Whistle Down the Wind

"Whistle Down the Wind" (1961) — watch online on iFILM. Bryan Forbes directs Hayley Mills and Alan Bates in this British drama set on a Lancashire farm. Three children find a wounded man hiding in their barn. In his feverish mutterings they catch two words — and decide he's the Second Coming.

What Forbes builds from that premise is quietly unsettling: the children's faith is total and entirely misplaced, and no adult around them can figure out how to break the spell. Bates says almost nothing, which is exactly right. Shot in crisp black and white with very little sentiment. Stream "Whistle Down the Wind" online on iFILM.