Whistle and I'll Come to You

"Whistle and I'll Come to You" is a real oddity.

This video was released by the BFI as part of its new Archive TV series along with "The Stone Tape". While "The Stone Tape" is instantly accessible sci-fi drama this is a different story altogether.

Written by M.R. James, "Whistle" tells the rather sad story of a bachelor lecturer who enjoys a holiday by the sea. While out on his travels, the man comes across an old wooden whistle which he proceeds to blow. From this point forward his nights are restless, his dreams full of weird visions of something chasing him.

This paranormal drama is well directed by Johnathan Miller on wonderfully grainy 16mm film. Indeed the stock is so scratchy as to render the sheet, chasing the professor along the beach, almost unrecognisable.

Michael Horden's wonderfully understated performance complements the stark, dreary beach scenes very well. Horden, playing here an introverted bachelor with no capacity for conversation, is a revelation, particularly in the chilling final scene which cleverly mixes slow-mo film with distorted sound effects.

"Whistle" certainly takes a while to get used to. In this day and age, a film with such a slow pace would never get released and it's more or less over before it's started, but give it a shot and watch and re-watch to appreciate this mysterious gem.

This was the first in a series of BBC adaptations of M.R. James's famous ghost stories, and was directed by Jonathan Miller for the equally famous Omnibus productions. It was followed by a sequence that were made more or less on an annual basis through the 1970s, and the BFI has issued them all in a very attractive box set.

Miller, and Michael Hordern as his lead actor, did a great job and this film still grips the viewer. It holds its own as a ghost story and the recreation of a Norfolk hotel and its staff and guests is impressive. Jonathan Miller discusses the film in a short interview though he has disappointingly little to say about it. Unfortunately the same quality evaded the later films, most of which were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark. He produced much more workmanlike versions lacking the original camera shots and telling atmosphere that Miller achieved in 1968. But some are better than others and Clark did work with some good actors. Of the last entry in the 1970s run, The Ice House, directed by Derek Lister, the less said the better. The same applies to the misguided attempt to make a new version of 'Oh whistle' in 2010.

I have read partisan levels of division on this notorious short. I will add my view to the debate.

The 'success' of the piece, if that's what garners acclaim or opprobrium depending on your perspective, is for me in the images that linger long after the film itself finishes. Most films finish and you think, just.....nothing. Nothing stays with you - nothing comes back to you, it's just THERE. Here however, for me, odd moments return to the mind's eye and can have an unsettling effect, as if the director (shackled now to being a 'cultural' stereotype of the highest order who will polarise opinion faster than you can say Melvyn Bragg) knew that these few images were what would remain, and this only - the beach and the claustrophobic room. It's appealing to childhood fears - there's someone there at the door who will help you. There's someone there...you're OK, or are you? You're on the beach. You notice it, you feign ignorance, you know, you fear, you think it's after someone else. No, it's after you. It could be Hemingway, couldn't it?

I think this is the real essence of horror. No horror film will be bedecked with 90 minutes or so of abject terror, that's not the idea. The zeitgeist is in what stays after, weeks, months, sometimes years after, moments when you have to relieve yourself in the night, walk downstairs in the dark, conjuring up some half baked idea that there's someone/thing 'in the room' - at moments like this, which, let's face it we all have and are now trying to deny, images of Hordern on the beach, with that THING behind him, will leave you wondering if it will come closer, and, more worryingly, if it will come for YOU, my friends....

I couldn't approach this with quite the level of enthusiasm as some of the others here after just one watch. I decided to watch it a second time and then I began to pick up on more, and thus began to appreciate it more. It may be too slowly paced and subtle for some tastes, but I think the majority of horror fans will find it a rewarding 42-minute view, if only for three very creepy sequences, the desolate locations and Dick Bush's gorgeous, haunting black-and-white photography. It opens with brief voice over narration that gives us a little history on source author James as well as an overview of his story, which is said to have been written as a warning about the dangers of "intellectual pride." Professor Parkins (Michael Hordern) is looking for some peace and solitude, so he goes to stay a spell at a quaint little hotel that's close to the ocean. During a trip to the beach he wanders into a small ancient graveyard, finds an old whistle and brings it back to his room. He cleans it and notices an inscription that promises that whoever blows it will be paid a visit... by someone. Being an academic and realist, and thus a supernatural skeptic, Parkins decides to blow the horn despite the warning and ends up getting more than he bargained for.

The first 15 or so minutes are spent with Hordern wandering around the hotel and incoherently mumbling, babbling and groaning to both himself and the staff. On my first watch I found this incredibly irritating and had no clue what the point of it was. Now I realize it was to illustrate his inability to relate to or socialize with "normal" everyday people. To become immersed in academia and intellectual pursuits is often to alienate yourself from the rest of society. After awhile you just can't relate and simple things like basic interaction or making simple casual conversation during a small dinner become awkward and difficult. Though these scenes do have some purpose, I have to admit I felt they were a bit overlong to the point of trying one's patience at times.

However, when it comes to striking and chilling imagery, this one hits a home run on many occasions, which is impressive for a film with such a short run time. As the professor starts to leave the beach after obtaining the whistle, a silhouetted figure stands solemnly behind him as the sun is setting and the waves are crashing. The lack of a music score or a reactionary sound cue makes it even more chilling. There's also a brilliantly set-up nightmare sequence which make excellent use of clipped dialogue and manages to make a piece of cloth horrifying. And then there's the finale, which I won't go into, but it's also pretty darn creepy. The beach locations are excellent, partially because they're not cluttered. Aside from a few poles in the sand and some tall wavering grass blowing in the wind, it's a beautiful yet blank pallet that makes certain images (the mysterious figure, a tombstone) stand out in a striking and ominous way.

Fans of such films as THE INNOCENTS (1961) and A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS (1972) should enjoy what this brings to the table.

One of a spate of M.R.James adaptations that the BBC shot from the late 'sixties to the early 'eighties. All of them were memorable but this is comfortably the best. Michael Hordern is the hapless academic who goes to the coast for a short holiday and accidentally awakens something unnatural while pottering around in the remains of a Templar preceptory.

This isn't a story about a monster, though, but rather something that stays at the edge of perception. The supernatural events are alternated with the mundane day to day life at the boarding house where Hordern is staying. Everything seems commonplace but he -- and the viewer -- are troubled by the feeling that there are some things that should be left well alone. Finally, his nightmares become concrete and... Well, see the TV adaptation if you get the chance or read the short story upon which it is based (in which form it has the addendum of "my lad" on the title).

I'm not in the habit of handing out scores of ten with abandon but I can't think of anyway that this could have been improved. Unlike some of the other adaptations, Miller resists the urge to gild the lily, staying close to the original storyline and the production is all the stronger for it. James would certainly have approved. I just wish the BBC had the courage and imagination to make things like it now.