The Whisperers (1967)

Beyond Mr. Conrad who attends to the allowance she receives through National Assistance, seventy-six year old Margaret Ross, who lives in a cluttered run down flat, is emotionally all alone... 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 9 wins & 3 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

Beyond Mr. Conrad who attends to the allowance she receives through National Assistance, seventy-six year old Margaret Ross, who lives in a cluttered run down flat, is emotionally all alone in the world. Her husband Archie left her over twenty years ago, and her grown criminal son Charlie only uses her for whatever he can get out of her. Despite being a bright woman, she is not totally in mind. She has several continual delusions, the most common being that 'they' are listening to her through the apartment building's pipes and through her wireless radio. As such, she is constantly asking into thin air, "Are you there?" Following an extended hospitalization the result of an unfortunate incident involving an unscrupulous woman she met at the National Assistance office, Margaret is no longer able to take care of herself. Mr. Conrad, on behalf of the government, takes it upon himself to ensure that she is well taken care of, physically, emotionally and legally. As such, the authorities go...

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Plot Keywords:

radio | old lady | british new wave | post war reconstruction | post world war two | 

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Taglines:

The Whisperers, who are they?

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 July 1967 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Bisbigli

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?

Trivia

The director Bryan Forbes and Nanette Newman were husband and wife.

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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

beautiful ugliness

This grim tale about the loneliness and vulnerability of old age, set in what must be the most rundown section of Manchester, manages to touch us in an unsentimental manner. Its chief quality is the crisply photographed slum in which it largely takes place, like the last remains of the 19th century surviving into the post-War 20th. The protagonist, Margaret Ross, played by the stately Edith Evans, lives in a cluttered ground floor flat in this urban wasteland of rain-slicked cobblestone streets without cars or pedestrians, but an abundance of crumbling brick walls, gutted buildings and stray cats. The opening credit sequence of grey rooftops under rainy skies is particularly striking.

At home she looks through newspapers, eats bread with honey, sips tea and listens to radio as her sink faucet drips, drips, drips. She constantly hears voices (the "whisperers" of the title) and turns up the radio to drown them out. When the upstairs neighbors, an interracial couple with an infant, pound on the floor in protest, she pounds back on the ceiling with a broomstick and is showered with bits of plaster. (We see the bald patch from where the plaster has fallen but the absence of other patches means that she has never before banged on the ceiling; this strand of the story would have been more convincing if more of the ceiling was similarly defaced.) When not talking to the imagined voices, she spends her solitary life visiting the library where she surreptitiously warms her feet on the heating pipes, collecting welfare from a local government office where she makes frequent references to her good breeding and high-class family connections, listening to sermons at a local evangelical storefront chapel, and tending to household chores which seem to consist mostly of emptying large quantities of dust, coal ashes and bottles and cans from which she derives most of her nourishment.

Evans brings dignity to the role but somehow she does not seem to be the right actress for the part. Margaret Ross is a woman of humble origins. Evans is a thoroughbred. True, she does claim that she married beneath herself, but that would be putting it mildly. Still, she has the acting skills to keep us entertained, and she gets brilliant support from the secondary players: Eric Portman as her surly husband, Avis Bunnage as a predatory welfare mom and Gerald Sim as a welfare clerk add a great deal to the overall presentation. Leonard Rossiter, too, shows up for a strong few minutes as a government official. And John Barry supplies a melancholy but unobtrusive musical score.

Evans got an Oscar nomination for this performance. Fair enough. But I think Gerry Turpin should have also gotten one for his beautiful cinematography.