FOULA HERITAGE

Foula - The Edge of the World

Stills from the film The Edge of the World are reproduced on this Webpage by courtesy of the Estate of Michael Powell and by the British Film Institute.

FOULA ISLAND TO BE FILMED

Remote Community of Shetland

STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE

From the Scotsman 09/06/1936

[FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT]

As stated in The Scotsman last week, Mr Michael Powell, the London film producer, and several assistants, went north to an island in the Shetland group with a view to surveying it from the point of view of suitability for a Scottish film showing life in a remote island community. They used the aeroplane service to Lerwick, and from Lerwick they proceeded by boat to the island of Foula, one of the most remote and least known of the Shetland group. In many respects it is very similar to St Kilda, except for the fact that there is still a considerable community on the island.

One of the factors that keep the community apart from the main stream of national activity was illustrated during the visit; for the party were marooned on the island for several days by stress of weather.

The Island of Foula, Mr Powell states, is ideal for the purpose of his film project. It has been decided that this Elstree film, presenting an island drama under realistic conditions, will be made in Foula.

A certain amount of material will be photographed on the mainland of Shetland and at Lerwick, to show the herring fleet at work.

This was stated last night in Lerwick, in an interview by Mr Michael Powell, the author and director of the film, who, with Mr George Black, jun., unit manager, and Mr Laurence Holbourn, one of the proprietors of the island, had just returned from Foula, where they had been delayed since Saturday, owing to a quite usual difficulty of embarking with the sea set up by a strong wind. Mr A. Seabourne, production assistant, and Mr Sid Streeter, master carpenter, are remaining in Foula to prepare the base camp, which will soon be fully established after the arrival from Sunderland of the film expedition’s steamer. Work on the film will begin in about a fortnight. Messrs Powell, Black , and Holbourn are flying south to-day. Mr Powell expressed himself as delighted with what he described as quite unique scenery.

ULTIMA THULE

Foula is three miles long by one and a half broad. It is 16 miles west-south-west of the nearest part of the Shetland mainland, and is 27 miles west of Scalloway, a port on the other side of the Shetland mainland from Lerwick. The island has high cliffs like St Kilda, some of them over a thousand feet sheer above the sea. It has a population of over 100 persons. The islanders for generations have been a compact and self-contained community, with their own customs and traditions.

Foula is the “Ultima Thule” of the ancients. Tacitus, speaking of the Roman general Agricola’s victories, mentions that he reached the Orkney Islands and looked out upon “Thule.” The name of Foula may readily be identified with Thule, which can easily be seen on a clear day from the northern parts of the Orkneys. The cliffs are to the west, and have been described as “literally losing themselves in the clouds, or appearing to pierce the belt of clouds which frequently hangs around them.” The only landing-place, named Ham, is on the east side, and has been used by the islanders as a fishing port since time immemorial.

Foula's Western Cliffs

The island, seen at a little distance from the sea, appears to consist of five conical hills, rising steeply from the water to the clouds. The highest peak, called Kaim, has an altitude of about 1300 feet: and part of the sea-faces of the hills “are almost sheer cliffs, sublime and terrible, from their summit to their base.” The low lands, remote from the sea, are frequented by parasitic gulls, which build among the heather. The bird population includes also swarms of plovers, crows, seapies, and curlews.

PROLIFIC BIRD LIFE

A writer some years ago thus recorded his impressions of Foula: - “On reaching the highest ridges of the rocks, the prospect presented on every side is of the sublimest description. The spectator looks down from a perpendicular height of 1000 or 1200 feet, and sees below the wide Atlantic roll its tide. Dense columns of birds hover through the air, consisting of maws, kittywakes, lyres, sea-parrots or guillemots. The cormorants occupy the lowest portions of the cliffs, the kittywakes whiten the ledges of one distant cliff, gulls are found on another, and lyres on a third. The welkin is darkened with their flight; nor is the sea less covered with them, as they search the water in quest of food. But when the winter appears, the colony is fled, and the rude harmony produced by their various screams is succeeded by a desert stillness. From the brink of this awful precipice, the adventurous fowler is, by means of a rope tied around his body, let down many fathoms; he then lands on the ledges where the various sea-birds nestle, being still as regardless as his ancestors of the destruction that awaits the falling of some loose stones from a crag, or the untwisting of a cord.”

GREATER THAN THE EAGLE

“The skua gull,” observes another writer, “called by the Shetlanders the bonxie, occupies one of the highest cliffs, and reigns there supreme over all the feathered world around him, striking such awe even into the eagle as to deter even that mightiest of predatory birds from attacking a lamb in his presence; and hence is the skua gull a great favourite of the natives.”

The island was owned by the late Professor Holbourn, of Pencaitland, near Edinburgh, and is now the property of his family. Mr Powell has been in touch with the owners, and Professor Holbourn’s eldest son accompanied him last week when he landed on Foula. The preliminary arrangements have been completed for making the romantic film which the producer has in view on the island, with its scenery and inhabitants as setting and participants in the story. Every effort is being made to secure accuracy and reality in making this outdoor film, which should form an important and valuable record of life in the little known outer places of Scotland at the present time. The chief occupation of its inhabitants, in addition to fishing, is the rearing of sheep. The population are said to be remarkably hardy, with few wants, and with a strong attachment to their rugged home.

A theme of the film, it is understood, is the keen struggle which the islands have to wage continually with nature and the clash of tradition and sentiment with the call of the mainland under modern conditions. The drama of the story has both its personal and general interest, and powerful motives, close to nature, and with a strong emotional appeal, are involved.

TITLE OF FOULA FILM

“The Edge of the World”

DIRECTOR IN EDINBURGH

From The Scotsman 11/06/1936

MR MICHAEL POWELL, author and director of the film to be produced on Foula in Shetland, was at work revising the scenario when I called on him at an Edinburgh hotel yesterday (writes the Film Correspondent of The Scotsman.) To use his own expression, he was “changing the Gaelic into Norse,” having originally written the scenario for an outer island on which Gaelic is spoken and having ascertained that no Gaelic is spoken in the Shetlands.

The title of the film, Mr Powell said, is to be “The Edge of the World.” The first printed title will read: “When the fleet of Agricola, the Emperor, sailed round Britain, they saw from the Orkneys a distant island in the North. They called it the Ultima Thule, the last landfall, the Edge of the World.” This printed title is to fade out into a distant shot of Foula – though, of course, Mr Powell does not claim that it was to that island in particular that Tacitus was referring.

Mr Powell, as already reported, has completed his preliminary survey of the island, and yesterday was on his way South to arrange production details from the studio in London. He intends to return to the Shetlands next week, when active shooting will commence. After some preliminary work in Lerwick and at other points in the Shetlands, the unit will go to Foula, where the film will be completed. If the weather is favourable, the film might be shot in eight weeks, and Mr Powell trusts that it will not require more than fifteen.

There is not to be much dialogue in the film, and it is hoped through this circumstance to secure an international circulation for it. Music is to play a prominent part in the film, and it is possible that this will be provided by a well-known Scottish choir.

Mr Powell agreed that “The Edge of the World” would not be a documentary in the strict sense. He was not aiming to produce another “Man of Arran.” There was only one Flaherty. Within the limits imposed by a cast and story brought to the island however, the film would be as realistic as possible. It was a straightforward dramatic story, with nothing artificial about it.

Among the “small-part players” there will be a tiny Shetland pony but Mr Powell has not yet discovered a grey seal, as he had hoped.

FILM OF SHETLAND LIFE

Director and Party to go Aboard Yacht Today

From The Scotsman 22/06/1936

The steam yacht Vedra of the Royal Motor Yacht Club, arrived at Aberdeen harbour about six o'clock yesterday evening from Walls in the Shetland Islands, to take aboard to-day a party who are to take part in the making of a film, the scene of which is in the Shetland islands, and more particularly in the more outlying precipitous island of Foula. Captain Vernon Sewell and his crew of eight have for some time been cruising among the islands, and left Walls about eight o'clock on Saturday evening. The director of the picture, Mr Michael Powell, the technical staff of photographers and sound recorders, and a number of actors and actresses will come aboard to-day, and the yacht will forth-with proceed north to Foula.

