tears to my eyes.
0:27:31 > 0:27:37"Your photographs are really supreme and it almost made me sorry that I didn't make the film in colour."
0:27:42 > 0:27:47"It was a great joy and compliment to receive your letter and realise
0:27:47 > 0:27:55"that I am in touch with so many delightful people through my films, and particularly that one film.
0:27:55 > 0:28:02"Many thanks. Michael Powell." There's a PS from Thelma Schoonmaker Powell, Michael Powell's wife.
0:28:02 > 0:28:07She says, "My director Martin Scorsese is an enormous fan of IKWIG
0:28:07 > 0:28:10"and was bowled over by your photographs.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15"Do you think it might be possible to make some copies for him? He would love to have them."
0:28:15 > 0:28:19Of course it was possible to make copies for him and I did do that.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24I dropped them off one day at Thelma's office.
0:28:24 > 0:28:29I got home a few hours later and my phone was ringing and it was Thelma Powell.
0:28:29 > 0:28:36She put Michael on the phone and then he asked me, pointedly, why I had gone to Mull.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40And I said, "Well, it actually was because of your movie."
0:28:40 > 0:28:45And he said, "Yes, I know, but most people don't take a hint so broadly."
0:28:45 > 0:28:51And he said to me, "We must meet you." But three months later he died.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54And I never did get to see him again.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05I think it's the kind of film that CAN change your life
0:29:05 > 0:29:08because it's a film with a message,
0:29:08 > 0:29:11but the message works very much on a gut level.
0:29:11 > 0:29:18Sitting in the dark watching a film really is the nearest thing to having a dream while you're awake.
0:29:18 > 0:29:24I think it touches very deep, unconscious fears and desires.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40# I know where I'm going
0:29:40 > 0:29:44# And I know who's going with me
0:29:44 > 0:29:47# I know who I love
0:29:47 > 0:29:50# But the dear knows who I'll marry
0:29:50 > 0:29:54# I have stockings of silk
0:29:54 > 0:29:57# And shoes of fine green leather
0:29:57 > 0:30:01# Combs to buckle my hair
0:30:01 > 0:30:04# And a ring for every finger
0:30:04 > 0:30:08# Some say he's black
0:30:08 > 0:30:11# But I say he's bonny
0:30:11 > 0:30:14# The fairest of them all
0:30:14 > 0:30:18# My handsome winsome Johnny. #