Shetland's first feature film, the 1937 classic "The Edge of the World"  arrives on DVD, courtesy of the British Film Institute on January 12th 2004.

"The Edge of the World" was directed by acclaimed British director Michael Powell. He died in 1990, and is best known for films he made with the screenwriter, producer and director Emeric Pressburger, among them The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death. After frustrating years filling his "quickie quota" as a contract director for Warner Brothers, Powell got the chance to make "The Edge of the World," financed by an American producer named Joe Rock.

Martin Scorsese, a champion of Powell's, came across the film in the 80's, "I saw that he had this personal vision even before his work with Pressburger" For months Powell and his crew lived in isolation on Foula filming the story of a culture slowly being forced into evacuation and extinction on the Scottish mainland.

Scorsese adds: "On one hand there is a documentary; on the other there is a very mystical, romantic feeling... It has the elements of all: documentary, drama, avant- garde."

At one point a young woman (Belle Chrystall) stands at the top of a cliff contemplating suicide while the image of ocean waves plays across her face. "Creating images like that hearken to American underground film," Scorsese said. "You wouldn't think of images coming together that way."

It tells the tale of an island community forced to face up to a dying way of life as their livelihood is threatened by the coming of trawlers from the mainland. Evacuation is inevitable but not before events closer to home result in tragedy...

"Edge of the World" stars John Laurie (Kidnapped, Dad's Army), Finlay Currie (Ben-Hur, Kidnapped, Brigadoon), Kitty Kirwan (Odd Man Out, I Know Where I'm Going) and Niall MacGinnis (Jason and the Argonauts, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold).

Read James MacGregor's review of Edge of the World here.

Buy "Edge of the World" from Sendit.com

Buy "Edge of the World" from Amazon.co.uk

UPDATE

Michael Powell wrote a book about his experiences of making "The Edge of the World" on Foula in the book, "The Edge of the World: The Making of the Film". It runs to some 352 pages and is available in paperback here.

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