Captain Sewell yesterday evening, in conversation with a representative of The Scotsman in Aberdeen, expressed satisfaction with the way in which the arrangements had gone so far. He said they were all looking forward to success attending the filming of an intensely dramatic story under Mr Powell's direction. He had been greatly impressed with the scenery of Foula and the other Shetland Islands, where all the action will take place in the open air. There will be "close-up" pictures, but there will also be those which will convey something of the grandeur of the cliff scenery on an extensive scale.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR FOULA FILM

Production Assistant’s Tribute to Islanders

From The Scotsman 23/06/1936

Arrangements for the Foula film are proceeding apace. The film ship, the s.y. Vedra, arrived at Foula on Thursday morning, and, though interrupted by fog, on Friday completed unloading operations, including huts shipped from Walls, Shetland. On Saturday, after landing Mr A. Seabourne, production assistant, at Walls, after his stay in Foula, where he had been preparing the ground for the film and getting in close touch with the people, the Vedra left for Aberdeen. She is now on the way to Lerwick with 22 members of the film party.

Mr Horton, chief electrical engineer, arrived in Foula with the Vedra, and has since erected the generating plant. Unloading operations at Foula were carried out under difficulty, as the Vedra could not come alongside the pier.

In an interview yesterday, Mr Seabourne paid tribute to the hard work put in by the Foula people employed. He has found the islanders exceedingly friendly and eager to help, and he says that, if the well-being of the film depends on their co-operation, its success is assured from the start. Shetland is at present enjoying exceptionally warm and brilliant summer weather.

FOULA ISLAND FILM

Edinburgh Members of the Cast

From The Scotsman 24/06/1936

A radio message from the S.Y. Vedra, the vessel which has been fitted out in connection with the making of a film on Foula Island in the Shetlands, was received yesterday in Edinburgh.

The message, which was sent from the Vedra when 45 miles east of Duncansby Head, states: - “Making excellent passage. The production staff and the following artists are on board – John Laurie, Finlay Currie, Nial MacGinnis, Eric Berry, Hamish Sutherland, George Summers, and Michael Powell, director,”

Miss Belle Chrystall and Miss Frances Reidy, two other artists, left Dyce Aerodrome, Aberdeen, yesterday morning by ‘plane for Sumburgh, Shetland, where they will join the Vedra for Foula.

Belle Chrystall, who made her stage debut in 1928 and first appeared in films in “A Warm Corner,” came into prominence with a memorable performance in “Hindle Wakes.” More recently she was seen in “Friday the Thirteenth.” She is a bright and vivacious actress with a distinctive style

Belle Chrystall as Ruth contemplating suicide

John Laurie is a well-known Scottish actor who has taken leading parts in a number of important productions in London in recent years. A recent film part was the Scottish crofter in the Gaumont-British version of “The Thirty-Nine Steps.”

John Laurie examining Ruth's letter boat

Hamish Sutherland is to take the part of one of the younger men of the island prominent in the story. He has had a large amount of experience in acting in the Edinburgh district, with the Ad Astra Players and other organisations.

George Summers is also connected with the Ad Astra Players, and has done a large amount of acting throughout Scotland in Scottish comedy parts.

Campbell Robson, Edinburgh, who took the part of Dickens in a recent production dramatising the life of the novelist, by the Edinburgh Dickens Fellowship, is also to proceed shortly to Foula to take one of the parts in the film.

Vedra tied up outside the Foula Pier to land Campbell Robson who played the Laird

FIRST SCENES SHOT IN FOULA FILM

Herring Fleet and Trawler at Lerwick

From The Scotsman 26/06/1936

Preparations are almost complete for the Foula film, “The Edge of the World,” and on Wednesday and yesterday the first scenes were “shot” in Lerwick, with the herring fishing fleet and a trawler featuring in the scenes. The part of the young workless Foula islander is being taken by Mr Niall MacGinnis, an Irishman who starred in “The Turn of the Tide.” “Shooting” in Foula itself will begin soon.

Niall MacGinnis and George Summers on the trawler in Lerwick harbour

THE FOULA FILM

Shetland Baby to Play a Part

From The Scotsman 30^th June 1936

Work for the Foula film by the Rock Studios, Elstree, Hertfordshire, is now well under way. For nearly a week Mr Michael Powell and his colleagues have been at work at Lerwick and Scalloway, “shooting” the parts of the story which occur in these places, and they are now ready to proceed to Foula, the principal venue of the film, where the base camp is already established.

Niall MacGinnis reading the letter found by the Trawler Skipper

Jim Garriock as the doctor boarding the trawler at Scalloway

A great deal of extra employment is being given to the people of Foula by the company, who are making every endeavour to spread the work as much as possible. Some local talent is being employed. The important minor part of Doctor Inkster is being played by Jim Garriock, a Lerwick amateur actor, and a three-months-old Lerwick baby, Margaret Greig, is to take part, and will go to Foula with her mother for a week. A young Lerwick woman will also go to Foula for a week, to sing a Shetland song.

Margaret Greig in a cradle at Sloag, Foula

One of Principals Breaks Collar Bone

From The Scotsman 11/07/1936

Our Lerwick correspondent writes:- John Laurie, one of the principal actors in the film, “The Edge of the World,” being made in Foula by the Rock Studios Film Company, of Elstree, has broken his collar-bone while out walking. Until his recovery, the Company are arranging to film the Foula reel and some other local features which had been scheduled for a later date.

At first it was thought that Laurie would have to give up his part, but he is now expected to recover completely in at most a month. He is at present recuperating in a hotel at Lerwick

SCOTS ISLAND FILM

Shetland Ponies and Wireless Telephony

INNOVATIONS ON FOULA

From The Scotsman 11/07/1936

The Island of Foula, the Ultima Thule of the Roman General, has awakened from a centuries-old day-dream, to plunge into a new phase. The people of this outlying island of the Shetland group are enjoying a new experience. They have been suddenly brought into contact with one of the most modern developments of civilised life, from the influence of which in these later years only the remoter islands have escaped. Large numbers of the islanders had never seen a moving picture, when there was planted down amongst them an elaborate unit for the production of a film in which their own island is to figure prominently. Life in this island, difficult of access (writes a correspondent) has had its excitements for the strangers as well as for the residents under the new conditions. The mail boat goes to Lerwick only once a week. Not all the conveniences of civilisation are available, even under the elaborate encampment arrangements which have been made for those taking part in the film production. So we have the spectacle of a well-known Scottish actor, who has been appearing in London productions, having his hair cut in the open air by an equally well-known film star.

ROCK CITY

There are living on the island at present eight actors in the film and twelve technicians. The weather conditions have been remarkably good. Only once or twice have the proceedings had to be suspended on account of fog. The long light of these northern regions has been a great advantage. Part of the unit are accommodated in the substantial wooden huts which have been erected, and part in the largest house in the island. The collection of huts has been named Rock City.

The Film Unit's base on Foula - The Haa and the huts of Rock City. Shetland Museum photograph by J Peterson

The islanders have welcomed the visitors. Employment has been given to quite a number in connection with the encampment. Some of the women of the island have been engaged to help with the domestic arrangements, including the cooking and general housekeeping, under a matron, who is in charge of this department. A professional cook from one of the trawlers, who showed his quality while “shots” were being taken of the trawler, has also been retained.

Some of the niceties, as well as some of the difficulties of making a film, can be appreciated only by a close-hand study such as is now possible on Foula Island. Many passages of the story have to be taken in separate sections. This implies different conditions of lighting. When joined up, the sections must show no disparity in lighting or otherwise. So when one section of a passage of the film is being photographed or “shot,” care has to be taken that the lighting conditions are assimilated to what has gone immediately before. One of the technicians specialises in this matter. He has an instrument through which he looks at the area to be photographed. It indicates to a very fine point the exact degree of the illumination.

Then most pictures have to be taken in reverse. One presenting considerable difficulty, for example, was the photographing of the arrival of the trawler and the coming out from the harbour of a motor boat with the young woman aboard, who has to be transhipped and taken with all speed to Glasgow. The scene of the two boats approaching each other has to be filmed; then the same scene is shown from the deck of the trawler. This entails elaborate shifting of apparatus and the discovery of appropriate viewpoints. One of the episodes in the trawler showing the skipper and another member of the cast leaning over a figure, entailed lowering the camera down a narrow well, and an arrangements of mirrors to give sufficient light for the close-up photographing of their heads.

