I Know Where I'm Going!

Movie review by Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
I Know Where I'm Going! Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 10+

Love competes against money in '40s classic.

NR 1947 91 minutes
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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this movie has some social drinking and a reference to a curse, and stories of women whose infidelity leads to disaster.

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What's the Story?

I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING centers on Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller), who always knows exactly what she wants and insists on getting it. She sets off to marry one of the richest men in England, but a strong windstorm strands her mid-travel. She meets some locals, including Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesey), a Naval officer home on leave. While waiting for the wind to die down, Joan has a chance to see something of the life she would have as the wife of Sir Robert Bellinger. She meets his bridge- playing friends and hears of his plans to install a swimming pool on the Kiloran estate. (It turns out that he is renting it from Torquil, who is the Laird of Kiloran.) She visits a castle where Torquil's ancestors lived, and where it is said that any Laird of Kiloran who goes inside will be cursed. Even though it is still not safe to take the boats out, she is desperate to get to Bellinger's island estate. She pays a young man to take her out in the boat, and Torquil goes along. The boat almost sinks, and she loses her bridal gown. When it is finally safe to go, Joan and Torquil say goodbye. He asks her to have the bagpipes play for him some day, and she asks him for a kiss. They part, but she returns with three bagpipe players and joins him in the castle, where it turns out the curse provides that any Laird of Kiloran who enters will never leave it a free man. "He shall be chained to a woman until the end of his days and he shall die in his chains."

Is It Any Good?

Like I Love You Again, this excellent movie falls into the category of "the life I didn't know I wanted." Joan thinks she knows what she wants and where she is going, but she is given the gift of a chance to see the alternatives. She learns that, while the people from the community miss having money, there are other things they care about more. And she learns that she can fall in love with someone who is going in a very different direction from her ideas of "where I'm going."

I Know Where I', Going provides a good starting point for a discussion of how we make decisions about what we want out of life, how we pursue those goals, and what we do when we are presented either with obstacles or with new information. And it is a good starting point for a discussion of what is important, and how we determine what is important to us.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how we make decisions about what we want out of life, how we pursue those goals, and what we do when we are presented either with obstacles or with new information.

Movie Details

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