Whistle Down the Wind (1961) - film review

Kathy, Nan and Charlie are three young children who live with their father on a remote Lancashire farm.  Their mother having recently died, they are cared for by their aunt and they live an austere life.  One day, they save three kittens from being drowned by the farm’s labourer, Eddie, and hide them in the barn.  That evening, when she returns to the barn, Kathy discovers a strange young man lying in the straw.  When Kathy asks him his name, the man exclaims under his breath "Jesus Christ!", leading her to think that he is the Messiah.  The man is grateful when the young girl returns the next day with food and agrees not to mention he has seen him to anyone, but he is annoyed when a large group of children later turns up, convinced that he is gentle Jesus.  In return for the gifts they offer him, the man tells them stories.  Meanwhile, police officers are combing the area, in pursuit of a fugitive who is wanted for murder...

One of cinema’s most haunting and provocative portraits of childhood, Whistle Down the Wind marked an impressive directorial debut for Bryan Forbes and secured Hayley Mills’s reputation as the best child actor of her generation.  The film was based on a novel by Mills’s mother, Mary Hayley Bell, the wife of the famous screen actor John Mills.  With its bleak rural setting and arresting naturalistic performances from the three lead child performers, this film both exemplifies the harsh realism that had infected British cinema in the late ’50s, early ’60s and stands apart as something quite unique, a mysterious and alluring fable on childhood innocence and disillusionment.

Whistle Down the Wind is a subtle and ambiguous film that admits various interpretations.  It can be read as an allegory of the story of Christ, an examination of the limits of personal faith, and even a critique of modern religion, implying (possibly) that all faith is delusional wishful thinking.  However you interpret the film, the raw authenticity that comes from Forbes’s unfussy direction, the documentary-style photography and the unforgettable performances from Alan Bates and his child co-stars make it a beguiling and poignant piece of drama. 

This was the second film to be produced by Richard Attenborough, the former actor who would go on to direct the multiple Oscar-winning Gandhi (1982).  Hayley Mills would shine in several major film roles after this film but rarely would she be as spellbinding and as effective at stealing our hearts as she is here.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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