FIRST CAR ON THE ISLAND

Supplementary or rush films have been made of life on the island. A projector has been set up, and the moving pictures are shown from time to time in the camp. In order to overcome difficulties of communication between headquarters and Elstree, the expedition vessel, the S.Y. Vedra, which is “the naval arm of the unit,” was dispatched recently to Aberdeen in order to take aboard a special radio equipment that would enable the party on the island to speak directly to Elstree by wireless telephony.

Fifteen Shetland ponies have been embarked from Lerwick to Foula. These are used partly for transport and also as an item in the film story. Two of the small ponies have been accustomed to harness, and they are used to carry the sound apparatus and the cameras to the points where they are wanted especially when they have to be taken to one of the hills on the island. Communications in the island are a little difficult, as a great deal of the surface consists of soft peat. A tractor was tried, but it was found that it tended to sink into the peat: and now a light car, the first to be used in the island, has been procured. Peat, of course, is used for heating. If the scheme for adapting peat for motor fuel proves a success when tried out extensively, Foula would furnish an abundant supply of suitable material. The roads for most part are only narrow tracks.

Foula's first car - "Beer is Best". Shetland Museum photograph

LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES

The language spoken is peculiar to the Shetland Islands. Speaking among themselves the islanders use a large number of words and phrases of Norse derivation, so that a Scottish actor, listening to them, cannot make out the drift of what they are saying. When the islanders speak to the visitors they use a very broad form of Scots, which is intelligible at least to the Scottish members of the cast. The story, which has been adjusted to its environment at various points, is being gradually built up under the direction of Mr Michael Powell, the author. One of the principals who are presenting it is Belle Chrystal, who played in “Hindle Wakes,” and has had a leading part in a number of films. John Laurie, who belongs to Dumfries, appeared in “The Thirty-Nine Steps” film, and is well known, of course, on the London stage. Finlay Curry, who belongs to Edinburgh, having been schooled in Watson’s College, but who has spent part of his life in Australia, and has been in London for many years, has taken parts in a large number of films. Frances Reidy, who plays the part of one of the young women of the story, is from London, where she has appeared frequently on the stage. Eric Berry is also well known as an actor in London. Niall MacGinnis, who plays the part of a sea-faring youth of the island, is a young Irishman who has appeared in “The Turn of the Tide” and other films. Hamish Sutherland, of Edinburgh, has been cast for the part of the catechist; and George Summers, who has toured in Scottish pieces extensively throughout Scotland, is the captain of the trawler, while Mr Campbell Robson is laird of the island. A local amateur actor, who has had considerable experience in community drama work, James Garriock, plays the part of the doctor. Miss Kerwin, of London, who plays the part of a notable matron of the island, arrived this week by aeroplane.

Finlay Currie and Hamish Sutherland on the Foula Pier

MUSIC

From The Scotsman, 28th August 1936

The whole of the company on one of the recent Sundays attended a religious service, and Mr Finlay Currie, a leading member of the company, who is well known as a comedian and a film star, and who is an accomplished musician, provided the instrumental music leading the praise.

On the regatta day of the principal port of the mainland of Shetland a request was conveyed to the company to provide a concert party as one of the attractions. There was a willing response. Mr Finlay Currie organised the concert party, and was the compere at the rendition, one of the singers being his wife (Miss Maud Courteney), who gave an outstanding turn.

Mr G. Blattner, the studio manager at Elstree, with Mr Joe Rock, of the Rock Film Company, for whom the picture is being made, visited the scene of operations a few days ago. The former indicated that if the Foula film comes up to expectations, there will probably be other films made in Scotland, as he has been greatly impressed by the scenery.

ON AND OFF FOULA

Adventures on Land and Sea

AN ASTONISHED DOG

From The Scotsman 28/08/1936

One of the member of the cast, who since early in June have been engaged in working out a film romance on the Island of Foula, the furthest out of the Shetland group, is a small but very agile and intelligent Shetland collie of the name of Rab. Rab and his friends on the island would furnish quite a good subject for a successor to Dr John Brown. Amongst his friends are some Shetland ponies, fifteen of which were brought over as part of the elaborate enterprise for the production of the film. Only two of these ponies had ever been in harness. The ponies had to be floated on rafts from the steamer, and were allowed to run wild. There was considerable excitement when the first of the bunch was introduced to harness.

Shetland pony with peat panniers

Horses were unknown on the island previously. The pony was, at least, a perfectly fabulous creature within the experience of Rab, who for a considerable time showed an extraordinary apprehension and nervousness when near one of them. He has now become accustomed to the ponies, and is friendly with them as with everyone else.

Rab (Bob) wondering where John Laurie has gone

"Freedom, but which way did he go?"

"I'll find him"

"Ah, his jacket - but where is he?"

"What's he doing way down there?"

"Oh no, he's fallen"

Rab’s part in the film is an important one. It requires intelligence and training. It is Rab who will, under very peculiar circumstances, at the evacuation of the island (in the film story) chew away the strands of a rope dangling over a cliff a thousand feet high, at the end of which is one of the chief men of the island, exploring for the last time one of the bird-nesting places.

CLIFFS AND SEAS

Infinite patience and effort are required in order to secure some of the spectacular but difficult effects. The film is not an illustration of geographical and biological features of the island. It is the realisation of a definite romantic story, with numerous thrills, but with the island life as background and part of the texture of the story itself. There has been from the first, on the part of the director and author, Mr Michael Powell, an effort to secure a process of assimilation between the story and life as he has found it on the island. The result will probably be something that will strike everyone as a definite realisation of life on an island “on the edge of the world,” but also of a highly romantic story. The story and the episodes in which it is embodied will always be in the forefront and occupy the chief attention. Actual customs and features of island life have been adapted and assimilated where opportunity has occurred. The cliffs and the tempestuous seas have their part in the story.

Foula's north coast

There have been delays in procuring the exact weather conditions required. Some of the “shots” have been designed to be taken in such sunshine and clear weather as summer-time on the island provides, and others have been actually designed for conditions of heavy rain.

One of the incidents in the rain is an island funeral. Along the road comes the procession on foot, the effect here being one of simple pathos, with an accompanying suggestion of loneliness and desolation. The coffin, according to island custom, is borne on oars. This episode required a large amount of ingenuity and enterprise on the part of the cameramen. Part of the episode had to be photographed standing in a deep burn, crossed by a narrow bridge carrying the road along which the funeral party advanced.

Traditional carrying of the coffin on oars

LANDING THE DOCTOR

One of the thrills of the story presents the arrival of a steamer from the mainland with a doctor urgently summoned to the assistance of one of the islanders. Urgency is of the essence of the case: and a motor boat puts out from the little harbour to disembark the medical man. The film company’s steamer, the Vedra, which had been fitted out specially for the making of the picture, cannot enter the small harbour. Very fine synchronisation was required for this episode. The steamer is shown coming on full steam, and the motor boat comes swinging out of the harbour, the doctor being transferred from one to the other at the moment of passing. Where the dramatic moment was missed, as it was in a number of attempts, there was entailed a delay of over an hour to allow the steamer to back out and make another circuit, and come on again for a fresh attempt. In the successful effort the timing was almost more than perfect. Actually the motor boat was crowded against the rocks by the steamer in a manner which threatened its shipwreck, and which caused a great deal of spontaneous excitement and movement on both steamer and motor boat. The cameramen during this episode did not lose their presence of mind, but kept turning their camera handles. There was some unrehearsed incident in the actual transition of the medical man, and all this quick movement has been secured for what will probably be one of the big moments of the film story.

AMATEUR MARINERS

It was necessary to take the Vedra out to the north of the island in rough weather to film another effective passage in the story, which shows the vessel in a storm. The weather was more than rough enough for a number of members of the cast, whose contribution to the story on the heaving deck of the steamer will probably appear to be more realistic than any effort of art could secure. On the bridge, amidst the tumultuous seas, stood the film skipper, George Summers, of Edinburgh, with the Island hero, Niall MacGinnis. The latter’s coat during this episode got caught by the steering chains, and was chewed up by the mechanism. During the run along the north and west side of the island, little-known views were obtained. The island on its western side rises in sheer cliffs to a height of about 1400 feet, and the skyline takes on fantastic shapes.

