Films Discussed in 2021

These introductions were all written by the person who recommended the film to the group, from their memory of watching it before and liking it, plus some cursory research, but before watching it again or discussing it in the group. The recommender is usually myself. If it’s someone else I will nearly always have done some editing of what they wrote.

After each intro there are two ratings out of five stars. These are based on what we thought of the film after watching it for the discussion.

My rating is on the left. This closely corresponds to the film’s place in my constantly updated list of favourite films, as follows: 5 stars = position 1-100; 4.5 stars = 101-300; 4 stars = 301-700. Lower ratings = not amongst my favourites.

The other members’ aggregate rating is on the right. 5 stars means everyone liked or loved it. If everyone loved it except one strong dissenter that would be 4.5 stars. This could also be everyone liking it but only one or two praising it strongly. 4 stars is still preponderantly favourable opinion but somewhat more indifference or dislike balanced against the praise. 3.5 is just on the positive side overall, while 3 is middling and lower scores represent a negative balance of opinion. These ratings are all of course based on my interpretation of the discussion and any other feedback.

Captain Blood 09/12/21

Captain Blood (1935) is the definitive Hollywood swashbuckler in which all the ingredients of the genre came together, not least the romantic pairing of second choice leads Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, who were catapulted to stardom. The cruel injustice that befell Dr Peter Blood in the aftermath of a West Country uprising of 1685 and his subsequent career as a stateless buccaneer is expertly woven into the political events of the time in the historical novel by Rafael Sabatini and condensed into two hours of gripping cinema by director Michael Curtiz.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Close-Up 09/12/21

Close-Up (1990), directed by the legendary innovator of the second Iranian new wave, Abbas Kiarostami, is apparently an extended re-enactment of an actual crime caper in which the key people involved relive their part in the events. Viewer beware, nothing should be taken for granted in this soul-searching mockumentary that has earned not only critical acclaim, but the praise of fellow trail-blazing film auteurs, from Godard to Tarantino.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Don’t Look Now 25/11/21

Ambitiously conceived and meticulously directed by Nicholas Roeg, Don’t Look Now (1973) brings to the screen all the feelings of regret, hope, excitement, foreboding, disorientation and shock in the Daphne Du Maurier short story, and then some. Starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as a bereaved couple unduly affected by an encounter with a creepy old spinster in out of season Venice, this stylish and provocative drama is both emblematic of its period and a timeless classic of dark, disturbing suspense.

Here is the iPlayer link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Ninotchka 25/11/21

In her penultimate picture Hollywood’s legendary ice maiden Greta Garbo was practically a comedy virgin, as uncomfortable with the genre as her character, a Soviet fixer on a delicate assignment to Paris, so pointedly was with the decadent ambience of the Western capital. The politically-tinged shenanigans served up by Ernst Lubitsch in Ninotchka (1939) proved an ideal change of pace for the choosy star, and the seasoned exponent of debonair charm Melvyn Douglas a perfect foil as the wily representative of capitalist temptation Count Leon.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Brazil 11/11/21

“Somewhere in the 20th century”, according to the opening title, a young bureaucrat begins to resent his humdrum impotence as a cog in a dubious machine, escaping into literal flights of fancy, rose-tinted with the promise of romantic fulfilment. Never has a dystopian world been more lovingly crafted or a clutch of conformists and rebels more entertainingly assembled than in Brazil (1985), starring Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Ian Holm and Michael Palin, with a delicious cameo by Robert de Niro as a rogue heating engineer. Director Terry Gilliam harnesses his astounding visuals to the driving satirical conceit in this pulsating and engrossing epic of sci-fi black comedy.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Old Maid 11/11/21

The Old Maid (1939) is an unashamed weepie that portrays the pathos of repressed passion in the stifling moral climate of 19th century polite society. Bette Davis radiates to perfection the sweetness and sourness of Charlotte Lovell’s transformation across two decades of heartache. Miriam Hopkins describes an equal and opposite arc from grasping to motherly as her symbiotic rival, though stopping short of the open warfare she conducted with her co-star off-screen. The supporting roles are equally well cast in this sincere and polished production, directed with composure amid the hostilities by Edmund Goulding.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Mr Deeds Goes to Town 28/10/21

