:37:04
of islanders' lives.
:37:06
He wasn't just a romantic,
:37:08
he was somebody who understood
the difficulty of sustaining
:37:11
these small, remote communities.
:37:13
And so the dialogue
between Andrew and the laird
:37:17
about what the options are
:37:19
for him and Ruth
and for the islanders in general
:37:23
is an important strand of the film.
:37:26
It also, I suppose, reminds us
of the economic background
:37:29
to the making of the film itself,
:37:31
because film making in Britain
:37:33
was something of a cottage industry
at this time.
:37:37
The Quota Act of 1929
had made it possible
:37:41
for many small film-production
companies to come into existence,
:37:45
guaranteed some market for the films
that they made very cheaply.
:37:50
Michael Powell had cut his teeth
:37:52
making these so-called
"quota quickies",
:37:54
films made for as little as £5,000
:37:57
designed to fill the lower part
of a double bill.
:38:01
Many of those companies
that came into existence
:38:04
disappeared almost as quickly.
:38:05
In 1936,
:38:07
there was a big downturn
in the British film industry,
:38:10
and there were lay-offs
:38:12
and closures
right across the whole industry.
:38:15
It was in that climate
that Joe Rock,
:38:18
an American who'd come to England,
:38:20
and who was teetering
on the edge of bankruptcy himself,
:38:24
decided to back Powell's vision
of a film about the island.
:38:27
It was a brave thing to do.
:38:29
He was a man, Powell said,
with a passion
:38:32
for adventure location films
:38:34
and if he hadn't had that passion
they'd never have got started.
:38:37
Ironically, by the time
the film was completed,
:38:40
Joe Rock's company
was actually in bankruptcy.
:38:43
But the film had been made
and did eventually get released.
:38:53
(Dialogue) James...?
:38:56
Aye, it's all right, it's all there.