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| country = United Kingdom

| language = English<br>[[Scottish Gaelic language|Gaelic]]

| budget = £230,000

| budget = £230,000<ref>MacDonald p 248</ref> or $1.2 million<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety160-1945-11/page/n138/mode/1up?q=%22pic+cost%22|accessdate=18 March 2023|magazine=Variety|title=London West End Has Big Pix Sked|page=19|date=21 November 1945}}</ref>

| gross =

}}

'''''I Know Where I'm Going!''''' is a 1945 [[romanceromantic filmcomedy]] directed and written by the British filmmakers [[Powell and Pressburger|Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=I Know Where I'm Going! |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150038734 |access-date=16 November 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It stars [[Wendy Hiller]] and [[Roger Livesey]], and features [[Pamela Brown (actress)|Pamela Brown]].

==Plot==

Joan Webster is a 25-year-old, [[upper middle class]] Englishwoman with an ambitious, independent spirit, who always "knows where she's going". She travels fromleaves her home in [[Manchester]] tofor the isle of Kiloran in the [[Hebrides]] to marry industrialist Sir Robert Bellinger, aone veryof wealthythe wealthiest men in England, muchand oldernearly industrialisther father's age.

She reaches the [[Isle of Mull]]. When bad weather postponesprevents theBellinger finalfrom leg ofretrieving her journeyfor (the short boat trip to Kiloran), she is forced to wait it out on the [[Isle of Mull]], among a community of people whose values are quite different from hers. There she meets Torquil MacNeil, a [[Royal Navy]] officer trying to goget home to Kiloran while on an 8-day [[shore leave]]. She also meets some of the residents, such as the boatman Ruairidh Mhór, the eccentric [[falconry|falconer]] Colonel Barnstaple, and the poor but proud gentry Catriona Potts, a friend of Torquil's since childhood who takes them in for the night.

The next day, on their way to catch a bus to [[Tobermory, Mull|Tobermory]] to use thecontact Bellinger by radio, Joan and Torquil come upon the ruins of [[Moy Castle]]. Joan wants to look inside, but Torquil refuses to enter. When she reminds him that the terrible curse associated with it only applies to the [[laird]]s of Kiloran, he reveals that ''he'' is the laird; Bellinger is only renting his island for the duration of the war. On the bus, the locals, unaware of Joan's identity, recount disparaging stories about Bellinger.

In Tobermory, Joan and Torquil use the radio, and Torquil gets two hotel rooms. WhenBefore they go intoentering the hotel's restaurant, she asks him for decorum's sake to sit at a different table. As the bad weather worsensdeteriorates into a full-scale gale, Torquil spends more time with Joan, who becomes torn between her ambition and her growing attraction to him. The two attend a [[ceilidh]] celebrating a couple's diamond wedding anniversary; the three bagpipers, hired to play at Joan's wedding and stranded like her on Mull, perform. Torquil translates the song "Nut-Brown Maiden" for Joan, emphasising the line "You're the maid for me." Despite Joan's hesitancy, Torquilshe persuadesis herpersuaded to dance, and dazzles.

Desperate to salvage her carefully laid plans, Joan convinces Ruairidh Mhór's young assistantmate, Kenny, to attempt the crossing alone for £20. Unable to talk Joan out of the highly dangerous trip, Torquil invites himself aboard after Catriona tells him that Joan is running away from him. En route, the boat is caught in the [[Gulf of Corryvreckan|Corryvreckan whirlpool]], but Torquil restarts the flooded engine just in time. The trio return safelybattered to Mull.

Finally, the weather clears. Before going their separate ways Torquil asks Joan if she would somewhere, sometime, have the pipers play "Nut-Brown Maiden". Joan then asks Torquil for a parting kiss, delivered and received with passion. After Joan leaves, Torquil enters Moy Castle and finds the inscription of the curse placed centuries earlier on Torquil's ancestor who had stormed the castle and captured his unfaithful wife and her lover. He had the loverspair bound together and cast into the castle's water-filled well/dungeon, which had a stone just big enough for one person to stand on. When the lovers' strength finally gave out, they dragged one another down intoto thetheir waterdeaths. Before she died, the woman cursed Kiloran and every future MacNeil of Kiloran: "If he shall ever cross the threshold of Moy never shall he leave it a free man. He shall be chained to a woman to the end of his days and shall die in his chains." From the battlements, Torquil sees Joan marching towards him, preceded by the three pipers playing "Nut-Brown Maiden". The couple meet in the castle and embrace. "[[I Know Where I'm Going (folk song)|I Know Where I'm Going]]" is sung as the end credits roll.

