The Edge of the World (Blu-ray)

Michael Powell's first independent production, The Edge of the World, comes to Blu-ray in a new high definition presentation overseen and approved by Powell's widow, award-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker-Powell.

When the skipper of a tourist yacht (Niall MacGinnis), lands reluctantly on the remote shores of Hirta – the now-deserted Hebridean island of his birth – he is overwhelmed by memories from a time before its evacuation. A powerful story of love, rivalry and survival against the harsh elemental realities of island life and an ever-encroaching modernity.

• Restored by the BFI National Archive, and overseen and approved by Thelma Schoonmaker Powell
• Audio commentary by Thelma Shoonmaker Powell and Professor Ian Christie, with extracts from Michael Powell’s book about the making of the film, read by Daniel Day-Lewis
• Michael Powell’s Home Movies (c1955, 7 mins): rarely seen footage narrated by Thelma Schoonmaker Powell
• Return to the Edge of the World (1979, 24 mins): Michael Powell returns to Foula with cast and crew
• St Kilda: Britain’s Loneliest Isle (1923/1928, 16 mins, silent): a travelogue from St Kilda, with optional audio commentary by Kathryn Howden 
• Alternative opening title   (1944, 2 mins): from a shorter version of the film released in 1944
• Alternative sequences (1944, 7 mins, silent):  material specially shot for a re-release of the film in the 1940s
• Trailer
• Fully illustrated booklet including  
  an essay by Ian Christie, a contemporary review and promotional materials