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I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)

This very fine romance tells the story of Joan Webster, a determined young woman at the tail end of WWII, who has always known where she's going, which is mainly getting ahead. At the moment, she's on her way to the island of Kiloran, off the coast of Western Scotland, to marry Sir Robert Bellinger. Sir Robert has amassed a considerable fortune during the war via his Consolidated Chemical company. He makes sure that Joan travels in style, according to a precise schedule, with folks waiting on her every step of the way, right up until the time comes for her to take a boat over to the isle. At that point, nature intervenes, in the form of gale force winds, and she's prevented from joining Sir Robert for several days.

Meanwhile, she meets the colorful inhabitants of the little town, among them the handsome and dashing Torquil MacNeil, a Naval Lieutenant, who it turns out is the real Laird of Kiloran, forced to rent out the family estate for several years at a time to get the money to maintain it the rest of the time. The entirely predictable complications follow, but where a modern film would rely on slapstick and broad humor, Pressburger and Powell are more subtle. The film is humorous, but the filmmakers are more intent on exploiting the natural beauty and wildness of their setting than in getting cheap laughs and they cleverly tap in to several mythological themes. There is a castle with a curse on it and a treacherous whirlpool lies between the town and the isle. In the end, legend and convention combine to bring the story to its necessarily romantic conclusion.

I have to admit, I normally loathe these stories where one betrothed, or the other, or both, break off an engagement because they've found "true love." (I guess at the time it was also considered daring to implicitly criticize war profiteering by having Joan choose the poor sailor over the industrialist.) But the movie's so enchanting and the use of myth so effective that I eventually surrendered to it. Powell and Pressburger made many great films and this one, though I'd not rank it with their very best, is delightful. Highly recommended for husbands who owe their wives a chick flick.

(Reviewed:27-Jan-02)

Grade: (A-)

Websites:

GENERAL :
-REVIEW : of Post-War Cinema and Modernity: A Film Reader (eds.) John Orr and Olga Taxidou (Richard Armstrong, Senses of Cinema)

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I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)

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