Foula's Southwestern Coast

STARTLED SEA-BIRDS

There has been fairly consistent freedom from mist; but one of the most trying fogs occurred when one of the Edinburgh actors made his second visit to the island. The steamer approached cautiously in a dense fog, and was close to the north of the island before those on board were aware of the fact. The captain proceeded south, keeping within a short distance of the shore, the whistle of the steamer, being blown from time to time, alarmed thousands of sea-birds, which rose into the air. At last a response was audible from the shore. At the encampment there is a large bell used for summoning the members of the company to dinner and on other occasions, and through the fog the faint sound of this bell was heard at last. It was difficult exactly to locate the direction of the sound, but, with this assistance to navigation, the steamer eventually arrived safely at the landing-place.

A HOME WITHOUT A ROOF

For another episode of the film an old croft house, without a roof, has been used. The absence of the roof has been an advantage; but the house to the ordinary eye presents a strange incongruity. The old building has been carefully furnished, and the interior made attractive and presentable, so that a visitor would be astounded to find this building all decked out, and apparently ready for occupation, but still without a roof to protect furnishings and fittings from the weather. The absence of the roof is, of course, valuable for photographic purposes, as it has enabled the episode to be photographed in ordinary light. No artificial light has been used at all in the film. This is probably the first wholly outside film to be made in this country. It is a natural film from beginning to end.

A number of local participants in the film were brought over from the mainland in order to take part in an old style of country dance. Another of the immigrants from the mainland is a child, six months old, who appears in one episode.

The Foula Reel

The members of the cast from the South, along with the Scottish actors, agree in their praise of the wonderful climatic conditions of the island. In spite of some limitations, their stay there, they all agree, has been of a very enjoyable and restful character. There seems to be something in the air that is conductive to tranquillity. With film-making there are often associated bustle and excitement; but life on Foula has been notable for its restfulness and soothing qualities. Football is one of the recreations in which members of the cast have taken part. They have lived on friendly terms with the population. A number of the fishermen at present are absent for the herring fishing: but a considerable number of the men, who otherwise would have gone away to the fishing grounds, have remained behind.

HAGGIS BY AIR

Foula Island Film Celebration

From The Scotsman 29/09/1936

An order for haggis to be sent by aeroplane was received in Edinburgh yesterday. It was required for a celebration in the Island of Foula, where the film unit engaged in making the film, “On the Edge of the World,” with the island as the setting, are still engaged. The birthday of the director and author, Mr Michael Powell, is Michaelmas Day; and it had been decided that this event should be celebrated by the film unit being entertained to haggis.

Accordingly, a correspondent of the film party in Edinburgh was instructed to procure and forward by aeroplane a substantial quantity of this characteristic Scottish product. Along with it was sent, according to instructions, a consignment of another Edinburgh product, in the shape of a special Scots bun.

ART INTERESTS

PICTURE MAKING ON A LARGE SCALE

The making of the film on the Island of Foula

From The Scotsman, 20th October 1936

. “On the Edge of the World,” has all the appearances of a film enterprise with a genuine artistic approach. The construction of the film, which will be completed about to-day, has not been a matter of taking up ready-made material and photographing it in a mechanical way. Rather there has been an attempt to study the local conditions and local character of the subjects, with the director in charge, and with a view to seizing upon essentials and genuine character.

Time and Season

With this view the story, which has its setting in the island, was, to begin with, related as closely as possible to the conspicuous features of the island life, but was left in a condition that made it amply variable. The intention was that it might give the truest possible expression to life and character as they were found on the island itself. This deliberate and sensitive line of approach explains the four months which have been devoted to the elaboration of the film, which on a grand scale embodies the same factors as the ordinary landscape or figure picture of pictorial art as we know it in the galleries.

This kind of picture-making is subject to the same difficulties as the out-of-door artist, who is largely dependent upon weather conditions and the season. Mr Michael Powell, the director, in a letter from Foula, states that the weather during the last few weeks has been entirely propitious, and has enabled them to bring the termination of the enterprise within view this week. All the same, it is his opinion that they will just finish “with about ten minutes to spare.” The letter was written before Foula was cut off by the storm. The weather has given those engaged a realistic demonstration of its qualities, with all the consequences of storm in these remote and exposed outposts, involving apparently a shortage of food. It makes a grand finale to the expedition, of which it is hoped some use has been made. If so, the company may reflect that it is an ill wind that blows nobody good.

SUPPLY SHIP REACHES FOULA

From The Scotsman 20/10/1936

Last night a supply ship reached the Island of Foula, on the fringe of the Shetlands, where a film unit from Elstree, Hertfordshire, had been marooned by the gale. The unit, which included thirty actors and actresses, camera-men and technicians, had been living on supplies of tinned food. Until Saturday they were able to keep in touch with their supply ship by wireless, but on that day their wireless mast was blown down.

The supply ship, the Vedra, which had been sheltering for the past three days at Scalloway, set out last night during a lull in the storm. She reached the island safely, and the skipper was able to go ashore. He reported that all the members of the party were safe. They will leave as soon as weather permits. The film has been completed.

FOULA FILM COMPANY

Broadcast Message Surprise

THE STORM IN SHETLAND

From The Scotsman 21/10/1936

We received a telegram from Mr Michael Powell, director, saying that the Foula film company had arrived at Lerwick. Earlier in the evening the following message was telegraphed by our Lerwick correspondent:-

LERWICK, Tuesday Night

It is understood that the Foula film company are to leave the island finally to-night, and that after coming to Scalloway they will remain overnight in Lerwick before leaving for the South to-morrow by steamer or aeroplane.

At the time of telegraphing, however, no news of their arrival at Scalloway on their vessel, the Vedra, had been received. After the week-end gales the weather to-day was calm and favourable for embarking, but if the company were taking with them their valuable gear the work would be prolonged. Three members of the company departed from Shetland by aeroplane to-day for Inverness via Orkney. The work of “shooting” the film was all but completed last week, and the departure of the company from the island was a precaution against being isolated for possibly five or six weeks, and will not materially affect the film.

Some astonishment was experienced in Shetland over last night’s wireless broadcast regarding the possibility of an aeroplane dropping food on Foula for the film company. By yesterday the weather had moderated, and the Vedra went over to the island, and no such emergency existed.

STILL ON FOULA

Film Company Rearguard Again Held up by Weather

EXPERIENCES IN STORM

From The Scotsman 22/10/1936

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT]

LERWICK, Wednesday Night

The main body of the Foula film party were taken from the island to Scalloway last night, by their ship, the Vedra, and motored into Lerwick. They did not leave too soon.

Nine members of the party who stayed behind till to-day to clear up, comprising the matron – who would not leave the other eight – most of the technicians and the carpenters, headed by Mr Streeter, who is the “oldest inhabitant” with twenty weeks residence, are again held up by bad weather, and are disappointed in their expectation of leaving the island today. At the time of wiring, the Vedra is lying in Scalloway.

Most of the sound equipment is still on Foula, as are the ponies, which will remain permanently, and five of the huts, of which the mess hut was formally presented to the islanders as a public recreation hall by the film Company before leaving yesterday.

The dozen or more members of the party taken off on Tuesday included one woman, Mrs Currie, who took the part of the American tourist in the film. It was a dark, blowy, soaking wet night when the Vedra threaded her way in through the channel to Scalloway, and drew alongside the pier. Late last night I found the party happy and cheerful, enjoying a meal in their Lerwick hotel, and all looked in the best of health and full of happy reminiscences of their time in Foula. They were also greatly thrilled by their experience in the gale, which the islanders have told them was the worst in their memory. It was a tribute to the company’s carpenters that, while a stone dyke round the school in Foula was blown down, and part of the post office room was blown off, their huts withstood the storm.

BURN BLOWN BACK BY WIND

Mr Michael Powell, director of the film, who has been in the island for the past twelve weeks continuously, told me of some of the party’s gale experiences. Warned about Shetland gales, they had strengthened the six camp huts with braces, steel wire guys, and plywood inner skins: but the weekend gale blew the rain through the walls and up under the floor. The abruptly rising hills caused the wind to swoop down with terrific force. Water from the Mill Loch was blown 300 feet into the air, and a burn was actually blown back by the wind.

Attempts were made on Saturday, as the gale rose, to “shoot” with the film cameras certain of the wilder scenes. The blowing back of the burn into itself, so to speak, was secured, and should form one of the most extraordinary shots. The gale rose, however, and those who reached the mill loch were unable to stand. The camera blew over and was saved by being tucked under a dyke, and the crew had to crawl back on their hands and knees. One of them was actually knocked down by the wind.