==Cast==

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==Production==

===Development===

Powell and Pressburger wanted to make ''[[A Matter of Life and Death (film)|A Matter of Life and Death]]'' but filming was held up because they wanted to do the film in colour and there was a shortage of Technicolor film stock—itstock during the Second World War—it was all being used for [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)#Second World War|Ministry of Information]] training films.<ref>Powell (1986) p. 443</ref>

Pressburger suggested that instead they make a film that was part of the "crusade against materialism", a theme they had tackled in ''A Canterbury Tale'', only in a more accessible romantic comedy format.<ref>MacDonald{{Cite p.book | author = Kevin Macdonald | author-link = Kevin Macdonald (director) | title = Emeric Pressburger: The Life and Death of a Screenwriter | page = 242 | year = 1994 | publisher = [[Faber and Faber]] | isbn = 978-0-571-16853-8 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/emericpressburge00macd/page/242 }}</ref>

The story was originally called ''The Misty Island''. Pressburger wanted to make a film about a girl who wants to get to an island, but by the end of the film no longer wants to. Powell suggested an island on Scotland's west coast. He and Pressburger spent several weeks researching locations and decided on the [[Isle of Mull]].<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Wilson |first= Valerie|date= May 2001|title=The Representation of Reality and Fantasy In the Films of Powell and Pressburger: 1939–1946 |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10100948/1/The_representation_of_reality_.pdf |work= |degree=PhD |___location= |publisher=University of London |access-date=}}</ref>

Pressburger wrote the screenplay in four days. "It just burst out, you couldn't hold back," he said.<ref>{{Cite book | author name= Kevin Macdonald | author-link = Kevin MacdonaldMacD243>MacDonald (director1994) | title = Emeric Pressburger: The Life and Death of a Screenwriter | page = [https://archivep.org/details/emericpressburge00macd/page/243 243] | year = 1994 | publisher = [[Faber and Faber]] | isbn = 978-0-571-16853-8 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/emericpressburge00macd/page/243 }}</ref>

The movie was originally meant to star [[Deborah Kerr]] and [[James Mason]] but Kerr could not get out of her contract with [[MGM]], so they cast [[Wendy Hiller]].<ref>MacDonald (1994) p. 245</ref> Hiller was originally cast in the three roles Kerr played in ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'' but had to withdraw when she became pregnant.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59326759 |title=Ginger Rogers' Return to Musical Comedy|newspaper=[[Sunday Times (Perth)]] |issue=2442 |___location=Western Australia |date=3 December 1944 |access-date=29 October 2017 |page=11 (SUPPLEMENT TO "THE SUNDAY TIMES") |via=[[National Library of Australia]]}}</ref><ref name="sight">Powell and Pressburger: the war years. Badder, David. [[Sight and Sound]]; London Vol. 48, Iss. 1, (Winter 1978): 8.</ref>

Six weeks before filming, Mason pulled out of the movie, saying he did not want to go on ___location. [[Roger Livesey]] read the script and asked to play the role. Powell thought he was too old and portly but Livesey lost "ten or twelve pounds" (four or five kilos) and lightened his hair; Powell was convinced.<ref>Powell (1986) p. 476</ref>

Powell's golden cocker spaniels Erik and Spangle made their third appearance in an Archers film: previously in ''[[Contraband (1940 film)|Contraband]]'' (1940) and ''[[The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp]]'' (1943), they were later also to be seen in ''[[A Matter of Life and Death (film)|A Matter of Life and Death]]'' (1946).<ref>{{IMDb name|1521132|Erik}}, {{IMDb name|1526257|Spangle}}</ref>

Pressburger later said that when he visited [[Paramount Pictures]] in 1947 the head of the script department told him they considered the film's screenplay perfect and frequently watched it for inspiration.<ref name="MacD249>MacDonald (1994) p. 249" </ref>

Pressburger later said that when he visited [[Paramount Pictures]] in 1947 the head of the script department told him they considered the film's screenplay perfect and frequently watched it for inspiration.<ref name="MacDonald p 249" />