The prolific career of director Frank Capra encompasses not only the dazzling comedy classics, but a series of whimsical fables in which the humour is secondary to the moral struggles of an innocent at large in a rapacious world. The relatively overlooked but charming and moving Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936) stars Gary Cooper as the unsuspecting heir to a fortune that proves a poisoned chalice. Amid the grasping hordes he chances upon one trustworthy soul in the shape of Jean Arthur. Their moments together are all too brief as a decisive court battle looms.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Children Act 28/10/21

A legal dispute over a dying boy’s fate spills over into the private life of the presiding judge in The Children Act (2017), directed by Richard Eyre. The ever-watchable Emma Thompson brings out every nuance of conflicted emotion in the role of Justice Fiona Maye, unable to juggle the demands of her marriage and career, and now risking an unseemly entanglement that threatens both. Neglected husband Stanley Tucci and problem teenager Fionn Whitehead vie for her attentions in this finely judged adaptation of a typically slippery novel by Ian McEwan.

Here is the iPlayer link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Graduate 14/10/21

The Graduate (1967) still exudes bags of class, more than 50 years after it surprisingly picked up only one Oscar, a thoroughly deserved best director award for Mike Nichols. Dustin Hoffman is Ben Braddock the recent college big-shot thrust back into the charmless mediocrity of the real world, who becomes locked in a lust-love-hate triangle with two female Robinsons, a cynical, world-weary temptress in the alluring shape of Anne Bancroft and her as yet inexperienced daughter, played by Katharine Ross. All three are utterly convincing in their enduringly iconic roles.

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Here is the IMDb link for background information.

A Kind of Loving 14/10/21

John Schlesinger’s first full-length feature A Kind of Loving (1962) is a brilliant depiction of Northern working-class life circa 1960. Within the narrow confines of the grimy town, amid the sneers and mockery of co-workers and despite the warnings of parents a romance blossoms between Vic and Ingrid, played by the always charismatic Alan Bates and the equally good unknown June Ritchie.  But it seems that only domestic squabbling is in store, as Vic clashes with Ingrid’s hard-bitten mother, played by the inimitable Thora Hird.

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Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Autumn Leaves 30/09/21

The melancholy title song of Autumn Leaves (1956) is the soundtrack to the solitary life of freelance typist Millicent Wetherby until an encounter with an awkward young man in a restaurant revives long-buried hopes of happiness. Joan Crawford and Cliff Robertson generate an almost visible electric charge across the 17-year age gap in Robert Aldrich’s romantic film noir, in which the theme of mental disturbance provides a foretaste of his later gothic melodramas.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Force Majeure 30/09/21

An incident in a first-class ski resort in the French Alps opens up a can of worms for a family of Swedish holidaymakers in Ruben Östlund’s uncategorisable Force Majeure (Turist) (2014). Lashings of dark humour punctuate the thickening plot of this award-winning production with involvement from half a dozen Scandinavian and Alpine countries. The awesome mountain scenery and the strains of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons are the backdrop to Tomas and Ebba’s disintegrating relationship in a hotel that affords no privacy.

Here is the All 4 link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Shawshank Redemption 16/09/21

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) is the best possible counter-example to the wistful refrain “They don’t make ‘em like that anymore”. First-time feature director Frank Barabont remains true to the genre in this modern big production treatment of the classic prison drama. Andy Dufresne, unjustly sentenced for murder, calls on all his brains and spirit to survive the rigours of the notorious Eastern State Penitentiary, alarming even the hardened contraband smuggler Ellis Redding with his audacity. The chemistry of co-stars Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman as the conspiratorial inmates is the magical extra ingredient in this legendary audience favourite.

