a surprisingly compelling character study of two families and the island that sustains and contains them
Audio:
Your speakers won´t get much of a work-out with this one, because the sound is Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. But sound isn´t the focus, and it doesn´t seem like a hardship. The waves won´t crash all around you "Perfect Storm" style, and the wind won´t howl through one ear and out the other, but the sound is enough to give a sense of the Spartan lifestyle that these residents live.
Extras:
Milestone has packed in some great extras on this one, with the biggest surprise being the original press kits the studio sent out in 1937, which are compressed into .pdf files that can be opened if you double-click on the disk in your computer and then double-click on the icon. You´ll need to use "zoom" or increase the font size in order to read the kits, but once you start in you´ll be fascinated by this rarely seen bit of theatrical history. There are "one-sheeters" on the filming of "The Edge of the World," credits, cast bios, a detailed synopsis, clips of newspaper articles relating to the filming and release, reviews of the movie (including a bad one!), and, best of all, materials aimed at theater owners. There are price lists for "exploitation material," such as window cards (five cents each), stills, etc., and selling points for marketing the film on the local level. It´s almost as great a find as the original negative itself.
So is the 5-6 minute short film produced by the R.A.F. which was photographed and filmed by Powell, "An Airman´s Letter to His Mother." Though short, it´s reminiscent of some of the propaganda the U.S. put out starring Jimmy Stewart, but interesting because the entire text of this one is a letter which was to be delivered in the event of the son´s death. There´s no introduction, though, so if you don´t first read the fine print to discover that Powell had a hand in this, you may wonder why it´s included here. You may also wonder, at first, why the 23-minute feature on "Return to the Edge of the World," presented in the grainy and faded color that has been the fate of ´70s film stock, was included. It begins with Powell touring Pinewood studios, but then leisurely leads into the film project that was so dear to his heart that he and members of his crew returned to Foula some 40 years later. With Powell´s voiceover narration we see mostly an unscripted reunion where cameras are allowed to linger as the director and his crew renew acquaintances. And, as viewers can see, life hasn´t changed much in Foula since the film was shot.
Rounding out the extras is a full-length commentary featuring film professor Ian Christie and Academy Award-winning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker-Powell, Powell´s widow, with Daniel Day-Lewis (here´s where the Scorsese "presentation" starts to make sense) reading excerpts from a book Powell wrote describing his experience filming. Here and elsewhere you´ll learn that the crew endured real hardships while shooting the picture, twice marooned and cut off from the rest of the world, once deprived of food (and, worse, says Powell, CIGARETTES) for five days, and many times having to perform rescues on the actors and photographers who had to be rescued with ropes from the perilous cliffs. Then there were dive-bombing skuas, eight-pound birds that resented intruders and literally swooped down to smack against the cast and crew, and 100 mile-per-hour winds that everyone had to endure during the final weeks of filming. And the yachtsman and his girlfriend who take Andrew back to the island at the beginning of this frame-tale told in flashback? It´s none other than Powell himself, with his then-fiancee.
Bottom Line:
With "The Edge of the World" and its tale of life in a rugged settlement, Great Britain has its version of the American western as seen through the eyes of John Ford. If there are similarities, it´s interesting to note that Ford´s "Stagecoach" rumbled onto the cinematic scene two years after Powell´s island saga played in theaters. Brace yourself for a beginning which is more melodramatic than the rest of the film, and then settle in for a surprisingly compelling character study of two families and the island that sustains and contains them.
Your speakers won´t get much of a work-out with this one, because the sound is Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. But sound isn´t the focus, and it doesn´t seem like a hardship. The waves won´t crash all around you "Perfect Storm" style, and the wind won´t howl through one ear and out the other, but the sound is enough to give a sense of the Spartan lifestyle that these residents live.
Extras:
Milestone has packed in some great extras on this one, with the biggest surprise being the original press kits the studio sent out in 1937, which are compressed into .pdf files that can be opened if you double-click on the disk in your computer and then double-click on the icon. You´ll need to use "zoom" or increase the font size in order to read the kits, but once you start in you´ll be fascinated by this rarely seen bit of theatrical history. There are "one-sheeters" on the filming of "The Edge of the World," credits, cast bios, a detailed synopsis, clips of newspaper articles relating to the filming and release, reviews of the movie (including a bad one!), and, best of all, materials aimed at theater owners. There are price lists for "exploitation material," such as window cards (five cents each), stills, etc., and selling points for marketing the film on the local level. It´s almost as great a find as the original negative itself.
So is the 5-6 minute short film produced by the R.A.F. which was photographed and filmed by Powell, "An Airman´s Letter to His Mother." Though short, it´s reminiscent of some of the propaganda the U.S. put out starring Jimmy Stewart, but interesting because the entire text of this one is a letter which was to be delivered in the event of the son´s death. There´s no introduction, though, so if you don´t first read the fine print to discover that Powell had a hand in this, you may wonder why it´s included here. You may also wonder, at first, why the 23-minute feature on "Return to the Edge of the World," presented in the grainy and faded color that has been the fate of ´70s film stock, was included. It begins with Powell touring Pinewood studios, but then leisurely leads into the film project that was so dear to his heart that he and members of his crew returned to Foula some 40 years later. With Powell´s voiceover narration we see mostly an unscripted reunion where cameras are allowed to linger as the director and his crew renew acquaintances. And, as viewers can see, life hasn´t changed much in Foula since the film was shot.
Rounding out the extras is a full-length commentary featuring film professor Ian Christie and Academy Award-winning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker-Powell, Powell´s widow, with Daniel Day-Lewis (here´s where the Scorsese "presentation" starts to make sense) reading excerpts from a book Powell wrote describing his experience filming. Here and elsewhere you´ll learn that the crew endured real hardships while shooting the picture, twice marooned and cut off from the rest of the world, once deprived of food (and, worse, says Powell, CIGARETTES) for five days, and many times having to perform rescues on the actors and photographers who had to be rescued with ropes from the perilous cliffs. Then there were dive-bombing skuas, eight-pound birds that resented intruders and literally swooped down to smack against the cast and crew, and 100 mile-per-hour winds that everyone had to endure during the final weeks of filming. And the yachtsman and his girlfriend who take Andrew back to the island at the beginning of this frame-tale told in flashback? It´s none other than Powell himself, with his then-fiancee.
Bottom Line:
With "The Edge of the World" and its tale of life in a rugged settlement, Great Britain has its version of the American western as seen through the eyes of John Ford. If there are similarities, it´s interesting to note that Ford´s "Stagecoach" rumbled onto the cinematic scene two years after Powell´s island saga played in theaters. Brace yourself for a beginning which is more melodramatic than the rest of the film, and then settle in for a surprisingly compelling character study of two families and the island that sustains and contains them.
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