Whistle Down the Wind ***** (1961, Alan Bates, Hayley Mills, Bernard Lee, Norman Bird) – Classic Movie Review 2424

Hayley Mills leads a group of three kids who find a fugitive from justice (Alan Bates) in Whistle Down the Wind. Bryan Forbes’s beautifully crafted first film as director is full of memorable performances and has a delightful story by Mary Hayley Bell.

Director Bryan Forbes’s 1961 British masterwork Whistle Down the Wind is based on a novel by Mary Hayley Bell, the wife of John Mills and the mother of the movie’s young star, Hayley Mills.

Hayley Mills leads a group of three Lancashire children who find a fugitive from justice (Alan Bates) hiding in their farm family’s barn and think he is Jesus Christ in his Second Coming in this poignant, charming evocation of the complications arising from the innocence of children. The fugitive is an injured wife murderer who has taken refuge on the remote Lancashire farm.

Forbes’s first film as director is a beautifully crafted movie, full of memorable performances and with a delightful story by Mary Hayley Bell. Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall make delicate work of the screenplay. Arthur Ibbeston’s black and white cinematography, Malcolm Arnold’s score and Ray Simm’s production designs are all impeccable.

[Spoiler alert] From the early scenes, as the kids wonder how they should act in front of the man they consider their Saviour, to the Crucifixion position Bates takes on his eventual capture, the film avoids the pitfalls of crass schmaltz and instead aims successfully for a truthful warm heart and good spirit. Mills is very appealing as little Kathy Bostock, Bates is excellent and so is Bernard Lee as Kathy’s father.

John Mills recalled: ‘This was Bryan’s first film as director. [The producer] Richard Attenborough suggested him, because he felt he would be able to handle the children well, which he did. By this time Hayley knew what acting was all about but still retained that marvellous simplicity.’

Also in the cast are Bernard Lee, Norman Bird, Elsie Wagstaffe, Diane Holgate, Alan Barnes, Diane Clare, Patricia Heneghan, John Arnatt, Hamilton Dyce, Howard Douglas, Ronald Hines, Barry Dean, Roy Holder (in his film debut, as Jackie), Michael Lees, Holly Bane, May Barton, Christine Ashworth, John Boden, Charlotte Attenborough and Sarah Forbes.

Whistle Down the Wind is directed by Bryan Forbes, runs 100 minutes, is made by Allied Film Makers and Beaver, is released by Rank Film Distributors, is written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, based on a novel by Mary Hayley Bell, is shot in black and white by Arthur Ibbeston, is produced by Richard Attenborough, is scored by Malcolm Arnold, and is designed by Ray Simm.

Gerald Sim, who plays the detective, was in most of the films produced by Bryan Forbes and Richard Attenborough. He died on December 11 2014, aged 89. He was the younger brother of the actress Sheila Sim, Attenborough’s wife.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical version opened in London in 1998 to less than ecstatic reviews.

RIP Roy Holder, who died on 9 November 2021, at the age of 75. He enjoyed a tremendous film career from Whistle Down the Wind (1961) to War Horse (2011), via Loot (1970).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2424

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com