Whistle Down the Wind [DVD]

My late husband and myself watched this film a few times, first at the cinema as young marrieds and later on TV. It is one of those classics like The Sound of Music or The Railway Children which you never tire of and it is a wonderful story of childhood innocence in the days when children were allowed to be children. I too hope they don't attempt to remake this film because Hayley Mills made the part hers same as she WAS the twins in the original Parent Trap whose remake is not the same. Hayley Mills when young was a wonderful talented child actor but of course look who her Father was. Some films are good not only because of superb screenplay and production but because of the actors. I hope some of the upcoming generation will watch and enjoy this film and take a peek into the past and childhood as it was.

What an absolutely lovely movie. Three children, two sisters and their brother, who live in a farm, discover a man one day hiding in their barn. They ask who he is, and the man, shocked, utters the exclamation, "Jesus Christ". From then on, the children think the man is Jesus.
The film follows a charming course, which will warm your heart, and at moment, break your heart too. Whistle Down The Wind is a portrait of platonic love between strangers, and the absolute trust children are willing to give adults who, they believe, deserve it.
Not a film to be missed - perfect for watching on a grey, rainy afternoon when there is nothing else to do...and simply poignant.

I was one of the schoolchildren who ran on in the closing minutes of the film, to the farm at the foot of Worsaw Hill in Lancashire. There were several takes of this scene, and we alternately ran into the farmyard from along the stream in front, and down a rather steep part of the hill and into the farmyard. Many of the children chosen for disciple parts and principal parts were from Chatburn Primary School. The entire front row in the final gate scene were also Chatburn schoolkids. We were paid ten shillings as extras for each day's shooting. I remember earlier in the year - probably 1960 - Bryan Forbes and Dickie Attenborough came round to the school, and we were all lined up against a wall while they were doing cast selections.

Of course the film was a big hit locally when it premiered (at the Odeon in Burnley). It still is, as most people in the surrounding villages are related to someone who was in it.

It was a long time before I was able to develop a proper adult opinion of 'Whistle'. What strikes me now is how opinion in various reviews I have seen, and discussed, splits along the lines of the division of opinion among the protagonists. Having once 'identified' The Man as Jesus, even in spite of ("adult") evidence to the contrary, Kathy and Nan, and apparently also the disciples, persist in believing that he was Jesus and is being persecuted all over again. Charlie is the lone dissenter, who interprets the evidence of his senses and concludes "It's not Jesus. It's just a fella". So the overall flavour of the film from an analytical perspective is that in the matter of religious faith, presentation of contrary facts is completely irrelevant to the persistence of the belief. A more cynical twist on this: in so far as only children were party to the belief, while adults only saw a dangerous criminal, it suggests that irrational belief systems require a childlike worldview. This is doubly damning for Faith versus Facts.

And yet, People Still Believe.