Whispering walls

Movie
German title	Whispering walls
Original title	The Whisperers
Country of production	Great Britain
original language	English
Publishing year	1967
length	107 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Bryan Forbes
script	Bryan Forbes
production	Michael Laughlin , ; Ronald Shedlo
music	John Barry
camera	Gerry Turpin
cut	Anthony Harvey
occupation
	Edith Evans : Mrs. Ross; Ronald Fraser : Charlie; Eric Portman : Archie; Jack Austin : Police sergeant; Avis Bunnage : Mrs. Noonan; Nanette Newman : neighbor; Harry Baird : Neighbor; Robert Russell : Andy; Kenneth Griffith : Mr. Weaver;

Whispering Walls (Original title: The Whisperers ) is a British film drama from 1967. The screenplay is based on the novel Mrs. Ross by Robert Nicolson.

action

Mrs. Ross is an elderly woman who was abandoned by her husband Archie years ago. Now she lives on her statutory pension, which she regards as wages and not as alms, in a small, dingy two-room apartment. When she is not in the library or in the welfare soup kitchen, she sits in her apartment crammed with newspapers and listens to the whispering walls - drops of water, noises from other apartments and the heating pipes.

One day she is visited by her son Charlie. Charlie is a thief and secretly leaves a package in her closet. Later Mrs. Ross finds the package and opens it. She finds banknotes, a total of 800 pounds. In her confusion, she believes the money is a long-awaited inheritance. She rushes to the welfare and reports of her happiness. The seedy Mrs. Noonan invites Mrs. Ross to her home. There Mrs. Ross is drugged, robbed and left in an avenue. A neighbor girl finds her and takes her to a hospital. Mrs. Ross has developed pneumonia from the cold. The city administration tries to find out what is best for the woman. Archie is found, who is persuaded to make up with his wife. But the attempt to build on the previous life fails. Archie runs off with some stolen money. Mrs. Ross is now alone again, listening to the whispering walls.

background

The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in June 1967. Most of it was shot in Manchester . Nanette Newman is the wife of director Bryan Forbes . Her daughter Sarah, now a fashion journalist, also appeared in the film. Anthony Harvey last worked as a film editor on this production; then he switched to directing.

Reviews

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave Whisperers for an "excellent film is ruined by the unfortunate melodramas". Variety, on the other hand, praised the unobtrusiveness, the discretion and the unsentimental style of the production. The TimeOut film guide highlighted Edith Evans ' witty portrayal, while at the same time criticizing Forbes' energetic directorial style, which made the social criticism too obvious.

The lexicon of the international film found: “At times very haunting depiction of the abandonment of old people in an environment with little contact, formally conventional, excellent acting.” The Protestant film observer drew the following conclusion: “Above all, the great acting performance of Edith Evans raises something Banal plot to a touching, but unsentimental document of the needs of the human heart in the lonely everyday life of old people. Recommended from 14. "