UK 1968 | 42 mins | director Jonathan Miller | starring Michael Horden, Ambrose Coghill, George Woodbridge | review posted 29 December 2003

The film

Montague Rhodes James, born in 1862, is to this day one of Britain's greatest ever writers of ghost stories. His tales often have an autobiographical quality to them, usually having an academic angle - James spent a good part of his adult life at King's College, Cambridge, eventually becoming Dean and later Vice-Chancellor of the University - and more than once the central character is a cynic who through experience is forced to re-evaluate his beliefs, reflecting James' own detailed studies of the early history of the bible. James was an academic, a historian and a prolific writer and his ghost stories were almost a hobby, but his use of language, his description of character detail, and the way his narratives unfold made them essential reading and their influence on other genre writers and even film-makers has been huge. Surprisingly few of his stories have been adapted for television, and only one has made the transition to the big screen - Casting the Runes became one of the UK's best ever tales of the supernatural, Night of the Demon (it was also adapted for TV in 1968 as part of the series Mystery and Imagination). Of the TV adaptations, 1968's Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You (the 'Oh' being curiously dropped for its video and DVD release) is for many the finest.

Term has ended, and Professor Parkins arrives at a seaside inn on the East Coast for a holiday of walking and reading. During one of his walks he discovers a cemetery located on the edge of a cliff that is steadily being reclaimed by the sea. Here he finds a bone bearing a strange inscription, which he translates and acts upon, scorning its potentially supernatural overtones, but is soon given cause to question his long-held skepticism.

Whistle and I'll Come to You was produced for the BBC's Omnibus arts programme (and indeed contains a spoken pre-credits introduction by director Jonathan Miller that will seem strange unless you know this, especially as he not only gives you an introduction to the work of M.R. James, but explains exactly what you are about to watch) and makes some major changes to James' original story, not least in the central character of Professor Parkins, described by James as being "young, neat, and precise in speech." Here is is almost the opposite - as played by Michael Horden he is middle aged and seemingly befuddled, a cinematic archetype of a Public School Professor. Other changes have been made to the plot, which has been stripped of all but the essentials in order to concentrate on character and atmosphere. One key change involves Parkins' reason for traveling to this particular inn - on his arrival he is asked if he has come to play golf, which the area is presumably famous for, and he responds that he doesn't play the game, whereas in the original story one of the key reasons he selected this location was to play a few rounds on the links. But this matters not, and will be of little concern to those who have not yet had the pleasure of reading James' source material.

To a modern audience, who have come to expect a big twist at the end of their ghost stories (The Sixth Sense, The Others) and to be told loudly through music and editing when to feel scared, the relatively straightforward narrative of Whistle and I'll Come to You may seem a little primitive, but this leaves director Jonathan Miller and lead player Michael Horden with a relatively clean canvas on which to develop what is primarily a character study, Dick Bush's largely static but immaculately framed camera watching Parkins with almost microscopic precision. Horden is central to every scene and the film is very much told from his point of view, never showing us anything he cannot see, or, more crucially, revealing any sound he does not hear. Horden here is an absolute delight, investing so much detail into every action that the film demands repeated viewing just to watch him at work, whether it be muttering to himself during breakfast, musing on seemingly simple questions asked of him by the staff or even jovially eating his packed lunch on the beach. There are precious few other characters in the story, but as the hotel proprietor, George Woodbridge has a really funny scene in which, exhausted from carrying Parkins' bag upstairs, he breathlessly mumbles a series of indecipherable noises that stand in for a description of the facilities - which Parkins seems to understand - popping in the odd clear words like 'bathroom' or 'dinner at eight'.

Even at only 42 minutes in length, the film takes its time. With the plot simplified and only one major character, Miller - a producer and director of considerable standing who has worked extensively with Shakespeare and was one of the original members of 'Beyond the Fringe' - is able to really get inside Parkins' head, using his lead actor and some strong locations to create an unnerving sense of the extraordinary existing within the mundane. Part of the key to the success of this approach is Miller's restraint, with early key plot elements developed in an admirably unsensational way. The discovery of the bone and the reading of its inscription are presented in an almost everyday manner, with no dramatic music or creepy camera movements to indicate their significance to the audience. When the tone does shift towards the more sinister, a sense of genuine menace is created through sound effects, camera placement and Horden's facial expressions. With a complete absence of music, it is sound that provides much of the film's chill factory, whether it be the rustling of sheets in a supposedly unoccupied bed or the sharp lurch in volume during a dream sequence that wakes Parkins, a technique that has since become almost the accepted standard for such scenes.

