Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This remarkable film has changed the lives of many people who have seen it. In 1994, a half hour TV documentary was made called I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING REVISITED (available on Youtube, and also see my separate review of it), which revisits the scenes and interviews the surviving people who were involved in the production. The main film itself was shot on the Isle of Mull and the small islands of Scarba and Colonsay in the Scottish Western Isles. The ruined castle which features so prominently in the story was the real Castle Moy near Lochbuie on Mull, which both in the film and in reality was the home of the Clan MacLean (also spelled MacLaine), which the family abandoned in 1752. The terrifying scenes of the small boat drifting in a storm into a huge whirlpool in the sea, called 'the Corryvrecken' (its name also in the film), were filmed in the real whirlpool of that name situated between the islands of Scarba and Jura. It is the third largest whirlpool in the world. A local man, frankly risking his life for the sake of art (and perhaps a fee), took a small boat to the edge of the whirlpool and this was filmed as live action by telephoto lenses from the very top of Scarba. The whirlpool in the film was thus not an artificial one but very much the real thing. Such whirlpools in the sea, and in rivers, are rare but do exist around the world, the biggest one being off the coast of Norway in the Lofoten Islands, for instance. I have an old 16th century engraving of it somewhere, lost amongst the piles of such things which I have collected, in other words, lost in my 'paper maelstrom'. It is named the Moskstraumen, but often called 'the Maelstrom'. The word 'maelstrom' entered the English language because of it, introduced by Edgar Allan Poe, who used the term in his story 'A Descent into the Maelstrom'. Another major whirlpool off the coast of Norway is called the Saltstraumen. Much of the action of the film was filmed at a hotel in the town of Tobermory on Mull, and many tourists still turn up there to see the locations and taste the atmosphere of their favourite film. The quay where Wendy Hiller stood desperately hoping for a ferry is at Carsaig on Mull (the opposite end of the island from Tobermory), and is apparently still the same as it was in 1944. So much for history, geography, and oceanography, and so now we turn to the film. It is a dreamy, mystical and romantic film written and directed by the partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The cinematographer who did such brilliant work was Erwin Hillier (credited as Erwin Hiller). He was a genius at location shooting, as he proved in his most outstanding achievement of all, filming Sandy Mackendrick's SAMMY GOING SOUTH (1963, see my review), which was shot all across the African continent from Port Said in Egypt to South Africa. The stars of the film are Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey, both of whom are magnificent and make the film work magically, with enormous chemistry between them. Petula Clark, later to become a well known pop singer, plays the strange little girl reading the big book, who makes precocious remarks to Livesey. Pamela Brown gives a profound air of mystery and uncontrolled wildness to the part of the impecunious aristocrat Catriona. She lived with Michael Powell until her unfortunate early death from cancer at the age of only 58. This early appearance was only her second film, of the 60 she was to make between 1942 and 1975, the year she died. That averages out at slightly more than two per year. She certainly had unique qualities of strangeness. Finlay Currie, in his usual kilt, naturally appears in this film, as indeed how could he not, since he so epitomised Scotland in films at that time. It needs to be said that back in those days, the English looked upon their Welsh and Scottish fellow-countrymen with great affection, revelling in their quaintness, strange ways of speaking (much Gaelic is spoken in this film), and national peculiarities. This comes across for instance in Will Hay's film OH, MR. PORTER! (1937, see my review), with its hilarious and affectionate portrayal of the eccentricities of the Welsh, and Sandy Mackendrick's equally hilarious WHISKY GALORE (1949) about the Scots. Alas, England's relations with the Scots have soured, and today such an affectionate portrait of the Scots by English filmmakers would be most unlikely. In the film we are treated to a vision of a ceilidh celebration, and to other insights into traditional Scots life of the Islands. We even have three pipers playing together, and we have a golden eagle as a star of the film as well. This reminds me of our old acquaintance (from days of auld lang syne) Seton Gordon, the golden eagle expert, and champion piper who could play the pibroch the best of all. His book AFOOT IN THE HEBRIDES is highly recommended for those interested in the Western Isles. This film conveys more than just the romance between a man and a woman who fall unexpectedly in love, thus threatening all of Wendy Hiller's plans of 'where I am going', but it also conveys the romance of a West of Scotland that once existed, with its mist, its waves, its storms both natural and human, its pipes, its kilts, and its customs. It is a magical film recording the days of Scotland's innocence, perhaps, before political hysteria overwhelmed the people north of the Border. Perhaps if they all were to sit down and watch this movie, many of them might just recover some of their age-old charm, wit, sense of fun and playfulness, and lose those fierce frowns on their faces today.

I don't think I was even familiar with Powell and Pressburger until a couple of years ago. But, due to the IMDb Classic Film Board, this will make the 8th of their movies that I've seen, and they still surprise and delight me! Powell and Pressburger co-wrote, produced, and directed this romantic comedy. Michael Powell used a setting, the Scottish Hebrides, much like the one that he had fallen in love with while making The Edge of the World (1937).This movie, like, Vincente Minnelli's 1954 musical, Brigadoon, contrasts the modern city life to the more mystic and mythical Scottish traditional life. When a city person--like Gene Kelly in Brigadoon or Wendy Hiller in I Know Where I'm Gong!--travels to a "simpler" place, they not only unexpectedly find love but also find another type of rooting beyond their city values.The enjoyable part is watching them in the progress of their discovery. One of the biggest jokes of this movie is it's title: Wendy Hiller may THINK she knows where she is going but really has no idea. Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) is an English working-class social climber, bent on marrying a rich chemical magnate who lives on a Scottish island in the Hebrides. However, when she goes to there to marry him, she gets "stuck," due to the unpredictable weather, between the island that she can see—almost touch—and the mainland inhabited by Scottish folk.While waiting to get to the island, Joan is introduced to the locals' song, dance, myth, humor, and tradition as well as the penniless laird named Torquil (Roger Livesey). This 'getting stuck between two places' acts as a metaphor for a crossroads where she must decide what is right for her life. This movie is another Archer masterpiece.

If I was putting it in a double bill, it would be, not with another Scottish film, but with 'The Peaceful Man', set in Ireland, or 'Gone to Earth', set on the English/ Welsh border country.Heck, let's call it a triple bill!The essential qualities are: beautiful countryside: real people, albeit some a little unusual: excellent acting from fine actors - and, most importantly, a story that may not be new but is neither hackneyed nor trite.If you want a period film that's not a 'just-so' story - where there aren't necessarily good guys who always do the right thing, and bad guys who are obvious villains, and macguffins round every corner - well, here it is.

Taking a side trip to the outer limits of the United Kingdom island, the Archers production team (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger) provides a wonderfully sweet and gentle story that takes place in a most remote area with very personable and identifiable people who are just the antidote for a sophisticated, headstrong and forthright woman headed to a local island to marry a rich businessman.This is a story arc that today is as clichéd as possible, but despite its rapid aging, Powell and Pressburger's film remains timeless today mostly because of how much else they include in the story. There is wonderful black and white cinematography with gorgeous landscapes shimmering in the pristine photography. The acting is very fine with Wendy Hiller providing many instances requiring her own comeuppance and Roger Livesy being the excellent foil for such a character. These two have very good chemistry together and allow us to enjoy not just their performances but also the rest of the film as they provide for a relaxed atmosphere.Overall, this is not one of the very best Powell and Pressburger products, but it does provide for some nice moments and a tender love story with passions and emotions punctuated by the roaring sea and rocky coastline. A solid, splendid British film.