===Filming===

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It was the second and last collaboration between the co-directors and [[cinematographer]] [[Erwin Hillier]] (who shot the entire film without a [[light meter]]).<ref name="IKWIG Revisited">In the documentary ''I Know Where I'm Going Revisited'' (1994) on the Criterion DVD</ref>

TheBoth hero and heroine of the film isare trying to get to "Kiloran", but nobody ever gets there. From various topographical references and a map briefly shown in the film, it is clear that the Isle of Kiloran is based on [[Colonsay]], south of Mull. The name Kiloran was borrowed from one of Colonsay's bays, Kiloran Bay. No footage was shot on Colonsay.

One of the most complex scenes shows the small boat battling the Corryvreckan whirlpool. This was a combination of footage shot at Corryvreckan between the Hebridean islands of [[Scarba]] and [[Jura, Scotland|Jura]], and Bealach a'Choin Ghlais ([[Sound (geography)|Sound]] of the Grey Dogs) between Scarba and [[Lunga, Firth of Lorn|Lunga]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.whirlpool-scotland.co.uk/ | title = The Corryvreckan Whirlpool – Scotland's maelstrom | access-date=17 January 2020}}</ref>

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*There were some model shots, done in the tank at the studio. These had gelatin added to the water so that it would hold its shape better and would look better when scaled up.

*The close-up shots of the people in the boat were all done in the studio, with a boat on gimbals being rocked in all directions by some hefty studio hands while others threw buckets of water at them. These were filmed with the shots made from the boat with the hand-held camera projected behind them.

*Further trickery joined some of the long- and middle-distance shots together with those made in the tank into a single frame.<ref name=Powell480>{{cite book|last=Powell|first=Michael|title=A Life(1986) inp. Movies|publisher=[[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]]|___location=London|year=1986|page=480|isbn=978-0-434-59945-5}}</ref>

Though much of the film was shot in the Hebrides, Livesey was not able to travel to Scotland because he was performing in a [[West End theatre|West End]] play, ''The Banbury Nose'' by [[Peter Ustinov]], at the time of filming.<ref>MacDonald p 243<name=MacD243/ref> Thus all his scenes were shot in the studio at [[Denham Film Studios|Denham]], and a double (coached by Livesey in London) was used in all of his scenes shot in Scotland. These were then mixed so that the same scene would often have a middle-distance shot of the double and then a closeup of Livesey, or a shot of the double's back followed by a shot showing Livesey's face.<ref>Powell (1986): p. 476</ref>

The film was budgeted at [[Pound sterling|£]]200,000 ({{Inflation|UK|200000|1945|r=0-5|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) and went £30,000 over. The actors[[art receiveddepartment]] budget was £5040,000, ofmostly whichspent oneon thirdeffects wentfor tothe Hiller. Thestudio whirlpool cost £40,000.<ref>MacDonald (1994) p. 247</ref> The actors received £50,000, of which one third went to Hiller.

Powell shot a scene at the end of the film where Catriona follows Torquil into the castle, to emphasise her love for him, but decided to cut it.<ref name="sight"/>

===Music===

John Laurie was the choreographer and arranger for the [[cèilidh]] sequences.<ref>Powell (1986:) pp. 537–538)</ref> The [[puirt à beul]] "Macaphee"<ref>[http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/45_IKWIG/Macaphee.html Macaphee song]</ref> was performed by Boyd Steven, Maxwell Kennedy and Jean Houston of the [[Glasgow Orpheus Choir]].<ref name=BFIftp>{{cite web |title=I Know Where I'm Going!; (1945) |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6ace5f91 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629120236/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6ace5f91 |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 June 2016 |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |access-date=11 December 2019}}</ref> The song sung at the cèilidh that Torquil translates for Joan is a traditional [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] song "Ho ro, mo nighean donn bhòidheach", originally translated into English as "Ho ro My Nut Brown Maiden" by [[John Stuart Blackie]] in 1882. It is also played by three pipers marching toward Moy Castle at the start of the final scene.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Howard Angus |title=Professor Blackie His Sayings and Doings |date=November 1895 |publisher=James Clark & Co |___location=London |page=193}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Tony |title=Structures of desire : British cinema, 1939-1955 |date=10 August 2000 |publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-4643-0 |page=71}}</ref> The film's other music is traditional Scottish and Irish songs<ref>[http://www.powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/45_IKWIG/Music.html Music in IKWIG]</ref> and original music by [[Allan Gray (composer)|Allan Gray]].<ref name=BFIftp/>

=== Restoration ===

In 2023, the film was restored and scanned in [[4K resolution]], by the [[British Film Institute]], The process was overseen by [[Martin Scorsese]] and Thelma Schoonmaker Powell.<ref>{{cite web |title=I Know Where I'm Going! |url=https://www.film-foundation.org/rsr-may-2022 |website=Film Foundation |access-date=19 July 2025}}</ref>

==Locations==

* On the [[Isle of Mull]]

** [[Carsaig Bay]] &ndash; Carsaig Pier and boathouses,; Carsaig House (Erraig),; telephone box next to the waterfall.,<ref>Powell (1986) p. 475</ref> today a [[Historic Environment Scotland]] Category B listed building.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/apex/f?p=1505:300:::::VIEWTYPE,VIEWREF:designation,LB50858 |title=Near Pier at Carsaig, Isle of Mull, K6 Telephone Kiosk |publisher=Historic Environment Scotland |accessdate=25 November 2024}}</ref>

** [[Moy Castle]] &ndash; Castle of Moy.<ref name=JM/>

** [[Duart Castle]] &ndash; Castle of Sorne.<ref name=JM>{{cite book |last1=Maxwell |first1=Jenna |title=A History and Guide to Scottish Castles |date=24 January 2023 |publisher=[[Pen and Sword]] |___location=Barnsley |isbn=978-1-3990-1614-8 |url=https://wwwbooks.google.co.ukcom/books/edition/A_History_and_Guide_to_Scottish_Castles/pwatEAAAQBAJ?hlid=en&gbpv=1pwatEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22I+Know+Where+I%27m+Going%22+locations+moy&pg=PT206&printsec=frontcover|language=en}}</ref>

** [[Torosay Castle]] &ndash; Achnacroish.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reeves |first1=Tony |title=The worldwide guide to movie locations |date=2001 |publisher=A Cappella |___location=Chicago |isbn=978-1-55652-432-5 |page=191 |url=https://archive.org/details/worldwideguideto00reev/page/191/mode/1up?q=torosay}}</ref>

* [[Lunga, Firth of Lorn#History|Pass of the Grey Dogs]] ({{Coord|56.202|-5.690|display=inline}}) &ndash; the whirlpool.<ref>Powell (1986) p. 480<name=Powell480/ref>

* [[Gulf of Corryvreckan]] ({{Coord|56.156|-5.711|display=inline}}) &ndash; the whirlpool.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Steven |first1=Campbell Rodger |title=The island hills |date=1955 |publisher=[[Hurst and Blackett]] |___location=London |page=55 |oclc=5975546}}</ref>

==Reception==

===Box office===

The film was a hit at the box office and recovered its cost in the UK alone.<ref name="MacDonald p 249">MacDonald p 249<MacD249/ref>

===U.S. release===

The film was one of the first five movies from the Rank Organisation to receive a release in the U.S. under a new arrangement. The others were ''[[Caesar and Cleopatra (film)|Caesar and Cleopatra]]'', ''[[The Rake's Progress (film)|The Rake's Progress]]'', ''[[Brief Encounter]]'' and ''[[The Wicked Lady]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62872042 |title=D-DAY FOR BRITISH FILMS |newspaper=[[Townsville Daily Bulletin]] |volume=LXVII |___location=Queensland, Australia |date=19 December 1945 |access-date=29 October 2017 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> U.S. box office take was $1.2 million.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety160-1945-11/page/n138/mode/1up?q=%22pic+cost%22|accessdate=18 March 2023|magazine=Variety|title=London West End Has Big Pix Sked|page=19|date=21 November 1945}}</ref>

===Critical reviews===

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''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote:

