“POWELL’S BIG BANG”

By Raymond Benson

The British production, The Edge of the World, was acclaimed director Michael Powell’s first important feature film. Released in 1937, it was well-received in the U.K. and it also made something of a splash in the USA among the more discerning critics and audiences who appreciated non-Hollywood fare.

Powell had been working in cinema in various capacities since the silent days as a still photographer, scriptwriter, and director of short films. Through most of the 1930s, he helmed over twenty pictures that had diverse levels of success, but it wasn’t until 1936-37 that he had the chance to make a truly personal film. This was the “big bang” breakthrough in his movie career.

The Edge of the World is based on a newspaper article Powell had read that documented how a remote island, St. Kilda in the Scottish Outer Hebrides, was losing its population due to the land’s inability to support the people, and because younger generations were fleeing to Scotland and England for better opportunities. Powell wrote an original script involving two families on such an island and how dramatic circumstances change their lives.

Unable to film on St. Kilda, Powell chose the northern island of Foula in the Shetland Islands group. It was suitably similar in both the landscape and the people’s geo-political issues. With a handful of known actors and by casting many characters from the locals, Powell and cinematographers Monty Berman, Skeets Kelly, Ernest Palmer, and Powell himself, captured (even in black and white) the beauty and awesome grandeur of the cliffs-dominated island.

Two dominant families on the fictional island of Hirta, the Mansons and the Grays, are united by an upcoming marriage between Andrew Gray (Niall MacGinnis) and Ruth Manson (Belle Chrystall). Ruth’s brother, Robbie (Eric Berry) is Andrew’s best friend. Conflict arises when Robbie announces that he’s leaving the island to go “see the world” because there’s nothing left on Hirta for him. Losing someone like Robbie hurts the economy because there aren’t that many strapping young men to do the fishing and crofting. Andrew attempts to convince Robbie to stay, but Robbie will have none of it. Andrew’s father (Finlay Currie) is somewhat sympathetic to Robbie and believes that the islanders’ way of life is indeed diminishing and that they should all evacuate for the good of their children’s children. Robbie’s father (John Laurie) disagrees and is determined to stay, despite his son’s wishes. Andrew and Robbie challenge each other to an age-old tradition of racing up one of the cliffs to determine if Robbie should stay or not. The results of the contest are tragic… and this deeply affects the futures of the two families and the rest of the story.

Michael Powell appears at the beginning of the film as a yachtsman escorting Andrew Gray back to the island for reminiscing (the rest of the movie is a flashback).

Short and tight (at 75 minutes), The Edge of the World is a slice of life to which few of us today can relate, but it is a well-made, touching depiction of the story that Powell wanted to tell. Perhaps more important than the movie itself is the fact that the picture’s reception enabled Powell to go on to bigger and better projects, such as Thief of Bagdad (1940) and the eventual brilliant partnership with co-director Emeric Pressburger.

In fact, the making of The Edge of the World meant so much to Powell that he returned to Foula in 1978 with a camera crew and some of the surviving actors to make a short documentary, Return to the Edge of the World. This half hour program is in full color and is a warm reunion between the filmmakers and the people who still reside on the island.

Milestone Film and Video presents a beautifully restored high definition of the feature film (distributed by Kino Lorber) with an audio commentary by Powell’s widow, Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker, film historian Ian Christie, and Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis reading from Powell’s book on the making of the film (200,000 Feet on Foula).

Supplements include alternate scenes; the original trailer; the documentary Return to the Edge of the World; Powell’s short 1941 film, An Airman’s Letter to His Mother; and Powell’s home movies shot on Foula, narrated by Schoonmaker.

The Edge of the World is recommended for fans of Michael Powell, Scotland history, and early British cinema.

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