:52:03
It was the only thing that enabled
the production to keep going.
:52:06
On the 26th October,
:52:08
a date which Michael Powell
remembers vividly,
:52:12
there was sunshine nowhere
in the entire United Kingdom,
:52:15
except in Lerwick.
:52:17
That sunshine enabled them
to do a mighty day's shooting
:52:21
and salvaged the film,
:52:23
in terms of getting
all the narrative shots they needed.
:52:42
(Wind howls)
:52:45
(Dialogue)
One of them'll be picked up.
:52:47
Aye, if they're not blown
too far south.
:52:49
Nah. This wind'll take them
right among the fishing fleet.
:53:01
(Christie) Lerwick is the base
for the steam-driven fishing boats
:53:05
which are industrialising fishing.
:53:07
And of course this is one of
the big issues of this period.
:53:11
John Grierson made
a film called Drifters,
:53:15
which dealt with the new challenges
:53:18
to traditional fishing methods,
back in 1929.
:53:21
And fishing and its industrialisation
:53:24
was very much on the agenda
right through the '30s.
:53:27
So when we see Andrew signing up
with the skipper
:53:31
and we see that black trail
of smoke behind,
:53:35
this is something which
would've been quite evocative
:53:38
for most of the film's
original audience.
:53:42
It's even more evocative
for us today,
:53:44
as we face the end of fishing
from the Scottish islands.
:53:49
It's quite remarkable
to see the density of trawlers
:53:52
moored in Lerwick, back in 1936.