I Know Where I’m Going! (1945)

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s heady romantic masterpiece.

Headstrong Joan Webster (the wondrous Wendy Hiller) sets off, wedding dress in tow, to marry a rich older man on his remote Hebridean island. Stranded on Mull thanks to the weather, Joan finds herself struggling to cope with the unplanned turn of events.

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger weave their course of true love through flashes of surrealism, a life-threatening whirlpool and an ancient curse, disarming and enchanting in equal measure. But this is a film where small moments count the most – the passing of a cigarette between two windows or a slip on a ladder – as they build by stealth into something overwhelming. By the end we are left breathless and desperate to book the next night train and ferry to Mull.

1945 United Kingdom
Directed by
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Produced by
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Written by
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Featuring
Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey, Pamela Brown
Running time
91 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound