Hollywood comes to Mull

Some of the world’s foremost film experts and enthusiasts headed to Mull to celebrate the 75th anniversary of one of Britain’s best-loved classic romantic films - I Know Where I’m Going!

 

Often reshown in the cinema or on television screens, the film is probably even better known in the USA, which is why Hollywood’s famous movie historian Jeremy Arnold was joined by many other Americans - as well as film buffs from Argyll - at the celebration in Tobermory's Western Isles Hotel last month.

 

The great film critic Barry Norman ranked the film, dubbed IKWIG for short - among the world’s 100 best films, and American director Martin Scorsese says that the techniques used in the film influenced his own cinematography.

 

It is 77 years since IKWIG was first screened, having been shot on Mull in 1944 and launched the following year. However, its 75th anniversary could not be celebrated earlier because of Covid.

 

"attachment_817660" "" "267"] IKWIGGERS visit Moy Castle
Picture: Ian Court

 

"attachment_817663" "" "135"] Professors Ian Christie, Robert Beveridge and Nicolas Maclean with Ian Court, under an IKWIG poster at the Western Isles Hotel
Picture: Ian Court

 

Main organiser Professor Robert Beveridge, the VLV (Voice of the Listener and the Viewer) trustee for Scotland and a Professor of Media Policy,  already ran three IKWIG weekends on Mull in 2005, 2010 and 2015, including a trip to the whirlpool of Corryvreckan, which is the focus of the film’s climax. He has been assisted by Ian Court and Nicolas Maclean.

 

The IKWIG weekend started at the Western Isles Hotel with a surprise ZOOM call from Petula Clark, the only surviving cast member of IKWIG, who played Cheryl in the film.

 

'The 89-year-old actor and singer is still going strong, and rang in from the Prince Edward Theatre London, where she is playing the Bird Lady in Mary Poppins. A ZOOM discussion then took place with Thelma Schoonmaker in Hollywood, widow of IKWIG’s director Michael Powell and Andrew Macdonald, a grandson of IKWIG’s producer and screen-writer Emeric Pressburger. Thelma is chief editor for Martin Scorsese, and Andrew was the producer of Trainspotting. Both had hoped to attend the IKWIG weekend in person but were prevented by film deadlines.

 

'After dinner Professor Ian Christie of Birkbeck College, University of London, showed a film with him in discussion with Powell, Pressburger and Scorsese, and revealed many unknown facts about IKWIG and its two great film-makers,' wrote Nicolas Maclean.

 

Saturday October 22 was dedicated to location visits including the telephone box by a waterfall at Carsaig that is now a listed and protected item, Carsaig boat-house thanks to David McLean, and Carsaig Pier and Carsaig House, courtesy of Mark and Nancy Horton.

 

From Carsaig the IKWIG group move on to Lochbuie, thanks to Jim and Patience Corbett ending up at Duart Castle where Sir Lachlan Maclean had arranged a special tour, reception and gala screening of IKWIG, supported by MG Alba. After dinner at the Western Isles, Ian Court  masterminded a Powell and Pressburger Quiz, for which the prize was an original autographed photograph of the star Wendy Hiller, who played Joan Webster in the film.

 

On Sunday October 23, the main morning event was a talk by Nicolas Maclean - Clues to the true story behind IKWIG - Detective work by a Muileach.  Some of the mystery behind why Powell and Pressburger chose the theme for IKWIG and to shoot the film on Mull were explained as well as the close links with the Maclaines of Lochbuie.

 

For  information on IKWIG and to see more pictures go to www.ikwig.co.uk