I Know Where I'm Going!

By Pam Cook

Book Overview

I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) is widely regarded as one of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's most remarkable achievements and a cinematic tour de force . A simple moral tale set in the wild Scottish Highlands, it follows the journey of a headstrong young woman forced by her encounter with this magical, mythic world and its exotic customs to revise her materialistic priorities. Pam Cook traces the film's production history, exploring its place in Powell and Pressburger's canon and showing how it wove into its narrative the memories and aspirations of an international group of film-makers working in 1940s Britain. Focusing on the extensive use of special effects, she reveals a technologically ambitious masterpiece. I Know Where I'm Going! is, for Cook, a multilayered work rich in allusions whose emotional power reaches beyond boundaries of time and place to touch profound human desires. In her foreword to this new edition, Cook argues that I Know Where I'm Going!'s ability to be both of its time and timeless is what ensures that it continues to captivate successive generations of viewers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1839023813
• ISBN13: 9781839023811
• Release Date: November 2021
• Publisher: British Film Institute
• Length: 104 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 5.3" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

“I know where I'm going, I know who's going with me,”

A young woman, Windy Hiller, largely knows what she wants out of life. On her way to her wedding on a remote Scottish island, she gets delayed long enough to experience a different way of life and a reality she had never been exposed to. Here, she discovers different values and the contrast between true n-o-b-i-l-i-t-y and the early form of superficial wealth. She is overwhelmed by her discovery and the man, Roger Livesey, who introduced her to it. Now, she must desperately find a way to escape or be forever lost in this unfamiliar world. I like to keep screenplays of some of the best movies, as the BFI series or screenplay series is a must for any serious videophile. These books separate the video into its basic constituencies and allow one to understand what the subliminal shots are supposed to portray. I find myself coming back and back and back to this book, probably more than the movie itself, as this is one of the best of the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger cinematic classics.