Barry Forshaw
‘British cinema doesn’t seem quite sure where to place Whistle Down the Wind. It’s certainly not the crime drama it was originally marketed as, nor the children’s film it’s often dismissed as. Would it receive more attention in academic circles if it was inducted into the British New Wave?’ These questions concerning one of the best-loved of British films – a memorable drama in which a group of children in a rural setting discover a murderer hiding in their barn and mistake him for Christ – are posed by one of the most astute of British film commentators, Dr Josephine Botting, in a scholarly but accesible volume written for the BFI Film Classics series. The reputation of the 1961 film has grown over the years, and it has long been beloved of those who encountered it in their youth, not least for the impeccable performances by a young Hayley Mills as the leader of the children and Alan Bates (his film debut) as the criminal who is the recipient of that innocent help. Despite these manifold virtues, however, there is no denying that much of the success of the film is down to the sensitive and perceptive directorial treatment by then-debut director Bryan Forbes, a truly important British filmmaker who is only now receiving the kind of attention that his skills in a variety of genres have long called out for. And such attention is enhanced by this loving study. Josephine Botting is a curator of the BFI National Archive and a programmer at the BFI South Bank, overseeing the monthly ‘Projecting the Archive’ initiative. She is the perfect chronicler of how this remarkable film came to be — and she is perceptive as a commentator on the career of its director.
Bryan Forbes was one of the reliable, multi-talented professionals of British film; not quite displaying the brio of more coruscating talents, but always producing solid, accomplished and frequently inspired work in whatever field he was essaying, be it acting, directing or writing (the last of these three may be his most pertinent legacy for the cinema; the acting was quickly sidelined when his behind-the-camera skills proved more impressive). Born in Stratford, Forbes’ original ambitions lay in the acting realm, and he underwent training at RADA, but left before the completion of his final term. Initially making his mark as an actor in films (including in Michael Powell’s The Small Back Room in 1949), Forbes then began to exercise his nascent skills as a writer and director. His first significant success was the witty and artfully constructed screenplay for The League of Gentlemen (1960; directed by Basil Dearden), with its ingenious heist committed by a group of alienated ex-servicemen led by Jack Hawkins. Success in other fields followed (such as the gentle, wistful drama Whistle Down the Wind and the quintessential kitchen-sink film The L-Shaped Room (1962), with Leslie Caron considering an abortion). Other films in the crime genre were to follow, such as the flawed but interesting Deadfall (1968) with its vaguely Du Rififi Chez les Hommes-style robbery. The versatile Forbes’ secret (apart from his considerable screenwriting skills) was his fellow-feeling sympathy for actors, and all of his films feature some exemplary work from the group he always continued to regard himself as part of – the thespian community. The most oft-used member of that community (who featured in many of his films) was Forbes’ wife, the actress Nanette Newman.
If Jo Botting’s concise and perceptive tome on Whistle Down the Wind accrues the attention the film deserves – along with Paul Moody’s concurrent study of Bryan Forbes’ The Stepford Wives (also from BFI Film Classics) – the establishment of the director’s name in the pantheon of British talent is assured.
Whistle Down the Wind by Josephine Botting is published by BFI Film classics
Barry Forshaw
LA TETE CONTRE LES MURS, Georges Franju, director/RADIANCE
Many cinéastes – at least those over 30 – will remember with great affection a certain distinctive King’s Cross cinema which, however dilapidated, was the perfect way of catching up with some edgy and elusive films (I remember first seeing there a then-rare uncut print of Georges Franju’s classic LES YEUX SANS VISAGE/EYES WITHOUT A FACE). And like other Franju admirers I was subsequently able to see another then-elusive film by the director, PLEINS FEUX SUR L’ASSASSIN/SPOTLIGHT ON A MURDERER. This was Franju’s first film after the poetic horror of LES YEUX, featuring (albeit briefly) the charismatic character actor from that film, Pierre Brasseur. While the film is as visually striking as we would expect from this director, there was a touch of initial disappointment that the whole thing turned out to be a rather slight Agatha Christiesque murder mystery rather than something as powerful and striking as its predecessor.
