Synopsis

Storyline:

Joan Webster is an ambitious and stubborn middle-class English woman determined to move forward since her childhood. She meets her father in a fancy restaurant to tell him that she will marry the wealthy middle-aged industrial Robert Bellinger in Kiloran island, in the Hebrides Islands, Scotland. She travels from Manchester to the island of Mull, where she stays trapped due to the windy weather. Whilst on the island, she meets Torquil McNeil and as the days go by they fall in love with each other.

Written by

Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

User Reviews: 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?