Product Details

• Actors: Eric Berry, Belle Chrystall, Finlay Currie, Margaret Greig, Kitty Kirwan
• Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: December 9, 2003
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00007L4MM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #56,505 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Edge of the World" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Michael Powell broke with a decade of B movies with this personal project shot on the North Sea island of Foula, a magnificent, primal landscape of high, rocky inland plains and sheer cliffs jutting out of the sea like a dare. He renamed the island Hirta for this fictional story (based on the real-life evacuation of the island of St. Kilda) of an isolated community's traditional way of life slowly dying as the young men are drawn to the modern cities of the mainland. John Laurie and Finlay Currie play the two family patriarchs who struggle over the future of the island community, and Powell himself appears as the yachtsman in a framing sequence. The romantic melodrama at the heart of the tale turns on a breathtaking race up the sheer cliffs and the grudge it sparks when one of the climbers falls to his death.

The Edge of the World is more stately and still than Powell's cinematically playful and stylistically vibrant later films like The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus. The proud, hard residents of the island are constantly framed against the dramatic sky, the craggy mountains, or the rolling meadows with a dire seriousness. Yet there's a poetry to his images, which are never less than gorgeous, and Powell directs with a sense of tension, urgency, and desperation that pulls at the easy pace of this harsh lifestyle. This edition also features the lovely 1941 short An Airman's Letter to His Mother (narrated by John Gielgud) and the Powells' 1978 documentary Return to the Edge of the World, a 22-minute remembrance organized around a reunion on the island of Foula. --Sean Axmaker

Product Description

Add: Bonus Feature: Commentary by Academy-Award® winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker Powell, film historian Ian Christie and Daniel Day-Lewis reading from Michael Powell's book on the making of the film, "200,000 Feet on Foula."

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant film, long unavailable..., July 2, 2001

By	Mark Savary "moon_city" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Edge of the World [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Stunning 1937 film set in the Shetland Islands, and filmed on the North Sea isle of Foula. Director Michael Powell has been called "the British John Ford", and you'll see why when you watch this film.

Based on a newspaper article the director once read, "The Edge of the World" is a heartbreaking documentary-style look at a phenomenon that really faced island-dwellers off the coast of Scotland in the 1930's and 40s.

On Hirta, the ficticious isolated coastal island, the fishing is becoming impossible thanks to the mainland trawlers and their huge nets. The peat the islanders harvest and sell for fuel is almost exhausted. The youth of the island are leaving in droves.

As a result, the islanders face a harsh choice; try to go on with their way of life, or give up everything and ask the government to relocate them on the mainland. There is bitter debate among the inhabitants, with part in favor of leaving, others wanting to fight on, and still more who are uncertain what to do.

While the acting may occasionally seem a bit overdone today, the real winner here is the outstanding photography done on location. Hills sweep up and end abruptly with sheer cliffs. The pounding sea sprays the rocks, and clouds sweep over the expanse of the island, leaving telling shadows on all below. There is also a truly heartstopping race as two men climb the sheer cliffs to decide questions between them.

This is an amazing and moving film that focuses on characters, with their odd beliefs, their customs, their culture threatened, and their whole way of life hanging in the balance.

After one viewing, you will never be able to leave this film behind. Truly an overlooked work, it is indespensible to the serious film buff and student.

Cheers to Milestone, who copied the film's recently restored 35mm print for this tape (and in SP mode, no less!). Until a Criterion DVD edition comes out, this is the best version you're likely to find of this wonderful film, and well worth the price.

The tape includes the twenty minute documentary "Return to the Edge of the World" in its entirety, as well as the Powell WW2 short subject, "An Airman's Letter to His Mother".

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Peter Manson Gone Over, January 30, 2006

By	bernie "xyzzy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

It has been 10 years since The Shadow of Death fell on the outer isles of Scotland. This is the tale of Peter Manson, his family and the last days of inhabitance on the island called "Ultima Thule" The Edge of the World. You will come to identify with the inhabitance and their plight. But with all the triumphs and tragedies the worst for me was when they let the cats fend for themselves and the dogs (due to economics) drowned.

The filming was spectacular and there is a social statement. Many facets go into making this a first class movie. The film was shot by Michael Powell on the island of Foula in the North Sea. Michael Powell is the visiting yachtsman that hears the story.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Edge of the World, June 21, 2007

By	John Farr "The Best Movies by Farr" - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Based on the real-life exodus from St. Kilda, near Scotland, Powell's gripping melodrama was his first breakthrough before embarking on a fruitful life-long partnership with producer Emeric Pressburger. Combining documentary-like footage of ragged shorelines, craggy cliffs, and the rugged beauty of Foula (the film's actual location) with a simple story of economic hardship and romantic conflict, Powell concocted one of the most deeply personal and moving British films of the `30s. Sparse yet potent, "Edge" stands out for excellent performances--including John Laurie and Finlay Currie as the young lovers' squabbling patriarchs--and one thrilling sequence involving a treacherous foot race up Foula's forbiddingly steep cliffs.