But, far more significantly, the ever-enterprising Radiance label has now come up with one of the director’s most impressive films, LA TETE CONTRE LES MURS — in one brief mesmerising moment featuring a beautiful (and mad) young woman singing in a whispery soprano played by Edith Scob, the actress behind the porcelain mask of LES YEUX – a moment that speaks of hopelessness (as does the film). But the experience of watching LA TETE is anything but despairing; Franju is here concerned with the treatment of the insane (and, inter alia, the treatment of the rebellious central character, Paul, who is unjustly placed in an asylum by his hateful father. The film is Franju’s debut, but possesses all the remarkable assurance of his later work. The two doctors in the film represent the repressively traditional and the progressively modern approaches to treating the insane, and they are played impeccably by Franju favourite Pierre Brasseur (later the ruthless Dr Génessier of Franju’s LES YEUX ) and Paul Meurisse (of Clouzot’s LES DIABOLIQUES). The clash of values between the two men is as crucial to the narrative as the suspenseful narrative device of Paul’s struggle with the staff of the asylum. For those who only know LES YEUX, this is a crucial piece in the Franju puzzle, and the Radiance transfer is impeccable.
Barry Forshaw
ON THE BEACH
Stanley Kramer, director/BFI
While writing a booklet essay for this impeccable BFI Release for Stanley Kramer’s groundbreaking Armageddon epic, the first thing that struck me was the cyclical nature of such genre entries. In 1959, the prospect of the end of the world brought about by the bomb and international conflict was fresh in people’s minds, a situation that receded with the end of the Cold War. But with a slew of newly aggressive nations across the planet, Kramer’s warning about the possible destruction of the human race seems ever more timely. And the film has worn well, with its heavyweight star cast including Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire (in a remarkable non-musical performance) and Anthony Perkins guaranteeing comprehensive audience involvement. Based on Nevil Shute’s novel, On the Beach r posits that almost all human life has been doomed by the radioactive fallout of a nuclear war, with only those in Australia temporarily spared. At the time of its release in 1959, the film’s realistic mien contrasted strikingly with other visions of Armageddon (those, for instance, brought about by alien invasion), and it’s sobering to see how Kramer’s fatalistic vision still has notable resonance. Of course, one of the reasons that the film still works so well today is the immediacy created by this pristine transfer, well up to the customary BFI standard. The BFI release sports copious extras including two audio commentaries and rare 8mm footage showing the making of the film. An Illustrated booklet sports new essays by Dr Christina Brennan and this writer, along with a biography of Stanley Kramer by Jennifer Frost. and writing by the BFI’s Vic Pratt, notes on the special features and film credits.
COLD PREY TRILOGY, Roar Uthaug, director/Second Sight
I wear my reputation as a specialist in Scandinavian film with a dash of pride, although a lot of homework is required to keep that reputation in place. While I’m more used to the arthouse aspects of Nordic cinema (mostly in the shadow of the definitive Scandinavian filmmaker, Ingmar Bergman), it’s always a pleasure to see just how good genre cinema from the colder regions can be. That’s very much the case with the Cold Prey trilogy from talented director Roar Uthaug, Now presented in a truly collectible limited edition Blu-ray box set, this is certainly the equal of cinematic bloodletting from America. Although we’ve seen the practically unbeatable Serial Killer theme ad infinitum, there are some intriguing new wrinkles added to the formula here, not least frigid setting which is strikingly evoked. The collector’s set sports spectacular special features including new interviews and commentaries with cast and filmmakers, plus a 120-page book full of new essays.
