Bryan Forbes – Cinematic Scribblings
Posts about Bryan Forbes written by Erin
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Cinematic Scribblings
“A tontine is, in point of fact, a lottery — a lottery, plain and simple, gentlemen. Into this tontine each parent or guardian has placed for each of you, and in your name, the sum of one thousand pounds sterling. The sum so constituted is to be administered by a self-perpetuating board and held in trust by them for whomsoever survives. This £20,000 will grow and grow under astute management who will charge but a nominal fee, and this — by then — great sum will be handed to the one amongst you who is the last surviving member of the tontine. It is as plain and as simple as that.” So the premise is laid out at the start of Bryan Forbes’s 1966 film The Wrong Box, though “plain” and “simple” are hardly the right words for the farce that follows.

Continue reading “Tontine Trouble: The Wrong Box (1966)” →

Even after the three Bostock children rescue a sack of kittens from drowning and hide them in their barn at the start of the 1961 Bryan Forbes-directed film Whistle Down the Wind, they know the danger is far from over: It was their farmhand, Eddie (Norman Bird), who tried to get rid of the unwanted animals on behalf of their father (Bernard Lee). Charlie (Alan Barnes), the youngest, is less concerned than his sisters, however. Having spoken to a woman (Patricia Heneghan) from the Salvation Army on the way home, he declares that Jesus will look after the kittens. Eldest child Kathy (Hayley Mills, daughter of Mary Hayley Bell, who wrote the novel on which the film was based) expresses skepticism, but Charlie insists that the woman knows “because she lives in his house.” “How can she when he’s dead?” Kathy retorts. Her sister Nan (Diane Holgate) warns her that she’ll “have something terrible happening now” for saying that, and although Kathy scoffs, it’s clear that she’s rather uneasy. Consequently, when she returns to the barn alone that night, she’s terrified to discover a bearded stranger (Alan Bates) there. “Who is it?” she manages to ask. The slightly dazed man says, “Jesus Christ”; she takes it as an answer to her question.

Continue reading “Like a Miracle: Whistle Down the Wind (1961)” →