Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad is one of M R James' finest stories, an unsettling tale of one man's haunting. When Jonathan Miller undertook to adapt it for the BBC's Omnibus series he had a very clear vision of the story which he partially explained in an opening narration. He saw it as a psychological drama, the depiction of an uptight, utterly rational man being destroyed by his own repressed emotions and superstitions. This is a development of the original story which does feature an arch sceptic as its protagonist but which pursues the line that it is a genuine ghost attacking him.
Michael Horden plays the unlucky academic in a fine, subtle style. Most of the direction and dialogue was improvised between Miller and Horden as they filmed. Professor Parkin goes on holiday to a small seaside hotel. He is a fussy, awkward, absent-minded bachelor from Cambridge. The film cleverly emphasises that he is distanced from his surroundings and fellow men with several techniques. Dialogue is kept to a minimum. Everyone seems to converse with a stream of mutters, mumbles and snatches of words as if the viewer is listening to the characters from another room. Miller often films the Professor from a distance or claustrophobiacly close up rather than television's traditional two or three person framing. The Professor hardly ever converses normally with anyone. If he isn't muttering or harumphing he tends to repeat a word or phrase that has been said to him, rolling it over and over as if deciphering a code. It could be a defence mechanism to stop him having to relate to other people or it could just be a habit brought on by years of scholastic solitude. Either way it leaves him fairly isolated from the other people in the hotel which means he is without any kind of support when his troubles begin.
While out walking he finds a subsiding graveyard at the edge of a cliff and picks up a carved wooded whistle which was lying in the undergrowth. That evening in his room he discerns a latin inscription on the side of the instrument which translates as, "Who is this who is coming?" The Professor casually blows the whistle. That night he has the oddest feeling that he is not alone in the room. Up until now the pace of the film is agonisingly slow compared to modern TV drama or indeed the Ghost Story for Christmas series. The viewer has to adapt to the leisurely pace. Miller uses it to emphasise the dull, sensible existence of the Professor. It also emphasises the two terror scenes when they arrive.
Next morning he has a conversation with a Blimpish golfer, who is also staying at the hotel, about the possibility of ghosts. The Professor scoffs at the idea and condescendingly points out that even the question is meaningless. The golfer replies with a Shakespeare quote, "There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy." To which the Professor counters, "There are more things in philosophy, than there are in heaven and earth." This is the only substantial piece of dialogue in the film. It flows along with literary jokes and wordplay and neatly establishes the scholar's rational, academic approach to life, contrasting it with the more superstitious, slightly wooly attitude of the golfer. The rest of the day passes pleasantly enough but again he senses another's presence as he goes to bed.
That night he suffers a terrible nightmare in which he is pursued by a indistinct shape across the beach. This is the highlight of the film but it is impossible to convey successfully in words. It is one of the best depictions of a nightmare ever created, a fusion of the image of the Professor running along the sands with a ominous heartbeat, heavy breathing and distorted animal sounds. Increasing the disorientation, there are momentary flashes of wakefulness, an eye flicking open. There is a growing sense that an act of terrible violence is about to happen. It is a depressed and shaken Professor who rises the next morning. The maid asks him which bed was he sleeping in because both have been disturbed. He spends the rest of the day inside the hotel.
In the night he is woken by rustling sounds across the room. Getting up he is horrified by the bedclothes of the other bed rising up and forming into a figure. His screams wake the other inhabitants who rush in and see him in a state of classic shock. They gently sit him down as he whispers pitifully, and go to tidy up the sheets that have fallen on the floor. The conclusion is simple but effective with slow motion used to emphasise the ghost's appearance and the Professor's terror. By keeping the ghost as a shape on the bed, Miller was being deliberately ambiguous, suggesting that it may have been all in the man's mind or just a breeze disturbing the sheets. The guttural sounds heard may come form a ghost or be produced by him. While the approach works it is a pity that the memorable description in the story of "a face of crushed linen" that touched the Professor's is not realised.
Whistle and I'll Come to You is a minor classic of British TV. It has a unique atmosphere of quiet desperation that is replaced by one of great menace. Linked to this is a clear narrative with simple warnings about alienating oneself from others and intellectual arrogance. Together with Miller's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland it leaves me wishing he would have worked more in television but unfortunately he had become bored and wanted to move on to other mediums. Possibly the best M R James adaptation of all.
Whistle and I'll Come to You
Originally broadcast 7 May 1968.
Repeated as part of TV50 in 1986.
Released on DVD by the BFI in 2001
Director: Jonathan Miller