Whistle and I'll Come to You is a splendidly executed tale of the supernatural, a fascinating character study and a genuinely chilling ghost story. It may lack the narrative complexity and big surprise ending of modern cinematic genre outings, or even an explanatory conclusion, but it scores through its central performance, its restrained direction, an increasingly creepy sense of atmosphere and a final scene that still manages to send a few shivers up my spine.

Sound and Vision

How times have changed. Having had a letter published in Sight and Sound complaining about the shoddy quality of the transfer on the BFI's release of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, I have watched with real pleasure as the standard of the their transfers has steadily improved, and this is one of their best yet. Shot 4:3 in black-and-white for television transmission, the print here has its share of marks and dust spots, plus the odd visible scratch, but on the whole this is a very fine transfer. Contrast is excellent throughout, and sharpness on the whole is first rate - the detail on close-up shots of Horden's face, or the plant-life or gravestones he encounters on his walks is exceptional, especially for a television film of this age.

Sound is Dolby 2.0 but is essentially centre-weighted mono, and though there is some hiss audible in places, most of the soundtrack is clean and clear, essential for a film in which silence and natural sound play such an important role. Towards the end the volume seems to drop for a few seconds - whether this was intentional or not is unclear, but it doesn't last long.

Surprisingly, there are no chapter stops, so finding a favourite section involves holding your finger on the search buttons.

Extras

An Introduction by Ramsey Campbell is a 15 minute, colour DV-shot introduction to M.R. James' work by genre author Ramsey Cambell, who presents his case straight to camera with his face in shadow, using what sounds like the on-camera mic - the acoustics of the room are less than great and there is the sort of hum running quietly in the background I associate with camera noise. He gives a useful history of James' work and his influence on later authors, as well as reading many key extracts from key works by James and others, but Campbell is no actor and his readings are a little dry, and are done no favours by the room's acoustics. His analysis of the film itself is very good, though, and his suggestion of a Freudian reading for its imagery should raise a few eyebrows.

Ramsey Campbell reads The Guide runs for almost 26 minutes and is delivers exactly what the title promises. Campbell reads his own story, The Guide, which directly references James' work. This is presented identically to the introduction, and if Campbell is more animated in his reading here, the same problems with the room acoustics remains, and are distracting. Attempts to provide visual variety with occasional cut-aways of the book being read or imagery being described (wheat in the wind, landscapes) add little, and the introduction of an oscillating sinister synthesiser note is equally ineffective. A better bet would be to get your hands on the story and read it yourself.

Listen to M.R. James' original story 'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You My Lad is probably the best extra on the disk. Neil Brand gives a nicely animated reading, and unless you have a major aversion to someone else supplying voices to characters you prefer to create in your head, this is a worthwhile listen. Intriguingly, despite the differences between the original story and Miller's adaptation, the reading runs same length as the film, being just 20 seconds shorter.

BFI Weblink is just that - a link to the BFI's website, that is if you are running the disk on a PC and connected to the internet when you click on this option. If you have a Mac or a standalone DVD player you'll have to type the web address in yourself. Not a big problem.

Finally there are DVD sleeve notes by horror writer Kim Newman. Typically well written and informative, these provide useful background information on the film and the original story.

Summary

Whistle and I'll Come to You hails from an age when British TV was at the cutting edge, when experimentation was encouraged, arts programming was exciting and innovative, and drama just oozed quality. M.R. James purists may balk at the liberties taken with the original story and especially the main character, but few other works have so perfectly caught the essence and atmosphere of James' stories. Horden's performance alone would make this disk worth buying, but to see archive TV of this quality receiving such a strong transfer fills my heart with joy. The BFI are doing a great job here, and if my complaints about Yojimbo still stand, I am happy to balance them with a recommendation for this disk and others in the Archive Television series.