Whistle down the Wind
Whistle down the Wind ★★★½ 1961
Three children of strict religious upbringing find a murderer hiding in their family's barn and believe him to be Jesus Christ. A well done and hardly grim or dull allegory of childhood innocence based on a novel by Mills's mother, Mary Hayley Bell. For a film relying heavily on child characters, it's important to portray childhood well and realistically. That is done here, as in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Mills is perfect. The film is Forbes's directorial debut and Richard Attenborough's second production. 99m/B VHS . GB Hayley Mills, Bernard Lee, Alan Bates, Norman Bird, Elsie Wagstaff, Diane Holgate, Alan Barnes, Roy Holder, Barry Dean, Diane Clare, Patricia Heneghan; D: Bryan Forbes; W: Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall; C: Arthur Ibbetson; M: Malcolm Arnold.