Whistle Down the Wind (1961)

by Ted Davis and Linda Kay

Directed by: Brian Forbes

This review contains a Kitty Carnage Warning!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: In the rural county of Lancashire, three children — Kathy (Hayley Mills) the eldest, her sweet-natured sister Nan (Diane Holgate), and cynical Charlie (Alan Barnes), the youngest — discover an escaped murderer, the bearded and wounded Arthur Blakey (Alan Bates), in the barn owned by their father Mr. Bostock (Bernard Lee). In a remarkable case of mistaken identity, they confuse the killer with Jesus Christ, a belief which spreads to the neighboring children.

Cat Burglars (Scene Stealers): At the start of the movie, during the pre-credits sequence, Eddie (Norman Bird), a worthless and repellent farm laborer, tosses a sack of kittens into the river. Thankfully, he was surreptitiously trailed by the Bostock children, and the kittens are saved by Kathy, who gives a tuxedo kitten to Charlie, a tortoiseshell kitten to Nan, and takes the remaining tortie kitten herself.

Whistle Down the Wind - Kathy Hayley Mills handing tuxedo kitten to Charlie Alan Barnes with Nan Diane Holgate

The children tuck the kittens underneath their coats and trudge back to the farm, running the gauntlet of their father, their Auntie Dorothy (Elsie Wagstaff), and Eddie, who arrived before them. On the way to the farm, Charlie offers his kitten to a Salvation Army lady (Patricia Heneghan), who gently explains that she cannot accept his offer, but assures Charlie that if he believes, Jesus will take care of it.

Whistle Down the Wind - Charlie Alan Barnes holding black kitten under coat with other boy

Whistle Down the Wind - Charlie Alan Barnes holding tuxedo kitten under coat with Salvation Army lady Patricia Heneghan and boy

Whistle Down the Wind - Kathy Hayley Mills, Charlie Alan Barnes and Nan Diane Holgate with kittens in their coats

Once safely in the barn, the children hide the three kittens in a box filled with straw and covered with a rough cloth. Before leaving the kittens, Charlie christens his tuxedo as Spider, which Nan considers an inappropriate name for a cat. (It is not stated in the film itself but the other kittens were named Suzy and Smokey). She also comments that Spider looks poorly. Charlie rejects her opinion on his kitten’s name and responds that Jesus will take care of Spider. After the children leave the barn, one of the kittens begins to crawl out of the box.

Whistle Down the Wind - Kathy Hayley Mills, Charlie Alan Barnes and Nan Diane Holgate with kittens in barn

Whistle Down the Wind - Charlie Alan Barnes and Nan Diane Holgate with kittens in barn

Whistle Down the Wind - kittens in straw filled box in barn

That evening, Kathy sneaks out of the Bostock home to secure the mother cat to care for the kittens. She finds the cat, a tortoiseshell with the name of Dusty, and carries her to the barn.

Whistle Down the Wind - Kathy Hayley Mills getting tortoiseshell mama cat from under door

Kathy settles the purring mama on the cloth covered box, but suddenly the cat snarls and jumps away. Kathy is startled by the sudden apparition of Blakey, and asks, “Who is it?” A dazed Blakey swears beneath his breath, “Jesus Christ!” then faints to the turf. As Kathy bolts for home, the movement of the kittens is seen in the box. For the next couple of sequences, the kittens are unseen except as movement in the cloth covered box.

Whistle Down the Wind - tortoiseshell mama cat being lowered toward box

Later, Charlie entrusts Spider to Blakey, who he regards as Gentle Jesus, to save the sickly kitten’s life.

Whistle Down the Wind - Charlie Alan Barnes retrieving kitten from box

Whistle Down the Wind - tuxedo kitten being placed on barn floor

Kitty Carnage Warning! A loss of faith occurs in the scene which begins with Nan and Charlie checking on the kittens. Spider is not with the other two kittens, and Charlie calls to Blakey up in the loft to ask about his kitten. The barely responsive criminal answers that he hasn’t seen it. A couple of moments later, Charlie finds the stiff body of Spider underneath some straw. Greatly upset that Jesus let the kitten die, he throws down the corpse and runs out of the barn. (Later, a wised-up Charlie rightly concludes that the man they thought was Jesus is “Just a fella.”)

Whistle Down the Wind - one kitten inside box in barn

Whistle Down the Wind - Charlie Alan Barnes finding deceased kitten in straw

Nan picks up the dead Spider and cradles the body against her shoulder, then asks Blakey whether the kitten has gone to heaven. Blakey doesn’t reply, but Nan reaches this belief on her own, which comforts her.

Whistle Down the Wind - Nan Diane Holgate holding deceased kitten

Behind the Scenes

While not distractingly obvious, the kittens routinely change colors throughout the film (and sometimes within a single scene!) Numerous kittens were clearly used throughout the shoot, although the book Whistle Down the Wind: A 60th Anniversary Celebration states that the three kittens used in the film were supplied by the postmistress at Walk Mill Post Office near Burnley and doesn’t mention anything about extra kittens being employed. Spider remained a tuxedo throughout most of the movie, although his face changes from all black to partially white in some instances. Oddly enough the fake kitten used for the deceased Spider was all black. The book also states that the kittens were a source of amusement between takes for the child actors.

Because the kittens were so pivotal to the plot, promotional pictures of the child actors posing with the kittens were published in numerous newspapers in the UK and the US.