LA TRAVESTIE
Yves Boisset, etc., director/INDICATOR
This is a world premieres Blu-Ray from Indicator showcase a highly unusual film from Director Yves Boisset which addresses issues of gender and sexuality in a serious fashion while also paying tribute to earlier ventures into this territory, notably Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (The final scene here involving personality takeover is, it has to be said, more than a homage to Hitchcock’s film; it’s more like a re-creation). As for whether or not the film has any ideological axe to grind, that would be hard to say — and that is precisely one of its particular virtues: the fact that it would be hard to discern anything tendentious in what Yves Boisset is trying to convey. We are left to make our own minds up. A departure from his other films, Boisset’s La Travestie examines Lawyer Nicole (Zabou Breitman) is dealing with multiple crises in her life by reinvent herself as a man. The. 4K restoration from the original negative also includes Girls and Boys Come Out to Play (2026): a fascinating video essay by key film critic and historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas exploring the film’s themes of gender and power.
THE SEARCHERS 4K, John Ford, director/Warner
Blu-ray collectors will remember when this John Ford Classic first appeared on silver disc — and was an absolute revelation. The crisp and defined image and eye-popping colours made the film appear that it was made in the modern era rather than the 1950s, and it would have been difficult to imagine it looking any better. But that particular miracle has been achieved with this 4K issue which even manages to improve on that splendid Blu-ray Iteration. As for the film itself – well, anyone with an iota of knowledge of classic cinema will know that it is one of the greatest westerns ever made, with its complex picture of the driven, near-psychotic character played by John Wayne (in a career defining performance) in pursuit of his kidnapped relative (played by a youthful Natalie Wood. The film’s modern attitude to racism may be slightly undercut by the treatment of the Indian woman who fixes onto the Jeffrey Hunter character, but it’s the slightest of caveats in a film that really belongs on every collector’s shelves.
OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR, Richard Attenborough, director/Eureka
The great era of the musical was over by the time that the actor Richard Attenborough made his directing debut with this remarkable record of Joan Littlewood’s Anti-war theatrical project; however, like Cabaret, the film was not seen as a standard musical and had a much wider reach than most films in the genre. With a cornucopia of British stars, this is a film that looks even better with the years, and is particularly enhanced in Eureka’s new transfer.
INTO THE FOREST: FOLKTALES AT DEFA, various directors/Eureka
Largely unknown to modern non-German audiences, these charming live action films are an illuminating vision of the kind of inventiveness that was standard at the celebrated German DEFA studios, and make for fascinating viewing. The one film familiar to non-German audiences, The Singing Ringing Tree, looks particularly lustrous in this new transfer.
HUSH, Mike Flanagan, director/Arrow
Real cineastes always take note of promising directors and follow their careers assiduously. Accordingly, many of us have paid keen attention to the work of Mike Flanagan previously responsible for TV’s The Haunting of Hill House and Doctor Sleep, and who now delivers a genuinely flesh-creeping cinema experience. Co-written with and starring Kate Siegel, this home invasion drama is a pulse-raising exercis in suspense. The two-disc release includes the Shush Cut of Hush – a black and white version with an alternative audio mix – as well as a feature length Q&A with Flanagan, a new visual essay, and interviews with cast and crew.
PAINTED FACES, Alex Law, director/88 films
Apart from the nicely observed playing here (particularly from Sammo Hung as the director of a group of children training for theatrical experience), one of the pleasures of the film is the rather beautiful cinematography which presents a world which will be unfamiliar to most viewers. For those seeking something off the beaten track, Painted Faces can be confidently recommended — although it should be pointed out that those expecting the usual acrobatic violence from the rotund Sammo Hung should perhaps look elsewhere – this is another side of his personality. The kung fu legend takes a rare dramatic role as the tough master Yu, a teacher training young kids for a life on the stage. Based on the real-life childhoods of Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and, yes, Sammo himself (he’s playing his own, real-life master), Painted Faces is a nostalgic tribute to a man who turned children into superstars
THE OUTFIT, John Flynn, director/Arrow
