Movie review - "The Edge of the World" (1937) ***1/2

Michael Powell had made a number of movies before this (many of which are now considered lost) but this was first "real movie". It remains a remarkable piece of work, with stunning location work on the Scottish islands. This is memorable not only for its visuals - crashing waves, craggy cliffs (that look like gnarled old faces), wind swept rocks, grizzled old faces of the locals (e.g. the old granny) - but the depiction of life on the island - dependence on fishing, Church sermons, what people wear, their "parliament", the formality of a funeral, the competitions of running up to the top of the cliffs, deciding to abandon their beloved dogs because they cost too much.

The central story is based on a good dramatic situation - one son (Eric Berry) wants to leave the island, his sister's (Ruth Manson's) boyfriend (Nial Macginiss) doesn't, they have a race, the departing son dies in an accident, the boyfriend has to leave, the girl is pregnant, the boyfriend takes ages to find out about it because he's been kicked off the island.

Eric Berry seems far too modern to play one of the islanders and Manson is blah but Macginiss is excellent, all sensitive torment, and John Laurie is superb as Berry's father, wedded to the old ways - but willing to accept his out-of-wedlock daughter having a baby. Powell is in it too - at the beginning as a tourist who visits the island. It's a bit creaky here and there the music sometimes is over the top but it has genuine magic about it.