The Silver Darlings

For its year, the movie was fairly typical. While the acting in some scenes was reminiscent of silent film or stage (with exaggerated or stilted portrayals), overall it was good and more than acceptable. The photography was generally good, capturing life as it no doubt was, and the atmosphere also. I was not expecting a 1950's or later film, so there was no disappointment. Also, I felt I had learned something of life in those days way up in the north.

The small Scots farmers have been driven from the land by the great landowners who have found that sheep were more profitable. Some, like Helen Shingler's husband, turned to fishing; but then he was press-ganged, and now Miss Shingler is in a new place, where Clifford Evans has just been given his own boat to engage in the catching of herring. She is adamant that her son, Murdo Morrison, will not go to sea, for she believes it will be his death. But when the Second Diphtheria Plague strikes, she sends him out under Evans to escape the disease.

It's an interesting bit of history for the ordinary people of Scotland, and it reminds me of the sort of rural drama that Hepworth produced in the 1920s. Changing tastes and the general collapse of the British film industry put an end to Hepworth, but here is another story in that vein. It is sustained, like Hepworth's work, by the beauty of the natural landscape around Caithness, and lovely it is indeed, thanks t the work of cinematographer Francis Carver.

The Highlands and Islands of Scotland were a favourite setting for British films during the thirties and forties; "Whisky Galore" was a popular Ealing comedy, and Michael Powell alone made three films set in the area, "The Edge of the World", "The Spy in Black" and "I Know Where I'm Going!", the latter two in partnership with Emeric Pressburger. "The Silver Darlings", based on a novel by Neil Gunn, is set in Caithness, the most north-easterly corner of the British mainland.

The film is set in the early 19th century, the period of the highland clearances. Gunn was known for his left-wing beliefs, and the story clearly shows his sympathy for the little man and lack of sympathy for the powers-that-be. Tormad, a dispossessed crofter, turns to herring fishing, but is press-ganged into the Royal Navy and his family are left without news of him for many years. (We later learn that he was killed at sea). His wife Catrine, left on her own with their young son Finn, sets about building up her own fishing business. When Finn grows up he is eager to become a fisherman, but Catrine, mindful of what happened to her husband, is not keen to let him. Another source of conflict between mother and son is her growing attachment to her skipper, Roddy.

"The Silver Darlings" - the title refers to the herrings on which the characters' wealth depend- is not a well-known film today. I note that mine is only the third review it has received, and I can see why. It is not horrendously bad, but it is a rather dull period drama with forgettable dialogue and no outstanding acting contributions. We Britons like to persuade ourselves that the forties ere something of a golden age for our cinema. Perhaps in some ways they were, but that does not mean that every film we churned out during the period was a good one. This was, after all, the age of the quota quickie. 5/10

A goof. At one point the fishermen, lost at sea, chance upon a remote island. There are no landing places and the only way to reach the top of the island is by a dangerous climb up a steep cliff. Yet when the fishermen get there, they find a flock of sheep. So how did the sheep get there?