Edge Of The World

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In 1937, "The Edge of the World" won rave reviews in Britain and the United States and was awarded Best Foreign Film by the New York Film Critics Circle. Then, because of studio financial and distribution problems, it fell right off the edge of the world, rarely to be shown again in the U.S.

But now director Martin Scorsese of "Gangs of New York" fame is "presenting" the Michael Powell film on this Milestone release, mastered from the original 35mm nitrate negative. Scorsese is one of the British director´s greatest fans, but the funny thing is, despite Scorsese´s admiration and apparent admission of influence, "The Edge of the World" bears a much more striking resemblance to the films of John Ford. For one thing, there´s the shared belief in location filming and the attitude that setting can take on the importance of character. With Ford´s western films, who can forget the dramatic Monument Valley landscapes that loomed as large as the very hand of God, or Ford´s habit of using up-angle shots of a character shown against a backdrop of sky to suggest the monumental backbone of those early pioneers? Powell shoots his characters the same way, and in "The Edge of the World" we get a similar powerful but desolate landscape in Hirta, a Shetland island so far removed from Scotland and the rest of the Great Britain that it´s lost in time.

This is a tale of three islands, really. Hirta, which we´re told means "Death," is a fictional name. The idea for the film came when Powell read about the evacuation of the entire population of St. Kilda and wanted to make a film about the death of an island. When the time came to make the film, he couldn´t gain access to the St. Kilda, which had since been purchased and turned into a bird sanctuary. So he looked to the westernmost island of Foula, 20 miles away from the mainland of the Shetlands and 60 miles from Scotland. On this three-by-two mile spit of craggy land, with its 1,220-foot cliffs, Powell and his 24-person crew spent five months filming (three more than they had planned) and used the entire population of the island, all proud descendents of the Vikings, as extras.

As with Ford´s films, this one pays homage to the tenacity of the human spirit, with the focus falling squarely on the ageless struggle of men and women to live in an almost unlivable frontier. But there´s more than man (and woman) against nature. There´s a little Shakespeare, too. "The Edge of the World" concerns the two family lines that populate the island. Peter Manson (John Laurie) is the side-burned patriarch of one family, while James Gray (Finlay Currie) heads the other. Manson´s daughter, Ruth (Belle Chrystall) falls in love with Gray´s son, Andrew (Nial MacGinnis), but their relationship is doomed not so much by family rivalries as by the harsh land itself. The peat beds are drying up, the waters have become fished out, and the young people have been leaving the island for more settled areas and their greater opportunities—a kind of reverse of those Ford westerns. Ruth´s brother, Robbie (Eric Berry), has announced that he´s met a girl on the mainland but refuses to bring her to the island. Believing that there´s no future for anyone on Hirta, he´s determined to leave, and he suggests everyone else do the same. And Granny Manson (Kitty Kerwin), propped in her rocker like old Mose in "The Searchers" or shot up-close as Ma Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath," is a dramatic reminder that time is running out on the island´s inhabitants. To decide his and the island´s fate, there´s a showdown of sorts. He and Andrew are to race up the island´s most dramatic cliff, with the winner determining things. But tragedy intervenes, and ultimately it´s a baby who will decide everyone´s fate.

When "The Edge of the World" played in New York, the World-Telegram ran a headline which read, "´Edge of the World´ Superb Melodrama," and The New York Times critic dubbed it "one of the most beautifully photographed, most unusual and most dramatic films." Melodrama these days connotes a cheesy excess of sentiment and a film that´s driven by plot, rather than character. But Powell´s film reminds us of an era when filmmakers weren´t so afraid of pushing performers to the edge of emotion and bravely risking sentimentality. The performances here are first rate, but it´s that big, brawny character of the land itself that dominates, and Powell´s direction that helps us feel the plight of these people.

Video:
A new master is only as good as the original negative or positive from which it´s made, and while the overall print is excellent there are moments when the film flips bit (as when, in years of old, it would catch in the projector sprockets and briefly flicker or elide). There are also very minor flecks to reckon with, but this is a film not far removed from the silent era, and as such it´s in great shape. The photography is stunning, and the film quality is such that it doesn´t detract from the dramatic angles and juxtapositions. "The Edge of the World" is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio in black and white (ignore the internet sources that are calling it "color").

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