The Edge of the World
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Edge of the World (1937) is the first major project by British film-maker Michael Powell.
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Story
The film is the story of the dangers of de-population of the outer islands of Scotland as it becomes harder to follow the old ways of life there.
Robbie Manson (Eric Berry) wants to leave the island and explore the wider world. Robbie's friend Andrew Gray (Niall MacGinnis) and his sister, Ruth Manson (Belle Chrystall) are sweethearts and are quite willing to stay. Of their parents, Peter Manson (John Laurie) is determined to stay while James Gray (Finlay Currie) suspects that their way of life can't last much longer.
But if Robbie leaves the island that will make it harder for the others because there will be one less young man to help with the fishing and the crofting.
Production
Powell had been making studio based 'quota quickies' for some years but wanted to make a film about the depopulation of the Scottish islands ever since seeing a newspaper article about the evacuation of St. Kilda some years before.
He wasn't allowed to film on St. Kilda but found another suitable island in Foula in the Shetland Islands to the North of Scotland.
Powell gathered together a cast and crew who were willing to take part in an expedition to what, before the air service that now exists, was a very isolated part of the UK. They had to stay there for quite a few months and finished up with a film which not only told the story he wanted but also captured the raw natural beauty of the location.
Return to the Edge
In 1978, director Michael Powell and some of the surviving cast and crew went back to Foula to re-visit the island where they'd made the film that changed their lives. This was made for BBC TV to act as "colour bookends" to the 1937 film and is called 'Return to the Edge of the World. In the first part, Powell tells how the film came to be made and he, John Laurie, Sydney Streeter, Grant Sutherland and others go to Foula. In the second part, which should be shown after the 1937 film, they talk to some of the islanders who were there in 1937 and remember those who couldn't make the reunion.
External links
- The Edge of the World (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028818/) at the Internet Movie Database
- The Edge of the World (http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/459211/index.html) at screenonline.org.uk
- Reviews and articles (http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/37_Edge) at the Powell & Pressburger Pages (http://www.powell-pressburger.org)