Here is the download link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Cold War 16/09/21

Director Pawel Pawlikowski’s follow-up to the award-winning Ida is a continuing masterclass in the evocation of time and place through exquisite black and white composition. The 4:3 screen aspect ratio in common use during the 1950s and early 60s again adds to the period feel of Cold War (2018), the story of an intense, volatile yet seemingly unbreakable relationship between a jazz musician and singer who follow their art and their hearts across the iron curtain from the stony ground of Poland to the bohemian chic of Paris and back again. For originality, style and unflinching confrontation of tough themes, this is another automatic entry into the canon of art-house classics.

Here is the All 4 link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

High Society 02/09/21

Newport, Rhode Island is the affluent, sun-kissed setting for a transmogrification of The Philadelphia Story into the musical High Society (1956), directed by Charles Walters. In one corner of the love quadrangle is outgoing Hollywood goddess Grace Kelly, bouncing between ex-, current and possible future lovers Bing Crosby, John Lund and Frank Sinatra. There’s still plenty of witty dialogue, but the pivotal contest is shifted to crooning ability, with Crosby and Sinatra plying their trade over a delicious Cole Porter score, backed up by jazz supremo Louis Armstrong and his band. The sheer panache of the starry line-up is infectious and makes for a very enjoyable ride.

Here is the iPlayer link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Night and the City 02/09/21

Known for his portrayals of ruthless crooks in the American film noir, Richard Widmark slips seamlessly into the chequered suit of a wide boy on the grubby streets of post-war London in Jules Dassin’s Night and the City (1950). From underworld pub to high-voltage wrestling arena to the grimy banks of the Thames, small-time operator Harry Fabian twists and turns to escape the nemesis that his lust for a bigger slice of the action has unleashed. Amongst the grafters and grifters helping the troubled anti-hero on his way Francis Sullivan and Googie Withers as the husband and wife publicans are particularly memorable.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Hustler 19/08/21

Amongst a full set of major Oscar nominations it is the black and white cinematography and art direction that won the awards for The Hustler (1961). Downtown dives, seedy back-streets, and an opulent mansion of ill-gotten gains provide the atmospheric back-drop to a powerhouse performance by Paul Newman in the title role, facing off against Jackie Gleason in the pool hall and Piper Laurie in the bedroom. Director Robert Rossen gives the acting talent its head in an absorbing drama, both powerful and intimate.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Lady Bird 19/08/21

Lady Bird (2017), written and directed by Greta Gerwig, stars Saoirse Ronan as the eponymous 17-year-old heroine in a particularly poignant, funny and authentic coming-of-age tale set in Sacramento, California. The central mother-daughter relationship is riveting from the word go, with both Ronan and Laurie Metcalf receiving Oscar nominations, along with two for Gerwig and one for best picture. Timothée Chalamet and Lucas Hedges also shine as two very different brands of boyfriend material.

Here is the iPlayer link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Unfaithfully Yours 29/07/21

Unfaithfully Yours (1948) represents a fascinating development in the career of writer/director Preston Sturges, known for a string of screwball comedies in the early part of the decade. The wit and comic invention is finely honed, but pressed into service of an intense psychological drama. Rex Harrison excels in the role of a celebrated orchestral conductor beset by dread suspicions concerning his wife that send him spinning into a dark night of the soul before, during and after a much-anticipated performance.

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Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Frenzy 29/07/21

London-born director Alfred Hitchcock makes a stealthy return home in his penultimate feature, Frenzy (1972). Despite seemingly modest ambitions and no big stars in the cast other than the great city itself, the master’s touch is evident in a tense and intriguing thriller. From the opening sequence in which a pleasant-looking young man is seen wearing the same pattern of tie as that used in a headline murder case the viewer is compelled to participate in the increasingly fraught predicament of the unfortunate victim of circumstance, or so he would have us believe.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Women 15/07/21

