***SPOILERS*** Touching little movie about a community of islanders in the North Sea faced with extinction if they don't leave their homeland, the Scottish island of Hirta, that they called their home for almost 1,000 years.
The storyline of the movie is very basic in the rivalry between two best friends Andrew Gray and Robbie Mason in them at odds of staying or leaving their home on Hirta. Andrew is also very much in love with Robbie's twin sister Ruth which makes things between the two friends even more difficult then they already are. Andrew wants to leave Hirta, which Robbie s dead set against, and take his sister along with him as his wife. The two decide to get into a dangerous cliff climbing contest, without the use of ropes, to see who's right in leaving or not leaving Hirta for good. This has Robbie, as he's suddenly hit by an onrushing snow melt, loses his grip at the very top of the 1,300 foot cliff and despite his friend Andrews best efforts he ends up falling to his death on the rocks below. With the dead Robbie's father Peter Mason holding him responsible for his sons death Andrew's weddings plans with Peter's daughter Ruth are now off for good.
Leaving the island and getting a job on a fishing boat on the mainland Andrew later learns that Ruth, whom he didn't know was pregnant, has given birth to his daughter on Hirta. With a major storm hitting the Scottish coast Andrew made his way back to Hitra, on his boss' fishing boat, to not only save his wife Ruth and infant daughter, who at the time was suffering from diphtheria, but make up with his "father-in law" Peter who still held him responsible for his sons tragic death.
****SPOILERS**** In the end the island was finally abandoned by it's hearty and proud inhabitants but Peter wasn't to be among them. Having made up with Andrew over Robbie's death Peter went the same route as his beloved son, falling to hi s death down the same 1,300 foot cliff, when he tried to retrieve a magic, to the people on Hirta, golden eagle egg as a souvenir.
Not much of a story but beautifully photographed on the island of Foula with a cast of mostly non-professional giving the film "The Edge of the World" the stark black and white realism that the major movie studios, back then in 1937, couldn't.
The storyline of the movie is very basic in the rivalry between two best friends Andrew Gray and Robbie Mason in them at odds of staying or leaving their home on Hirta. Andrew is also very much in love with Robbie's twin sister Ruth which makes things between the two friends even more difficult then they already are. Andrew wants to leave Hirta, which Robbie s dead set against, and take his sister along with him as his wife. The two decide to get into a dangerous cliff climbing contest, without the use of ropes, to see who's right in leaving or not leaving Hirta for good. This has Robbie, as he's suddenly hit by an onrushing snow melt, loses his grip at the very top of the 1,300 foot cliff and despite his friend Andrews best efforts he ends up falling to his death on the rocks below. With the dead Robbie's father Peter Mason holding him responsible for his sons death Andrew's weddings plans with Peter's daughter Ruth are now off for good.
Leaving the island and getting a job on a fishing boat on the mainland Andrew later learns that Ruth, whom he didn't know was pregnant, has given birth to his daughter on Hirta. With a major storm hitting the Scottish coast Andrew made his way back to Hitra, on his boss' fishing boat, to not only save his wife Ruth and infant daughter, who at the time was suffering from diphtheria, but make up with his "father-in law" Peter who still held him responsible for his sons tragic death.
****SPOILERS**** In the end the island was finally abandoned by it's hearty and proud inhabitants but Peter wasn't to be among them. Having made up with Andrew over Robbie's death Peter went the same route as his beloved son, falling to hi s death down the same 1,300 foot cliff, when he tried to retrieve a magic, to the people on Hirta, golden eagle egg as a souvenir.
Not much of a story but beautifully photographed on the island of Foula with a cast of mostly non-professional giving the film "The Edge of the World" the stark black and white realism that the major movie studios, back then in 1937, couldn't.