The Powell & Pressburger Pages Dedicated to the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and all the other people, both actors and technicians who helped them make those wonderful films. A lot of the documents have been sent to me or have come from other web sites. The name of the web site is given where known. If I have unintentionally included an image or document that is copyrighted or that I shouldn't have done then please email me and I'll remove it. I make no money from this site, it's purely for the love of the films. [Any comments are by me (Steve Crook) and other members of the email list]

Submitted by Roger Mellor

The Edge of the World (1937)
"Radio Times" film guide

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Director - Michael Powell
Starring - John Laurie
Running Time - 80 mins
Country of Origin - UK

Made by Michael Powell, arguably the British cinema's most profoundly creative director, this is a fictional account of the harsh lives led by a dwindling community high on the cliffs above the cruel and majestic sea off the Scottish mainland. Filmed on the island of Foula, whose real-life inhabitants play the village people, it stars Niall MacGinnis, John Laurie, Finlay Currie and Belle Chrystall, all superb. But it is the landscape, and the spirit of a way of life being slowly but inevitably eroded, that dominate this poignant, elegiac tale of life, love and death. A leisurely film in semi-documentary yet almost poetic style, its images of people and place weave a haunting spell - stay with it. In 1978, Powell returned to the isle and shot a prologue and epilogue to the film, retitling the new version Return to the Edge of the World.

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