As in the original stage play the lavish sets of The Women (1939) are the exclusive arena of the “fair” sex, where its representatives joust and jostle for romantic and material supremacy under the knowing direction of George Cukor. The two top-billed Hollywood glamour queens carry the show. Joan Crawford is resplendently reptilian as the odious other woman while the radiant Norma Shearer is poignantly expressive as the unsuspecting wife, her happy world poisoned by an unholy imbroglio that heads inexorably West to a resolution in Reno, divorce capital USA.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Simple Men 15/07/21

Bill and Dennis McCabe, the protagonists of Simple Men (1992) seem on the contrary burdened with complexity as they set off on an abortive road-trip, each obsessed with their own unfinished emotional business. An extended stop-off in a sleepy Long Island town provides for a series of tricky encounters with the local inhabitants, while the brothers continue to spar and jab in their own problematic relationship. The humour is satisfyingly character-driven in this quirky comedy drama written and directed by acknowledged specialist in the genre, Hal Hartley.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Genevieve 24/06/21

The London to Brighton vintage car rally becomes personal in Genevieve (1953) when two rival enthusiasts determine to settle a score. Kenneth More as the arrogant alpha male and John Gregson, his more plodding, long-suffering chum, drag their lady companions, played by Kay Kendall and Dinah Sheridan, into the fray. The sparks fly in this much-loved comedy directed by Henry Cornelius, featuring a heroic performance by a 1904 Darracq 12-HP as the eponymous car.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Days and Nights in the Forest 24/06/21

Days and Nights in the Forest (1970) chronicles a jaunt in the wilderness by four young office buddies with disparate personalities, eager to loosen the shackles of civilisation but not sure how to go about it, especially when the women they encounter have their own ideas. Director Satyajit Ray serves up a heady brew, as powerful as that which the adventurers quaff in the local village bar, a seemingly light-hearted froth giving way to dark undercurrents of soul-searching and moral ambiguity.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Breathless 10/06/21

The screenplay for Breathless (À Bout de Souffle) (1960) is a pure François Truffaut confection. A charismatic thief on the run hooks up with an arty, liberated American student who gives as good as as she gets in a series of capers and arguments among the streets and hideaways of Paris. Director Jean-Luc Godard, more enfant than terrible at the outset of his 60 year career to date, points the camera at icons of cool Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg as they test the boundaries of rebellion and captures the mood of the time on the threshold of the swinging sixties.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Manchester by the Sea 10/06/21

Manchester by the Sea (2016), is a grittily realistic drama directed by Kenneth Lonergan from his own Oscar-winning screenplay. Lonely Massachusetts janitor Lee Chandler hears that his brother is dying and travels up coast to the eponymous port to take care of his adolescent nephew. His ex-wife makes an awkward re-appearance and Lee is forced to come out of his shell and confront his past, his own shortcomings and his many losses. The naturalistic performances of the cast, led by best actor award winner Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges and Michelle Williams, bring out the tragedy and the black humour in this beautifully crafted story of ordinary lives.

Here is the iPlayer link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Burnt by the Sun 27/05/21

An academy award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Burnt by the Sun (Utomlennye solntsem)(1994) takes place over an idyllic summer in the country house and grounds of a well-heeled family headed by larger-than-life patriarch Colonel Koto. Director Nikita Mikhalkov seduces the viewer with a sun-kissed bubble of innocent fun and games while the authorities close in on a former war hero recast as an enemy of the state.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Orchestra Wives 27/05/21

Orchestra Wives (1942), directed by Archie Mayo, follows the fortunes and internal squabblings of an ambitious jazz band as it travels across the country with more than its fair share of emotional baggage on board. The bitchy behind-the-scenes back-stabbing is entertaining, but the stand-out scenes are the musical numbers themselves, with the great Glenn Miller, alias Gene Morrison, and his orchestra wowing the crowd with that irresistible swing.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Getrud 13/05/21

Gertrud Kanning, a former opera singer, finds herself in the all too familiar predicament of a materially comfortable but emotionally unsatisfying marriage, ripe for a re-awakening of her artistic interests and youthful passions. Elegant restraint vies with hedonistic idealism in Gertrud (1964), directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. This adaptation of a 1906 stage play by Hjalmar Söderberg is a smart, sophisticated swansong by one of the greats whose career stretched from the silent era to the sixties.