A concert was planned for Saturday evening to divert attention, but by evening only shouting could be heard. At the height of the gale tongues of flame three feet long were blown out of the stove into the room. Sleep was impossible with the wooden huts reverberating like drums and each gust straining the boards. Guys were being strengthened by the men all night. One of the most risky jobs of the gale was carried out by Mr Laurence Holbourn, proprietor (along with his brother) of the island, who with some volunteers went off in a small boat, paid off by a cable from the shore, to his small yacht, which was moored off-shore and was heeling over until her keel was exposed. They got a cable round the mast, but it snapped in a few minutes. Eight men on shore could scarcely pull the small boat back.

LOSS OF AERIAL

As the company had intended leaving the island about this time, and had been using up their provisions, fresh meat was gone by Friday and cigarettes by Saturday.

The explanation of the failure of Wick Radio Station to establish contact on Saturday was that the company’s wireless aerial blew down. Even on board the Vedra, lying moored at Scalloway Pier, the aerial snapped, and waves flooded the wireless cabin, though contact was established with Wick later. The ship was swept by seas where she lay.

The film company’s supply of coal and coke had given out, and the islanders supplied peat from their winter supplies. Canned beef was served in numerous ways by a gallant kitchen staff, and the whole unit, especially the women, showed praiseworthy fortitude.

On Monday, as I have already reported, the Vedra got through.

It is now learned from Lerwick Observatory that the force of the gale at its height was 87 miles an hour.

Mr Powell and two others were to have flown south to-day, but the aeroplane service was cancelled, on account of the bad weather, and after telegraphing Elstree, Hertfordshire, Mr Powell decided that none of the party would take to-night’s delayed steamer south, but that the opportunity would be taken to “shoot” some sea-scenes outside Lerwick harbour to-morrow. About 33 miles of film have been “shot” in Foula, all in sunlight, in the remarkably fine summer.

TRIBUTES TO ISLANDERS

Mr John Laurie, the Scottish film actor, interviewed, spoke appreciatively of his experiences in Foula, many of them exciting to a degree, if not perilous, and he also paid a great tribute to the Foula people, whom Mr Powell also complimented, among other things for their fine acting.

LONELY FOULA

Regret at Removal of Wireless Set

From The Scotsman 23/10/1936

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT]

LERWICK, Thursday Night

The final phase of the evacuation of the film company who have been working on the Island of Foula for three months is being carried through at this moment. The Vedra sailed to-day from Scalloway for Foula on the weather moderating, and is engaged, so far as is known, in taking off the nine people who remained behind on Tuesday and could not get out yesterday because of heavy seas.

The main body, who arrived here on Tuesday, are engaged “shooting” final cliff and sea scenes just outside Lerwick, while the Vedra is completing her task at Foula.

Shetland fourerns off the Knab near Lerwick

The most pathetic part of the parting from the Foula people is that the wireless installation, hired by the film company, is being packed up and taken away from the hundred islanders, who are thus being thrust back into their old position of being entirely without telegraph or telephone, possessed of only their motor boat, and in bad weather completely cut off from the outside world, sometimes for as long as six or eight weeks at a time.

FILM COMPANY’S FAREWELL

Rearguard Party Leave Shetland

From The Scotsman 27/10/1936

After a stormy week-end which greatly hampered outdoor film “shooting,” the rearguard of the Foula film unit finished work in sunshine at Lerwick yesterday, and left Shetland by the steamer St Magnus at six in the evening. The work which has been done has enabled the company to create something of a record in filmland, by “shooting” the whole film on location. All interior scenes in the film are also real interiors on the location.

FAREWELL TO FOULA

Mr Michael Powell on His Experiences

SORRY TO GO

From The Scotsman 29^th October 1936

Through the film, “On the Edge of the World,” being made on Foula Island, a dog from the island is seeing the greater world. This is Bob, whose parentage is partly collie, and who plays an important part in the film. When the film technicians and actors arrived on the island, Bob was in danger of extinction. He was one of a family of four, and it had been determined that he was unnecessary. The film producer chanced to see him, and decided that this was the dog that was wanted for the film story. He has proved one of the most adaptable of actors, and is now on his way to London with the others. How he will stand transition from the normal quiet and peacefulness of the island – when there are no storms – to the noise and bustle and endless movement of London, is uncertain.

He was a very seasick dog in making his first voyage on the Vedra, during the rough passage which the outfit had to make in leaving the island. He suffered considerably, and was obviously grateful to find himself again on dry land. It is a new and difficult, and possibly terrifying, world into which he has been introduced as a result of his success as an actor.

He was found to be a highly intelligent animal, and extremely kindly and patient, and quite ready to do what he had been taught over and over again, until the camera had got him properly. He is closely associated in the film with John Laurie, the actor. He has to follow him through the mist in the final journey across part of the island to a high cliff; and effective views have been caught of him gazing into the misty void into which his master has disappeared, and then, with an air of determination, following in his tracks. He is also seen later on running back and forwards anxiously at the top of the cliff and peering over its edge, from which his owner, on his last climbing expedition, has disappeared.

FIVE MONTHS MAROONED

Mr Michael Powell, the author of the story and the director of the film, was in Edinburgh yesterday, on his way back to London, and, in the course of conversation with a representative of The Scotsman, he spoke of the company’s experiences during the last five months. A number of the members of the company were with him in Edinburgh. Some of them had been marooned for the whole period in Foula; but they spoke with regret of severing the ties of interest and friendship they had made with the island and its people. For some reasons they were sorry to go.

Mr Powell said that at the end of the first month they had begun to recognise faces, and to get into personal contact with a number of the islanders. At the end of the second month they knew practically everyone, and a mutual understanding had been created. It was a great experience for him from a personal point of view, and he had formed a very high esteem for the islanders. They had been kindly and helpful, and he found them, especially those who had been directly assisting, highly intelligent. Two or three of the younger men who came to assist them said nothing at all for two or three days, and then put questions and made remarks which showed that they had acquired by observation an amazing technical knowledge of all the intricate and unfamiliar apparatus which was being operated.

The visit had meant something in an economic way to the islanders. A considerable number of them had had opportunities of earning money, which was being used, not in any frivolous way, but mostly to procure tools and apparatus which they had always longed for – drills and other ironwork and carpentry tools, for example – which would enable them to make things for themselves in a way that had not been possible. There was about this aspect of the adventure a Robinson Crusoe touch, it was suggested. “With the film outfit,” observed the director, “playing the part of the wreck.”

When the light was not good, one or other of the older people whom he might meet, Mr Powell said, usually commiserated with him. They would greet him with such a remark as, “It’s too bad, you won’t be able to get a shot to-day.” Such things indicated the general interest and sympathy of the people.

ISLANDERS ON THE MOVE

Foula people in one of the evacuation scenes

From time to time the islanders were not only in the movies but the whole body of them were on the move. One of the important episodes is the evacuation of the island. Into this scheme the inhabitants entered whole-heartedly. When it was resolved to make one of the numerous efforts to photograph the quitting scene, a herald would be sent round. In immediate response, the islanders would come hurrying down to the pier, carrying tables and chairs, beds, and other possessions, and giving a very realistic impression of what would happen in an actual evacuation. They were so keen in doing their particular part of this episode that they would leave urgent work in the fields or indoors at a moment’s notice, and join in the throng.

Islanders taking their belongings and livestock to the Vedra

Before the time for leaving came, there was a large amount of social comings and goings between the visitors and the islanders. There were numerous exchanges of visits, and tea-parties and social evenings were arranged.

For some of the younger men, this opportunity of new experience, and of work which earned money, meant something important in their careers; and, when the last of the film people left, some of them were obviously affected. One of the wooden houses, fitted with shelving and cupboards and presses in an elaborate way, has been made over to James Gray, one of the young men of the island who had been very helpful with the technical side of the enterprise. He will use it as a workshop.

Four men of the island were regularly employed carrying the photographic apparatus about. Four others were required for the sound apparatus. Two of them were constantly engaged bringing water supplies to the camp. The water had to be carried, with the aid of a pony, from a quarter of a mile away.

HOSTILE BIRDS

To the newcomers, the skuas or great gulls with a five feet span between the wings were alarming at first. On approaching their nesting places, they would come sweeping along in a menacing way, flying between two men walking along the cliffs together. This is the birds’ way of trying to scare people away from their nests.

