The Whisperers (1967)

The title refers to the creatures a very poor addled old lady (Dame Edith Evans) imagines in her paranoid fantasies. They lurk behind every drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet. They listen ... See full summary »

Director:

Bryan Forbes

Writers:

Robert Nicolson (novel), Bryan Forbes (written for the screen by)

Stars:

Edith Evans, Nanette Newman, Harry Baird

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Edith Evans	...	Mrs. Ross
Nanette Newman	...	The Girl Upstairs
Harry Baird	...	The Man Upstairs
Jack Austin	...	Police Sergeant
Gerald Sim	...	Mr. Conrad
Lionel Gamlin	...	Mr. Conrad's Colleague
Glen Farmer	...	1st Redeemer
Oliver MacGreevy	...	2nd Redeemer
Ronald Fraser	...	Charlie Ross
Kenneth Griffith	...	Mr. Weaver
Avis Bunnage	...	Mrs. Noonan
John Orchard	...	Grogan
Peter Thompson	...	Publican
Sarah Forbes	...	Mrs. Ross When Young
Penny Spencer	...	Mavis Noonan

Storyline

The title refers to the creatures a very poor addled old lady (Dame Edith Evans) imagines in her paranoid fantasies. They lurk behind every drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet. They listen all coiled up in a silent radio. The old lady is on to all their tricks, and she tells them so repeatedly. She reports them regularly to the police who scoff at her behind her back. The whisperers, however, are only part of her fantasy life. She imagines also that she is a daughter of aristocracy, an heiress waiting for her money to arrive so that she can pay back the nice gentleman at the Welfare Board. Her routine is shattered irrevocably by the return of her thieving son and vagrant husband, a brief fling with stolen money ending dismally in the gutter where the poor prey on the poor.

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Plot Keywords:

radio | old lady | driver | bus | senility | 

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Taglines:

The Whisperers, who are they?

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 July 1967 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Bryan Forbes' Production of The Whisperers

Filming Locations:

Manchester, Greater Manchester, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Seven Pines

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The old kitchen curtain is shown in scene after Archie leaves, while Margaret is moping around the apartment. The new curtains are shown again after she returns from seeing Mr. Conrad at the National Assistance Board.

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Quotes

Mrs. Ross: Are you there?

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Connections

Remake of ITV Play of the Week: The Whisperers (1961)

User Reviews

Brilliant performance by one of the theater's greatest luminaries

Dame Edith Evans, one of the British theater's greatest actresses of the first half of the twentieth century, gives a brilliant performance as a lonely old lady existing in seedy rented rooms in a grimy industrial town while scraping by on National Assistance. This film should be shown to everyone on their first day of work, before they fill out their tax deferred pension withholdings. If ever there was a good lesson for putting something away for one's old age, it is this film. It is a horror story of "This is what's going to happen to you if you don't start putting something aside for your old age."

Mrs. Ross lives alone in poverty despite a family of sorts, a work-shy husband who deserted her and a son who only comes by to hide stolen loot while pretending to visit. Her rooms are a disorderly clutter of books, old newspapers, glass bottles and anything she doesn't want to throw away. Her endless days are filled with visits to the local library reading room, to keep warm; the local mission church; the police station, to complain about the neighbors; and the social security office, to beg for more public assistance; which is doled out a few shillings at a time.

To escape this grim reality Mrs. Ross builds a fantasy world not unlike Luis in "Kiss of the Spider Woman". She exists in her fantasy of a privileged upbringing as the daughter of a Bishop, living in a palace, and watching the white gloved dancers at a ball. She awaits the settling of her fantasy father's estate and the fortune from the family cattle business. When she finds stolen money hidden by her shiftless son during a quick visit, she believes that her ship has finally come home and her fantasies are reality. It is not long before the vulnerable old lady is "befriended" and robbed by a steely eyed con woman, and dumped in an alley near her home. Although the welfare people do all they can to get her back on her feet and her husband to take care of her, by the film's end she has come full circle and has resumed her daily routine and her fantasy world.

Dame Edith, who was the original "St. Joan" on stage in the 1920's, and for whom Shaw wrote "The Millionairess" is rarely off the screen and gives a faultless performance in what could otherwise be a very depressing film about poverty and loneliness. Where at first you sympathise with the old lady who has come down in the world and is now living in genteel poverty, you come to understand that she never went up in the first place, the only genteel world she ever inhabited was in her mind, and that is where she now resides.

As for an acting tour de force, just watching the way Dame Edith conveys the lowly origins of Mrs. Ross without words, as in the way she eats - out of tins - lifting large slices of bread to her mouth (where they fall apart) rather than cutting the slice to small manageable portions, licking her fingers, reading at the table - all the things considered to be bad manners. The way she conveys old tired poverty, by slipping off her shoes in the library to warm her feet on the hot pipes, is a lesson in technique that all aspiring actors should take note of. You know as you watch her slowly make her way down the cobbled streets carrying her large tote bag that this pathetic old lady is a prime target for a mugging, or a slip and fall. I would recommend this film to anyone who wants to study great acting and to those who are concerned with the plight of the elderly.