Here is the Internet Archive link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Edward Scissorhands 13/05/21

Edward Scissorhands (1990) is a unique take on the age-old theme of a peaceful, humdrum community challenged by the arrival of a dark mysterious interloper. Under Tim Burton’s direction the stylised suburban landscape and its residents have an eeriness at least equal to that exuded by the wild-haired, black-clad protagonist with scissors for hands. The incarnation of a modern-day misunderstood Frankenstein monster propelled Johnny Depp to stardom and a glittering succession of weird and wonderful roles.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Singin’ in the Rain 15/04/21

Few musicals can match the sparkle and verve that Singin’ in the Rain (1952) sustains throughout its running time, not just in the glorious dance routines of Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Cyd Charisse, but in the rollicking story that knits the capers together about the arrival of talking pictures and its impact on studios of the silent era. Kelly and co-director Stanley Donen cleverly juggle with cinematic genres and styles to satirise Hollywood stardom and its portrayal of romantic love, while the genuine article blossoms behind the scenes.

Here is the iPlayer link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Crucible 15/04/21

The Crucible (1996), directed by Nicholas Hytner, is a faithful and full-blooded adaptation of Arthur Miller’s powerful allegorical play, in which the McCarthy era persecutions are evoked by revisiting the Salem witch trials of 1692-3. The authentic re-creation of time and place and the sprinkling of stardust, with Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder heading the sterling cast, contribute to making this an ideal production for anyone who has previously shied away from this complex, feverish drama.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Apocalypse Now 01/04/21

The director, cast and crew of Apocalypse Now (1979), grappled with their own personal demons as they sought to re-create on location in the Philippines the mind-bending miasma that was the Vietnam War. Its continued subsequent hold over Francis Ford Coppola has resulted in two later versions. This one appears to be the final cut minus the closing credits, 40 years on from the original and expanded to 171 minutes of brooding menace punctuated by the awesome set pieces that set a new standard in cinematic spectacle. Prepare to re-enter the heart of darkness.

Here is the iPlayer link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Wild Strawberries 01/04/21

Wild Strawberries (Smultronstället) (1957) is a wholly satisfying blend of Ingmar Bergman’s trademark soul-searching angst with the casual serendipity of a road movie. The traveller in question is a crusty old professor belatedly plagued by doubts about his life and career, whose journey to collect an honorary award at his alma mater evokes key episodes from his past. An unexpected warmth that shines through the fog of disillusion combines with glorious photography to make this one of Bergman’s more accessible acknowledged masterpieces.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Day for Night 18/03/21

Director François Truffaut was so enamoured of the process and ambience of film-making that he determined to share it with his audience in Day for Night (1973), the quintessential movie about making a movie. Truffaut himself takes centre stage as the director struggling with the whims and vagaries of his troupe, while his customary alter-ego Jean-Pierre Léaud is relegated to the supporting role of lead actor. Fellow new-wave auteur Jean-Luc Godard’s dismissal of the whole enterprise as inauthentic seems beside the point when the outcome is such an absorbing delight.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

On the Waterfront 18/03/21

Winner of Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and five other Oscars, On the Waterfront (1954) is a gritty example of serious Hollywood drama at its finest. Actors’ director Elia Kazan elicits another electrifying performance from Marlon Brando as the brawny dockworker caught between opposing forces and ideals, buffeted between dogged priest Karl Malden, tyrannical union boss Lee J. Cobb and other members of an awesome supporting cast, and stumbling unluckily into a dire moral dilemma.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Roaring Twenties 04/03/21