The making of the film has entailed a considerable amount of arduous physical effort. One of the company, a heavy and portly individual, had to climb up to a considerable height. He made the journey 13 times before a successful camera record was made of the episode. An adventure in which Mr Powell took part was the landing at the foot of the highest cliff, 1000 feet sheer. The party had to go off in a rowing boat from the steamer; and although the day was calm there was an alarming lift on the water where it broke on the rocks at the foot of the cliffs. They had to make a landing on a mushroom-topped rock, springing from the boat as the water rose to its full height. There was a danger, as the wave receded, of the boat being dumped down and turned over on the sloping surface of the edge of the rock. The editing of the film is now proceeding, and it is expected it will be ready about January.

During their visit they showed the first films to be seen on the island. At first a few of the islanders came curiously to the entrance of the shed in which the moving pictures – try-outs of sections of the film that had already been made – were being shown. Their numbers rapidly grew; and the arrival of a new section became an island event, and every inhabitant would turn out to see the latest.

Mr Powell spoke with genuine feeling about the Foula people. “It has been,” he said, “not only an adventure, but a spiritual experience.”

Bob

From The Scotsman, 18th November 1936

2 Clarendon Crescent, Edinburgh, November 17 1936

SIR, - I read with considerable interest the account in your columns of the dog at Foula, Shetland, which as a complete novice had displayed such intelligence, and had become a personality of so much importance that the film company who had employed him took him with them to London. Being anxious to know of his welfare under such different conditions, I wrote to Mr Johns, the secretary of the National Canine Defence League, who got in touch with Mr Michael Powell, the producer of the film.

I think animal lovers would be interested to hear Mr Powell’s reply to Mr Johns, which is as follows:-

“Bob has surprised us all by the sophistication he has magically acquired. He was from the first a remarkable person. His three brothers on the island spend most of their lives in chasing seagulls and skuas, but Bob was always the brainy one and also a diplomat.

“He lives now at Elstree, not in London, at the home of the property master, Bill Osbourne, whose ‘chief property’ he has now become. There are plenty of fields, not to mention trees, which Bob has never seen before, and by which he is fascinated. He has a kind master in Bill Osbourne, and is a lucky dog.” – I am &c.

A. G. Macqueen Ferguson,

(Hon. Sec., Nat. Canine Defence League, Edinburgh Branch.)

PROGRESS OF FOULA FILM

“The Edge of the World” Ready for Musical Accompaniment

From The Scotsman 10/03/1937

“The Edge of the World,” Michael Powell’s film of life on Foula, is now ready for the final music and sound effects, and for these the director is making arrangements at the Rock Sudios, Elstree, where he has been working on the film since leaving Scotland in the late autumn.

Mr Powell is particularly anxious to have an appropriate musical accompaniment for the island funeral sequence, which he considers one of the most impressive and successful in the film. It is quite unlike anything attempted before, he suggests, both in photography and in tempo. The whole sequence has been shot and assembled with the idea of a rising and falling vocal accompaniment behind the action.

Mr Powell is satisfied with the progress he has made with the film. It achieves, he considers, a rather startling size and significance, while never deviating from very simple statement. No effects are striven after. They arise naturally out of the theme. And the theme is so big that, by the time the film is half over and the story plainly moving towards a climax, every detail is more than life size.

No arrangements have yet been made for the premiere of the film.

“Edge of the World”

Film Music by Orpheus Choir

SCOTTISH ATMOSPHERE

From The Scotsman, 15th May 1937

Arrangements have been made with Sir Hugh Roberton and the Glasgow Orpheus Choir for furnishing incidental music for the island film, “The Edge of the World.”

It will be remembered that the photography for the film was carried out on the island of Foula, the outlying island of the Shetland group, and that those concerned remained on the island last summer for a period of five months. The author of the film is Mr Michael Powell, who also carried through its production and remained throughout the whole of the period on Foula Island.

One of the most important episodes in the film depicts an island funeral. The Orpheus Choir, who are to record next week at Elstree, are to provide the musical background for this episode. The choir will contribute at least three numbers to the musical setting of the film drama, and these will probably be “Chasing the Breeze,” “The Glenlyon Lament,” and “Dream Angus.” The choir music will be combined and orchestrated with the original musical score that is being written by Cyril Ray, in such a way that they become part of the dramatic pattern, intensifying the drama and beauty at certain points without destroying their proportion to the whole.

Mr Michael Powell, discussing the film, said that he regarded the arrangement for the Orpheus Choir taking part in the musical background of the film as the most important step in the making of the picture. Naturally the other themes of the film will be built on the same basic Scottish folk-music, and the finished article would be what he had always wished – a national Scottish film.

“The Edge of the World”

From The Scotsman 28/05/1937

SIR, - “A Scotswoman” has written to you recently, criticising my use of the words “a national Scottish film,” as applied to “The Edge of the World,” which I made on Foula. She asks for an explanation, and perhaps one is needed.

The theme of my story concerns the gradual desertion of the Outer Isles of Scotland, and was suggested to me by the evacuation of St Kilda in 1930. It was my intention to make the film on St Kilda but I was unable to arrange this with the present owner. I then tied several other islands in the Hebrides, but none was suitable or available. I owe the suggestion, at the eleventh hour, of Foula to Mr John Mathieson, of the Scottish Geographical Survey. I visited Foula and found it ideal, even more suitable than St Kilda, which it resembles in many ways.

Thus the location of my story was moved north, with a consequent change in atmosphere but none whatever in plot. I regarded and still regard “The Edge of the World” as a presentation of a problem of great importance to Scotland, as it is to any hardy, independent people, who are finding that machinery and the so-called civilisation of towns are undermining their independence and their peace.

I hope this explanation will satisfy “A Scotswoman,” who regards the people of Shetland as Norsemen and strangers. I do not share her opinion.

In answer to her other question, “what is basic Scottish folk music?” I must answer that, as the phrase was my own, if, when I hear ballads and folk-songs, I know at once to what country they owe their origin and arrangement, then I feel justified in calling them basic national airs of their respective countries. I have dozens of Russian and Hungarian and Scottish songs – songs of the people. It would be impossible even for a complete novice to confuse them for long. When I hear songs like “Dream Angus” and “Isle of Mull” sung by such a choir as Sir Hugh Roberton’s, I feel justified in calling them basic Scottish music. At least I have never heard their like elsewhere. – I am &c. MICHAEL POWELL

“EDGE OF THE WORLD”

Timely Theme of Foula Film

LIFE ON REMOTE ISLANDS

From The Scotsman 14/07/1937

A private view was given in Glasgow yesterday of “The Edge of the World,” Michael Powell’s long-awaited Foula film, which dramatises the gradual desertion of the Outer Isles of Scotland, and is one of the most ambitious films yet produced with an authentic national theme. First impressions are entirely favourable (writes our film correspondent.) Expectations, mounting steadily since the project was first mooted more than a year ago, are justified. Mr Powell has succeeded admirably in his object of combining an exciting and romantic, yet directly relative story, with an authentic study of life in a remote island community.

Mr Powell, who was responsible for the film’s conception and its control throughout the whole period of production, was first attracted to the theme by the story of the evacuation of St Kilda. His aim was to dramatise on the screen the predicament of the members of a typical hardy, independent, island community, struggling for an existence against the forces of nature, the traditional harmony of their lives disturbed and undermined by influences deriving from the mainland and so-called civilisation. That Mr Powell has remained resolutely faithful to this aim in a creative sphere so susceptible to technical and commercial interference is not the least of his of his achievements.

PICTURE OF ISLAND PEOPLE

This problem must have a strong and special appeal to Scotsmen, who will be further grateful for a comprehensive and closely-observed picture of the island people. Strength of character, self-reliance, physical fitness, courage, and endurance – these are the characteristic qualities of the inhabitants of the remote storm and wind-swept island, whose stern contours find reflection in rugged, weather-beaten features. They are seen at work on the land, gathering the meagre harvest or cutting peats, climbing the great towering cliffs, or rounding up the small, active sheep, filing in procession to the church, or dancing to the fiddle on the green. Jealous of their isolation and proud of their independence, the film shows them breaking at last under conditions they have fought for generations.

It is against this background that the theme, particularised in a personal story, is developed. The younger members of the community are faced with the problem of their future, whether to remain on the island with its increasingly meagre resources, or to go to the mainland with its easier conditions and wider opportunities. One youth, son of the dour and passionately patriotic Elder, wishes to leave the island and settle in Lerwick. Another youth vigorously champions the opposing point of view. Their difference they seek to settle by a race up the cliff, and the tragic result leads eventually, after consequent complications, to the evacuation of the island.

SENSITIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

To this fact also is probably traceable in part the absence of any artificiality in the performances, the members of the cast having spent some seventeen weeks on the island. The older islanders are played by Finlay Currie and John Laurie, and the younger by Belle Chrystall, Niall MacGinnis, and Eric Berry, while other parts are played by Grant Sutherland, George Summers, and Campbell Robson. The players from the south fit harmoniously and convincingly into the island life.

The music, with its airs sung by the Orpheus Choir, contributes in subtlety and sensitiveness to the film’s texture.

A single point of criticism is the suggestion of meanness and brutality present in the final sequence, when the Elder proposes that the dogs should be drowned, so that the islanders would be saved the expense of transporting them to the mainland and buying licences. In telephone conversation last night Mr Powell informed me that this was based on experiences in the evacuation of St Kilda. When told that its effect appeared to be to destroy sympathy for the islanders, and particularly the Elder, he said that he would reconsider this sequence from the point of view of audience reaction.

“The Edge of the World” will reach Scotland probably in the late autumn.

“The Edge of the World”

From The Scotsman, 1st September 1937

London audiences will see at the New Gallery next week that remarkable film, “The Edge of the World,” which was made on the island of Foula. The theme and story of the film, shown privately at the Gaumont Theatre in the Haymarket this morning, have been already described in these columns. It should be interesting to observe what appeal, from the box office point of view, this moving and unusual record of a people and a mode of life belonging to another land and time will make upon audiences to whom the problem thus presented must be completely unfamiliar. As a spectacle, the pictured scenes of this harsh and rugged island, and of the circumstances of the crofters who, with primitive tools and methods, are engaged in a losing struggle for livelihood, would alone constitute a film of outstanding character. But “The Edge of the World” is more than a pictorial representation. It states its case with few lapses into theatrical emphasis, but with a grimness outlined in the opening statement that “the slow shadow of death is falling on the lonely Outer Isles of Scotland . . . . all of them.” The story of people who, without contact with the mainland for months every year, without medical service or wireless to assist them in emergency, are forced ultimately to evacuate their island, is told with a restraint that makes it the more effective. Apart from its claim to be considered an historical document, and perhaps also as a commentary upon the problems of civilisation, this is a film whose beauty and originality place it in a category apart. The production will be the subject of a broadcast on Saturday night.

FILM FOR BALMORAL

From The Scotsman, 2^nd September 1937

The British film, “The Edge of the World,” was last night sent to Balmoral for the King and Queen to see. It tells the romantic story of life on the Shetland island of Foula, where it was made.

Beautiful scenery and the endurance of an island people form the background for a romance and the clash of old and new ideals.

“EDGE OF THE WORLD”

Foula film at Balmoral

ROYAL INTEREST

From The Scotsman 03/09/1937

The King and Queen, as already announced, are to see “The Edge of the World,” the film produced by Mr Michael Powell on Foula last summer.

Word was received in London on Wednesday that Their Majesties wished to see the film, and a copy was immediately dispatched North. It will be shown at Balmoral in the course of the next few days.

“The Edge of the World,” whose production last year was fully described in these columns, deals in a graphic and imaginative manner with a pressing Scottish problem, the evacuation of the outer islands. Suggested by the St Kilda story, it is both a moving drama drawn from contemporary life and, as it exploits the natural island scenery, a striking spectacle.

The film has been well received at the film festival at present in progress at Venice. It was received with warm and spontaneous applause and, as little had been heard of its production on the Continent, its quality created considerable surprise. The critic of the Corriere della Sera declared that the film would stand comparison with “Man of Aran,” which won a prize at the third Venice Exhibition.

“The Edge of the World” is to be the subject of a broadcast to-morrow evening. Among those who will take part are Mr Michael Powell, author and director of the film; Mr Grant Sutherland, one of the actors, and Mr Walter Ratter and Mr George Isbister, two of the islanders, who are travelling South from Foula to contribute to the radio account of the project.

DIRECTOR’S PLANS

Mr Powell is at present finishing a book which will tell the full story of the making of the film. Under the title, Twenty Thousand Feet on Foula, it will be published early in the new year. It will describe in the author’s words the adventures of “twenty-four intelligent men who were dropped down on an extremely isolated island, there to live and work for five months.”

When the book is completed, Mr Powell proposes to go to Hollywood, partly in order to study the development of colour. He has in mind a number of film projects similar to “The Edge of the World” and, for his next production, would like to make use of colour.

In conversation by telephone with the film correspondent of The Scotsman yesterday, Mr Powell said that he was very gratified with the reception given to his film. He was naturally very pleased at the interest shown in it by Their Majesties, and he thought it would have a particular appeal for the Queen, who would see dramatised one of the problems facing her countrymen living on the outer islands.

“The Edge of the World,” which has been seen by the trade and Press in Scotland and London, will have its premiere on September 12. Arrangements have been completed for its exhibition in Edinburgh in January.

“The Edge of the World”

From The Scotsman 6^th September 1937

From Scotland has come what must be one of the most impressive films ever produced. I refer to “The Edge of the World,” which London audiences will see next week. At a private showing the other day, it was somehow difficult to know yourself sitting in a West End cinema; so far away, and not only in terms of distance, does this production take you. It is certain that the grandeur of the scenes depicted on the Island of Foula will make their especial appeal even to those who know nothing of the problems set forth. One of the greatest strokes of genius on the part of the producer was surely in suggesting the grimness and desolation of beauty where human feet have trod, and may tread no more. A possible effect of this great film on the Southerner may also be to make him look at the map of Scotland, and consider the possibilities of seeing for himself some of the kinder and more accessible coasts that he knows – and then vaguely – only in name.

200,000 FEET ON FOULA. By Michael Powell

From The Scotsman 13/01/1938

In “The Edge of the World,” Mr Michael Powell has produced a film for which Scotland, so long misrepresented on the screen, may well be grateful. Its theme, the gradual evacuation of the lonely outer islands, is real, and the treatment is sincere, authentic, and moving. In the feverish world of the commercial cinema, and with a medium as exacting as the film, such an achievement was not easy; and if we did not sense it before, just how fine and courageous an achievement the production of “Edge of the World” was is revealed for us in this fascinating account of the Foula film expedition.

Origin of the Theme

The story would have been dramatic even in inexpert hands; and Mr Powell has a gift for narrative that keeps excitement coursing through these pages. The film originated in the chance reading in June 1930 of a paragraph on the evacuation of St Kilda. Mr Powell cut out the paragraph. More important his imagination was stirred. He thought of the Atlantic storms at last conquering the men who had been so long their masters, and vowed one day to make a film of that defeat.

He had to wait six years. During that time he was climbing up the film ladder, eventually becoming director, first of short quota pictures, and later of such films as “The Fire Raisers” and “Red Ensign.” The theme of the film was taking shape in his mind. Eventually Joe Rock, an American producer with studios at Elstree, and a liking for open-air films, agreed to finance the project. An expedition ship, the Vedra, was secured. A production unit was tentatively assembled. The director was ready to begin work on his film.

An Obstacle Overcome

Here Mr Powell met his first obstacle, - he was unable to come to an arrangement with Lord Dumfries for permission to make the film on St Kilda. This was clearly an agonising moment for the director, who had been dreaming for years of a St Kilda film: but it produces the most vivid, dramatic, and revealing chapter of the book. For Mr Powell demonstrated his sincerity by refusing to give up the film. Haste was imperative, for delay would mean the evaporation of support in London. His account of how he eventually found another island – an episode in which The Scotsman and members of its staff figured prominently – is graphic and exciting, and we are on edge until permission to film on Foula is finally secured.

The account of the negotiations preceding the expedition forms one half of the book. In the second Mr Powell describes the actual production of the film: the government of the production party, the influence of the island life on the townsmen and women, the effect of the weather, the reactions of the islanders, the day-to-day excitements of “shooting.” Gradually we realise, as the director did, that whereas Foula was at first merely “a means to an end, the ideal island for my purpose,” soon it put its spell on the film-makers, and the hardy independent island folk found a way into their hearts. The author despairs of us understanding him when he says that it was “not only an adventure but a spiritual experience.” He underestimates the conviction of his writing.