<blockquote>

The great strength of this most entertaining film lies in its affectionate and sympathetic handling of the Highland setting: its great weakness lies in its story. The glimpses of Highland life, the dancing at the ''ceilidh'', the gossip of travellers in a bus, the enthusiasm of the bird enthusiast (played by Captain Knight) with his eagle, all this is admirably done; and the storm, which is the climax of the film, is realistic and gripping. The story, however, does not bear reflective analysis.&nbsp;...If the fundamental framework had been sound this could have been a first-rate film; it is in any case a piece of first-rate entertainment.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1946 |title=I Know Where I'm Going! |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305807056 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=12 |issue=133 |pages=147 |id={{ProQuest|1305807056}} |url-access=subscription |via=ProQuest}}</ref>

</blockquote>

[[Raymond Chandler]] wrote in 1950, "I've never seen a picture which smelled of the wind and rain in quite this way nor one which so beautifully exploited the kind of scenery people actually live with, rather than the kind which is commercialised as a show place." —, ''Letters''.<ref>{{Citecite webbook |last1=Chandler |first1=Raymond |editor1-last=MacShane |editor1-first=Frank |editor2-last=Hiney |editor2-first=Tom |title=The Raymond Chandler Papers Selected Letters and Nonfiction, 1909–1959 |date=2012 |url=httphttps://wwwbooks.powell-pressburgergoogle.orgcom/Reviews/45_IKWIG/IKWIG06.htmlbooks?id=imQoKJKgYoQC&dq=raymond+chandler+%22I+Know+where+I%27m+going%22&pg=PT123 |___location=Letter titleto =James AnSandoe interesting7 letterDecember 1950| access-datepublisher=15[[Grove NovemberAtlantic]]|isbn= 20069780802194336}}</ref>

[[Martin Scorsese]] wrote in 1993, "I reached the point of thinking there were no more masterpieces to discover, until I saw ''I Know Where I'm Going!''"<ref name="IKWIG Revisited" />

The film critic [[Barry Norman]] included it among his 49 greatest films of all time.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wyatt |first1=Daisy |title=Bafta special: Barry Norman's top 49 British films of all time |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/bafta-special-barry-norman-s-top-49-british-films-of-all-time-8481536.html |work=[[The Independent]] |date=5 February 2013}}</ref>

In 2012 the film critic [[Molly Haskell]] included it among her 10 greatest films of all time in that year's ''Sight & Sound'' poll.<ref>{{cite web |title=Analysis: The Greatest Films of All Time 2012 |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/275 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818155444/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/sightandsoundpoll2012/voter/275 |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 August 2016 |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=20 January 2020}}</ref>

TheIn 2013 the film critic [[Barry Norman]] included it among his 49 greatest films of all time.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wyatt |first1=Daisy |title=Bafta special: Barry Norman's top 49 British films of all time |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/bafta-special-barry-norman-s-top-49-british-films-of-all-time-8481536.html |work=[[The Independent]] |date=5 February 2013}}</ref>

In 2025 ''[[FilmInk]]'' called it "one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time".<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=FilmInk|access-date=22 June 2025|date=22 June 2025|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/the-films-of-lee-robinson-and-chips-rafferty-part-5-the-stowaway/|title=The films of Lee Robinson and Chips Rafferty Part 5: The Stowaway}}</ref>

==Radio adaptation==

Hiller appeared in a radio adaptation of the film, produced by the [[Australian Broadcasting Commission]] in 1947.

<ref>{{cite news |last1=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=I Know Where I'm Going |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1249064550/view?sectionId=nla.obj-1321966835&partId=nla.obj-1249105426#page/n21/mode/1up |work=ABC Weekly |volume=9 |issue=50 |publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Commission]] |date=13 December 1947 |___location=Sydney, NSW |page=22}}</ref>

==Telephone box==

The red telephone box is now a [[Historic Environment Scotland]] Category B listed building.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/apex/f?p=1505:300:::::VIEWTYPE,VIEWREF:designation,LB50858 |title=Near Pier at Carsaig, Isle of Mull, K6 Telephone Kiosk |publisher=Historic Environment Scotland |accessdate=25 November 2024}}</ref>

==References==

===Notes===

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;<u>Region 2</u>

*[https://www.thedigitalfix.com/film/dvd-video-review/i-know-where-im-going/ I Know Where I'm Going! Review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221123922/https://www.thedigitalfix.com/film/dvd-video-review/i-know-where-im-going/ |date=21 February 2020 }} from Noel Megahey at The Digital Fix

*[http://www.dvdclassik.com/Critiques/je_sais_ou_je_vais.htm Review] (in French) at DVD Classik (France)