Prohibition and the underworld activity it spawned in the 1920s was a rich source of dramatic inspiration for the wave of gangster films spearheaded by Warner Brothers in the 1930s. It is as though it was all leading up to The Roaring Twenties (1939), a tumultuous tale of demobbed wartime buddies who strive to make it big by whatever means fair or foul over the course of the notorious decade. Director Raoul Walsh exceeds the usual spare running time and fires up two of the top screen bad guys, James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, to vie for supremacy, winner take all in an epic classic of the genre.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Four Nights of a Dreamer 04/03/21

Maverick director Robert Bresson, drawn as always to the bleaker side of life, transposes the Dostoevsky story White Nights to a contemporary Parisian setting in Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971). In a chance encounter an apparently aimless young artist seems to find his soulmate, but her own mournful passion is directed elsewhere. The look and feel of this rarely screened work is gentler, the scenario looser than the core output of this uncompromising auteur. Is it a relatively lightweight curiosity or an intriguing contribution to Bresson’s cinematic portraits of loners and obsessives?

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans 16/02/21

In Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) The Woman From the City comes between The Man and The Wife in a lakeside village, a grubby affair that soon exerts a dreadful pall on the parties concerned. But this grim template of the eternal triangle is only the starting point of a surprising emotional journey towards the uplifting promise of the title. The transformation unfolds with an energy and technical accomplishment that triumphantly realises director F.W. Murnau’s ambition to tell a universal human tale.

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Here is the IMDb link for background information

The Bridges of Madison County 16/02/21

In The Bridges of Madison County (1995) the last wishes of a farmer’s wife disturb her children with hints of a hidden romantic liaison they cannot help delving further into. In the re-telling the viewer becomes almost as familiar with the Italian emigrée and the visiting National Geographic photographer as they do with each other over four days in which nothing else happens. Nor does it need to, such is the hypnotic chemistry of the two leads. Meryl Streep lives her part to the full as always, and actor/director Clint Eastwood proves to himself he can do words just as well as action.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Human Capital 02/02/21

The intertwined narratives of Human Capital (Il Capitale Umano) (2013), directed by Paolo Virzì, bring together individuals from the top, middle and bottom of the economic strata in a fiendish conjunction of transactions and events that threaten to end badly for all concerned. This adaptation of a little-known novel is both a fascinating exposé of modern lifestyles and behaviours and a tightly-knit drama that cranks up the tension as the protagonists rush towards their reckoning.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Beware of Pity 02/02/21

Directed by the hugely productive, now long-forgotten, Maurice Elvey, Beware of Pity (1946) is a cautionary tale set during the dying days of the Austro-Hungarian empire. A young cavalry officer with time on his hands becomes ever more entangled in the affairs of a rich family whose friendliness conceals a deep sorrow. The feverish intensity of the first-person narrative may have been lost in adapting this gripping novel by Stefan Zweig for the screen but the ominous injunction of the title still resonates compellingly.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Godfather 19/01/21

In adapting and directing The Godfather (1972) Francis Ford Coppola transformed a borderline pulp novel into an in-depth portrayal of mafia culture throbbing with menace and suspense, while Marlon Brando landed the first role worthy of his awesome talent in ten years. After some debate James Caan, Al Pacino and Robet Duvall were selected as the key supporting actors, charged with maintaining the underworld supremacy of the Corleone family through a mixture of corrupt machinations and beautifully choreographed violence over the course of almost three hours’ screen time. The rest, as they say, is history.

Here is the iPlayer link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

I Know Where I’m Going! 19/01/21

Wendy Hiller plays the determined young woman from the city, bound for a remote Scottish island to live happily ever after, but the unpredictable weather of the Hebrides proves an obstruction in I Know Where I’m Going! (1945). This typically thought-provoking feature contains some familiar elements in the work of directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, such as the clash between different cultures, the sense of an other world just out of sight and the familiar figure of Roger Livesey stirring things up as the lieutenant on leave and not at all upset to be stranded in the same port as the thwarted bride to be.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

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