Marooning Adventure

There was a struggle to complete the film, in the face of the approaching wintry weather and the increasing uneasiness of the promoters; but Mr Powell, determined that no studio fakery should be imposed on his hard-won naturalism, held on, gradually fitting in the missing sequences of the film. The final marooning adventure, which made headlines on newspaper front pages, is well remembered. The islanders had often been in similar plight, and there was perhaps something cynical in the fact that this publicity helped secure for them a beam wireless installation which put an end to their isolation.

200,000 Feet on Foula is an illuminating contribution to the literature of the film; but it has a much wider interest and appeal. Mr Powell’s writing is fresh and vivid: candour, good humour, and wit enliven these pages, which have the added illumination of impressive photographs. His sincere interest in Scotland and this Scottish problem of the depopulation of the islands is abundantly evident, and the tribute he would most like to be paid to his book is that it will redirect attention to the predicament of these lonely islanders round our coast, with some of whom, on Foula, he has formed “ties of sympathy and friendship that will never be broken.”

FILMING ON FOULA

Scottish Island Life

DIRECTOR ON ADVENTURES

From The Scotsman 20/01/1938

Under the auspices of the Edinburgh Film Guild, Mr Michael Powell, originator and director of the Foula film, “The Edge of the World,” spoke of his experiences on the island, and of film making in general, at a meeting in the Central Hall, Edinburgh. There was a large attendance, and Professor Talbot Rice presided.

Mr Powell said in this country we were in the middle of a slump in the film industry. The quality of British films had steadily improved; it was the type of subject that we had chosen to do that was responsible. He had been working on small quota pictures, mostly made for American firms in England. These were studio-made stories copying the American technique. Seven years ago he read about St Kilda being evacuated, and it occurred to him that why these islands were being evacuated was a great theme for a picture. Communications had improved in recent years, yet the people had to leave the islands. Most producers knew only one idea for pictures, and that was love. (Laughter.) He found a man who was interested in his island evacuation idea, and who was ready to back the enterprise. Mr Powell proceeded to describe the preparations that were made, and the difficulties that were encountered, including the problem of finding a suitable island for the story, an arrangement being made for Foula after a dramatic hurried search. The ardours of the approach to the island and getting the company landed there were described.

A WILD ISLAND

He had never seen anything like Foula for wildness. Some of the cliffs were 1000 feet sheer to the sea, and they kept on going down sheer. You could lie on the edge and look a quarter of a mile down to the sea. In making the film he was determined he would have no studio sets. A studio set in such a film, no matter how well made, did not look right – it did not “smell” right. Mr Powell went on to describe how admirably the island population co-operated in the effort.

In the story there was presented a yacht’s party going ashore and seeing the roofless and deserted houses. Then a youth who had lived on the island told its story. You heard the church bells and saw the smoke rising again from the houses, and the people going out to church on the Sunday morning. He had to get the whole population concentrating on the one point, and he thought this was one of the most successful episodes of the story.

“The Edge of the World,” continued Mr Powell, had been a success, artistically and financially. He had learned many lessons, and the next film he made he would know better what to do. It had a great theme; it was done with sincerity; and it did not go outside its scope. At present, in British films, producers were trying to copy Hollywood. The result was something frightful. The story of “The Edge of the World” was told in terms of the life of the people. From it they would learn something about the complete life of the people; not a single aspect, as in “Man of Arran.” “It is that kind of film which is going to save the British Cinema,” said Mr Powell.

FOULA FILM SHOWN AT LERWICK

From The Scotsman, 21st January 1938

The first performances of the “Edge of the World” film in Lerwick took place yesterday before crowded audiences, all reservable seats having been booked in a day and a half. Many were disappointed by their inability to secure seats yesterday. However, a private preview took place before a large audience invited by the management.

SCOTS FILM WITH ROOTS IN REALITY

GRATITUDE FOR “EDGE OF THE WORLD”

From The Scotsman 25/01/1938

One summer evening in June 1936 an Edinburgh geographer suggested to Michael Powell, whose hopes of producing a film on St Kilda had been suddenly and unexpectedly dashed, that Foula in the Shetlands might serve as an alternative island. The suggestion was accepted, gratefully, acted upon, the owner located, and the contract completed, all within the vital 24 hours during which the director had to secure another island, or admit failure. That was the beginning of a romantic and dramatic story whose development during the past eighteen months has been described in these columns, and which, as far as Edinburgh is concerned, closes this week with the arrival of “The Edge of the World” (Caley.) (Why films are so late in reaching Edinburgh is a mystery the cinema people seem unable, or reluctant, to solve. “The Edge of the World” was shown in Glasgow and Aberdeen months ago, and even in distant Lerwick last week. A minor but persistent grumble.)

Both its theme and the circumstances of its production make “The Edge of the World” of particular interest to Scotland. The theme is the gradual evacuation of the outer islands by populations no longer able to fight against the impoverishment of the soil, the plunder of the fisheries by trawlers, and the disturbing influences of modern civilisation. Whether or not the problem is seen whole and in all its implications, it is clearly a real one, of importance to the life of the country. Further, the film is about real people in real surroundings. The entire film was shot on Foula: a misleadingly simple statement to sum up five months of sincere, tenacious, and eventually hazardous work, during which (and in the subsequent editing) the director remained resolutely faithful to his theme. The result is a film for which Scotland should be grateful.

Disappearing Island Life

Although “The Edge of the World” is described as “a story of the Island of Foula,” it should at the outset be made clear that Foula has not been evacuated, and that the film adapts a picture of its condition today to depict the typical island life which is slowly disappearing. The island of the film is called Hirta, and when a yachting party, led by a young seaman, lands to explore, it is deserted, overgrown, and ghostly with the memories of the islanders driven from its rocky shores.

Memories of an old home

The young seaman is a man of Hirta, and he tells the story of the people who lived there ten years before. “It’s the Sabbath to-day,” he says, “and a fine summer morning. Ten years ago ye’d be seeing all the folk on the way to the kirk, the men in black, and the women neat and bonny.”

The folk on their way to the Kirk

As we hear the sound of the church bell again in the little valley, the scene comes alive, and the film steps smoothly back ten years. Gradually we become aware of the members of the community and their problems. Nature and civilisation are combining to disturb the traditional harmony of the island life. Trawlers have destroyed the fishing grounds. There is a vanishing market for the wool. These, allied with bad harvests and the failure of the peat, are forcing the young people to go to the mainland, with its easier conditions and wider opportunities. Sternly contesting this defeatism is the dour, unyielding Elder, supported by a youth who loves his daughter. Opposing him is his own son, an engineer on a hated trawler, and argument between the young men ends in a decision to settle their differences by a race up a dangerous cliff.

The race has a tragic outcome, for the elder’s son is killed, and, as a consequence, he forbids his daughter’s marriage, and eventually drives the other youth off the island. For the community the problem is accentuated rather than solved, as conditions are becoming worse. The Elder’s daughter reveals to her austere father that she is to have a baby. Later, when it falls sick of diphtheria, the urgency of evacuation seems to be emphasised: there is no way of reaching a doctor in the storm, and no wireless to send for help. A petition is signed for the conveyance of the islanders and their belongings to the mainland. The day of evacuation comes – the uprooting of the people from an island where life as their fathers knew it is no longer possible. All board the boat, except the unrelenting Elder, who goes to the top of the cliff and falls to his death. He is of the old order, and the old order must go.

Islanders on the Vedra during the evacuation scenes

With Skill and Sympathy

That the story is a superimposition cannot altogether be hidden. A note of false melodrama occasionally occurs. Occasionally too, there is evidence of theatrical training in the performances of the professional actors (though the director did his best to prevent this by waiting until they had been on the island for two months before shooting any major scene.) The individual stories and the individual performances, however, are, for the most part, convincingly in key with the main theme of the film. With skill and sympathy the director builds them into his picture of the island life: the little grey church with the verses of the metrical psalms floating out and over the empty crofts; the funeral, under a dark sky amid driving rain, with the coffin carried on oars; the catching of the sheep and the making of tweed and shawls; and the final evacuation, with the mists rolling down over the deserted island.

Michael Powell’s direction is a remarkable combination of insight, sincerity, tenacity and technical skill. He has been aided by the sympathetic performances of the players and islanders, the quite brilliant camera-work of Ernest Palmer, and (as he has recorded) the intelligent editing of Derek Twist. The great soaring clif