(Criterion Collection, 1945, 91 minutes) - add this title to your Netflix queue
Fiercely independent Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) has always known where she's going - and right now she's headed to Scotland to marry one of England's wealthiest men, who has proposed to her, Cartier ring and all, and arranged a trip to a remote island in the Hebrides, where the couple are to be wed. But on her journey, which begins on a train and involves a long drive and a sea crossing, Joan encounters bad weather that prevents safe passage to the (fictitious) Isle of Kiloran, detaining her on the nearby island of Mull.
There, she meets - among other Gaelic-speaking characters - a dashing gentleman naval officer (Roger Livesey, who sure could make a kilt look manly). And quite against Joan's will, her resolve about becoming Lady Bellinger begins to evaporate with the mist.
There's plenty of mist (and even a bit of Man Ray-worthy surrealist imagery), yet the film never feels like a Brigadoon fantasy or Wuthering Heights wallow. It's a perfect funny valentine that stays magically real, in part thanks to the lingering presence of several charismatic dogs.
As soon as beautiful polymath Pamela Brown shows up with three big, gorgeous Scottish Deerhounds, who promptly curl up on the furniture, you'll feel right at home. In passing we also meet an Old English Sheepdog, companion to one of the sailors, as well as a pair of Cocker Spaniels, in a scene featuring 13-year-old Petula Clark as a precocious tween.
Still more treats are in store in the DVD's extras, which include director Michael Powell's "Home Movies" (narrated by his widow, Oscar-winning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker). Through them, we learn that Powell adored dogs, especially his own hiking companion, a handsome Border Collie named Sweep. It's worth several re-viewings to hear Schoonmaker lovingly read the excerpt from Powell's autobiography describing this canine heartthrob.
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