Alternate Best Actor 1945: Roger Livesey in I Know Where I'm Going

Roger Livesey did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Torquil MacNeil aka Kiloran in I Know Where I'm Going. 

I Know Where I'm Going follows an ambitious young woman Joan (Wendy Hiller) going on a trip to Scotland to see her rich fiance, though naturally comes across a handsome local.
 

Unbearded Roger Livesey plays that local, I feel that is an essential distinction to make, who we come across, and while this sort of tale is now extremely commonplace, less so at this time, also such follow ups were not written and directed by Powell and Pressburger. The great Roger Livesey I wouldn't say has his most challenging role here as this film is part travelogue, part romance, with a bit of light comedy but more than anything largely a light tone despite one fairly intense sequence late in the film. This isn't an example of the film pushing Livesey to the limit of any ilk, rather early in the film we see him as just a charming chap in Scotland visiting before needing to return to the service and running into  Joan who is the one driving the narrative up until this point. Livesey is an actor with a tremendous presence, one where his voice alone does a great deal of natural heavy lifting, as the man just commands space, however that isn't the focal point here. Here he's just going to be part of the space early on as Livesey plays Torquil with a casual manner and just general affability as he greets the young woman while showing her around a bit as she travels towards her fiance and he enjoys his leave from the war effort. Something that I do think is aided by the lack of beard on Livesey that makes him look much younger and just in general have a more boyish quality to this man who clearly has some love for this environment of his homeland. The whole focus here is just to be charming largely, which Livesey is in a fairly easy going way that he doesn't make much of it, he just very much is part of scenes with an innate ease as someone that it is hard not to find a little endearing. He's good in that he doesn't play the pestering alternative or anything of the ilk, rather Livesey very much presents Torquil as entirely innocent around Joan, even as it becomes obvious that the two share more than a little bit of chemistry with one another.

Hiller and Livesey in some ways aren't pushing their obvious raw intensity both have as a performers, this is much lighter fare for both of them, however neither uses that as some kind of excuse to simplify anything about this material. They both give distinct life to their characters, and in this instance creating a very naturalistic chemistry between the two. As what develops between them actually is very subdued on the whole, where we have the moments of growing connection but it isn't as sort of broad as was the more normal ilk as if say this was a Cary Grant romantic comedy where he needed to best old Ralph Bellamy, which in this instance Bellamy would neither be seen nor heard. Rather much of it is in the margins of their performance as they interact and at times don't interact as they go about their trip in the Scottish isles. Livesey's wonderful by not exactly playing his hand obviously at any point as this presumption that the man is trying for something rather you see in each moment this kind of jus generous smile and more than a glance towards Joan, balanced with moments of this certain earned judgment in his eyes as she seems to favor wealth over other qualities of life, at least in her titular expression. Livesey' s performance is just one that cultivates the connection and attraction with Hiller, with the ease that grows and the sense of quiet complications in the silences, and they completely earn the sense of the connection between the two. Which is particularly essential here as there is far less of a driven obvious focus about this, leaving to the performers to earn the romantic journey, which they do. 

Although much of this performance isn't dramatic, other than Livesey just having an innate dramatic quality to his work because of the power of his presence. The one minor detail of this seeming is his fear of going to the old ruins of his family that is said to be cursed but even this seems almost slightly flippant for a while at least. The power of Livesey though is called upon as Joan, mainly because she wants to get away from the obvious attraction to Torquil and to her financial safety of her planned marriage and bribes a poor local man to take her through a dangerous storm. Livesey's great in the moment of Torquil disgust with this choice at first bringing this natural sense of a combination of genuine disappointment that speaks to someone who he had hoped for mixed in with this real sense of care he clearly has for the local people. It is only when Torquil is told she's really running from him to avoid romance is when he decides instead to take upon captaining the boat himself. And Livesey is great throughout this sequence in bringing this visceral intensity that he's been holding back and bringing such a power in his sense of determination that creates the danger of the situation but with the confidence of a man who will make sure they all make it. He's captivating every second of this sequence, particularly in the moments of instructing Joan on how to save the boat, and we see them fully working together, albeit seemingly ironically as it is to get her to marry another man. Although this journey only makes them grow closer, which is still unsaid till their goodbyes which has a formality still but you sense the chemistry in the warmth beneath every word, until Joan wishes for a goodbye kiss. Livesey's reaction to this is absolutely pitch perfect, as you get such a great sense of surprise and immediate joy with the sudden turn from Joan, though she seemingly still leaves, and Torquil finally goes to the allegedly cursed ruins. A sequence that is where you see what great directors and great actors can do. As it is a man looking around ruins, which would be less if it were not filmed so beautifully, with such an atmospheric sense of place, and just Livesey being absolutely brilliant in showing the man soaking all the history in, particularly as he sees the actual curse, which essential is that of long lasting love. Livesey's reaction to seeing Joan come back to him, supported by an instrumental group, couldn't be more perfect in saying all that needs to be said as the romantic highlight of fully embracing his "cursed" fate.