MICHAEL POWELL

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBBB.  United Kingdom, 1937.  Joe Rock Productions.  Screenplay by Michael Powell.  Cinematography by Monty Bergman, Skeets Kelly, Ernest Palmer.  Produced by Joe Rock.  Music by Lambert Williamson.  Production Design by W. Osborne, Sydney Streeter.  Film Editing by Derek N. Twist, Robert Walters.  

Early Michael Powell film is an enchanting view of a world gone by. On a remote Scottish island (location photography is staggeringly beautiful in every shot), a local fisherman has much conflict with his son when the youngster announces he wants to move to the mainland for work and thinks everyone else in the village should do so; the modern world has engulfed their island too much, and their old world way of living is just no longer possible. The old man resists, but then a terrible tragedy occurs and opinions start to change. Acting is a little amateurish at times, but there’s no denying the power of this filmmaker: the film assaults you visually and emotionally, its haunting landscapes reaching in and grabbing hold of you to provide an experience you’ll not soon forget.