Review of I Know Where I'm Going (2009) by Eric F — 25 Jun 2009

In "I Know Where I'm Going", a collaborative effort by perhaps the best collaborators in cinema, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the duo succeeds in telling what is essentially a modern myth. So many elements familiar of folklore are present: we have a prince who tries to win the heart of a woman who is to be wed to a dull man, supernatural forces come into play by way of the unrelenting weather, our lovers must face the challenge of conquering a monstrous whirlpool, and a curse placed on a castle guides the fate of our hero. In this way, it's fair to say "I Know Where I'm Going" is wonderfully unique for what, on the surface, seems like a Sirkian melodrama. Despite a creative script, however, it doesn't achieve the heights of a great romantic picture because the chemistry between Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey is not present. One must commend the casting of both of the leads as they look completely different from typical heroes, but for whatever reason the spark between the two was so nonexistent that I felt the film became a sort of cold and tedious procession.

Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) has, since her childhood, known where she was going. Her life has consisted of guarantees and familiarities, a life of stability and little risk. One day, she tells her father (George Carney), a bank manager, that she'll be going to the Scottish Hebrides to marry Robert Bellinger, a wealthy chemical industrialist. Her journey takes her to the Isle of Mull, an unpretentious place with traditions that differ greatly from her own. Because of a heavy fog, she must stay in Mull until the weather clears, all the while her husband waits for her arrival on Kiloran.

She finds a place to stay in the house of Catriona Potts (Pamela Brown), a hunter with an accompanying pack of wolfhounds. Also taking refuge in the house are Col. Barnstaple (C.W.R. Knight), a falconer who cannot find his pet eagle, and Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesey), a handsome naval officer also waiting to venture back to Kiloran. Joan and Torquil conjure up an unlikely romance, however Joan persists that she must get back to Robert rather than following her heart by pursuing a new relationship with Torquil. Eventually, it is revealed that Torquil is the laird of Kiloran, and is only renting it to Robert.

Of all the performances, it's perhaps Pamela Brown who nearly steals the movie. She has one of the most memorable entrances i've seen on film, and her screen presence is tremendously unnerving. Wendy Hiller is charming as a lead and, although terribly misguided, we never think of her as obnoxious. I found Roger Livesey, although rather homely, to be a bit dull and, in this case, not a convincing romantic counterpart to Hiller's heroine with a blossoming heart.