Whistle Down the Wind
Hayley Mills, the child-star of Whistle Down the Wind (written by her mother Mary Hayley Bell), is mostly remembered for light-hearted Disney movies, but she was not fazed by the greater demands of this far meatier role. The film also gave Bernard Lee (M in the early Bond films) and Norman Bird their chance to shine in grittier roles than they were normally given, and introduced Alan Bates to the big screen.
The film is a simple tale, though full of allegorical references, of a fugitive murderer mistaken by children for Jesus. In its setting - filmed in and around Clitheroe and Burnley – its period – released in 1961 – and elements of the story the film could be associated with the social realism school then so powerful. But director Bryan Forbes, the great cinematographer Arthur Ibbotson (whose credits included Tunes of Glory, The Railway Children and The Angry Silence), and producer Richard Attenborough instead produced a piece full of imagination, innocence and character, enhanced by one of Malcolm Arnold ’s best film scores.
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