| Whistle and I'll Come to You | |
|---|---|
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Whistle-mrjames.jpg) The apparition in the famous beach scene in "Whistle and I'll Come to You" was achieved with a ragged cloth suspended on a wire.[2] | |
| Based on | "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" by M. R. James |
| Written by | Jonathan Miller |
| Directed by | Jonathan Miller |
| Original release | |
| Release | 7 May 1968[1] |
| Related | |
| Omnibus | |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Whistle and I'll Come to You is a supernatural short television film which aired as an episode of the British documentary series Omnibus.[3] Written and directed by Jonathan Miller, it is based on the ghost story "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'" by M. R. James, first published in the collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary (1904), and first aired on BBC1 on 7 May 1968.
It stars Michael Hordern as Prof. Parkin, a Cambridge academic who, whilst on holiday at a coastal East Anglian village, happens upon a strange whistle whilst exploring a Knights Templar cemetery exposed by coastal erosion. When blown, the whistle unleashes a frightening supernatural force.[4]
Its success directly inspired Lawrence Gordon Clark to create the supernatural anthology series A Ghost Story for Christmas, which based the majority of its episodes on James stories. The series would produce its own adaptation of the story in 2010. Retrospective critical discussion of Whistle and I'll Come to You tends to regard it as a part of the later series, and likewise most home video releases of A Ghost Story for Christmas include Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You.
- ^ "Whistle and I'll Come to You". IMDB. imdb.com. 3 January 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
- ^ M.R. James: Supernatural Storyteller, television documentary, BBC Four, Christmas 2005
- ^ David Kerekes, Creeping Flesh: The Horror Fantasy Film Book. London: Headpress, 2003. ISBN 978-1-900486-36-1. 42–44.
- ^ Whistle and I'll Come to You on the Channel 4 film website