Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

GusF Based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Mary Hayley Bell, this is an excellent film concerning faith and childhood innocence. As the storyline concerns a group of children mistaking a fugitive for Jesus Christ, religious faith is definitely to the fore. However, it also deals with children's faith in the basic goodness of people, something which unfortunately proved to be misplaced in this instance, and this is very effectively contrasted with the more cynical, suspicious attitude of adults when it comes to such matters. The film has a first rate script by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hill which hits all of the right notes. It does a very job of balancing the more naturalistic elements with the fact that the film is, at its heart, an allegorical parable about Christianity. The most obvious of these allegories is the fact that the faux Jesus has twelve disciples and a young boy is forced to deny three times that he has seen him. Although it is quite a serious film, there is nevertheless a great deal of humour on display and this is executed in a very natural manner when it could have easily felt forced. The script deals with its themes respectfully and sensitively without really getting preachy, which is a major accomplishment in and of itself. In his directorial debut, Bryan Forbes handles the material very effectively and makes great use of the locations.The film stars the author's daughter Hayley Mills in a terrific performance as Kathy Bostock, the eldest child in a Lancastrian farming family who discovers the escaped murderer Arthur Alan Blakey in her family's barn. She mistakes his exhausted and surprised exertion of "Jesus Christ!" for a statement for his identity, which is helped by the fact that the young, tall, handsome and bearded Blakey resembles the typical depiction of Christ. However, all that glisters is not gold. Mills is of course well known for her (very) Received Pronunciation accent and, in spite of her best efforts at a Lancashire accent, her natural one is in evidence for much of the film. However, the one that she uses is perfectly fine and, in any event, it may have been for the best that she did not go over the top with it as such things can easily become distracting at best and laughable at worst. At 14, she was perhaps two or three years too old to be entirely believable as someone who would mistake a stranger for Jesus but it still manages to work in the context of the film. Kathy is a very kind, clever and compassionate young girl who finds great comfort in her faith. While it is not specifically stated, I imagine that is partly due to the fact that her mother is dead. However, on this occasion, she allows her faith to blind her to the harsh realities of the world. She places her trust in Blakey and, when she finally realises his identity, she is let down badly. Kathy seemingly becomes more world weary as a result but she remains as convinced as ever that Jesus will return.In his first major role, Alan Bates is very good as Blakey, who is astonished when he learns who the children think he is but, understandably under the circumstances, does nothing to disabuse them of that notion. He is most certainly not a good man but he develops an odd rapport with Kathy as the film progresses. By the end of the film, he begins to feel guilt over his crime and this was clearly influenced by his interaction with the children, who have a rather higher opinion of him than is warranted. Blakey is seemingly not a religious man as he discards the Bible at one point but I think that all the talk of Heaven has made him wonder if he will end up in Hell. Be that as it may, he will probably end up being hanged in the not too distant future. Bernard Lee is excellent in the role of Kathy's loving father and is able to convey a great deal of quiet dignity in his performance. While he is most certainly a good man, the children view him and the rest of the adults as being essentially the Romans and are concerned that things will turn out just as badly as they did the first time. This attitude is accidentally encouraged by the Sunday school teacher Miss Lodge, who tells them that they would have to protect Jesus from the bad people in the world if he were to return. Alan Barnes steals the show with his hilarious performance as Kathy's younger brother Charlie, who is the first of the children to realise that Blakey is not the real deal. He made only one other film, "The Victors", after this, which is a terrible shame as he is a natural actor. In her only acting role, Diana Holgate is not on quite the same level as Nan but I would have still welcomed seeing her in other films. The film also features strong performances from Roy Holder as Jackie Greenwood (who thinks that Jesus would be surprised by "Wagon Train" and the Cup Final if the Second Coming were to happen sometime soon), Norman Bird as Eddie, Hamilton Dyce as the well meaning but somewhat clueless Reverend Reeves and Elsie Wagstaff as the Bostock children's cold and unfeeling Auntie Dorothy. One sure sign of Richard Attenborough's behind the scenes involvement is the presence of his brother-in-law Gerald Sim in the small role of Detective Frank Wilcox. He later cast him in seven of the films that he directed (from "Oh! What a Lovely War" to "Shadowlands") and, while he never had a big part, they were all at least bigger than this!Overall, this is a simple and occasionally beautiful film on the subject of faith, whether in God or in people, and growing up.

lasttimeisaw The original novel WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND, written in 1959 by Mary Hayley Bell, who is Hayley Mills' mother, so there is little wonder that Hayley is cast as the lead after Disney's POLLYANNA (1960) has catapulted her to stardom and she has become the last person ever to receive a Juvenile Oscar. Also it marks a director debut of Bryan Forbes (SÉANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON 1964).Hayley plays Kathy Bostock, a young schoolgirl living in the farm of Lancashire, with her widowed father (Lee), her younger sister Nan (Holgate) and younger brother Charles (Barnes), as well as their auntie (Wagstaff). Due to a sheer coincidence, Kathy firmly believes a man (Bates) who hides in their barn, is Jesus Christ himself, this is where the story works, thanks to Hayley's superbly credible performance and her mother's well-conceived creation, Kathy is disconcerted by speaking of the truth of Jesus and for fear of being punished for blasphemy, so it is pretty logic for her to be startled by the man's exact presence in the barn and his muttering word "Jesus Christ" before passing out, and believes he is Jesus, arrives for the Second Coming. It potently justifies a rather cockamamie situation, which serves as the cornerstone for the ensuing happenings. Once Kathy is on board, it is not difficult to convince her two younger and more impressionable siblings to believe her words, then a whole bunch of school-kids, deferentially joins them to worship Jesus-in-the- barn.The story fluidly blends children's naiveté with the religious influence, and stimulates sheer zest and excitement in children's endeavour to save Jesus from the intervention of adults, and the man's true identity, a criminal on the lam, consigns a trenchant contradiction into a dichotomy between children's innocence and grown-ups' worldliness, where credulity and blind faith are put to good use by the man, for his own interest, who even menaces the children-friendly trappings with a gun in hand in the final siege, and from A to Z, the film has been deliberately avoiding to address the elephant-in-the-room, so in the end, in Kathy's eyes, it is Jesus who has been captured, not a wanted offender.The three children are the backbone of this rustically beguiling film, Hayley Mills' dogged devotion towards her belief, Diane Holgate's spur-of-the-moment slip and Alan Barnes' fractious mischief, plus his adorable acting-cum-being-himself antics (and he is the one who is telling the truth, although no one takes him seriously), all enliven the relatively small scale of the narrative with immense delight. Alan Bates, only in his second film role, underplays his handsomeness (although the requisite is that he should look at least remotely like J.C.) to foreground the moral ambiguity of his character, a cynical chap, very cagey about his criminal background (supposedly to be a wife murderer according to IMDb), he is a blank paper just plays along with the kids to secure a getaway plan, at one point, viewers are tempted to be ready for something rather ugly will happen, which is foiled regarding to the family-friendly grain, but a sense of remorse is accurately added in his last words? There is no cheesy redemption to facilitate a feel-good ending, and under the coat of a children story, the film in effect, pinpoints how easily religion can corrupt a child's psyche, being a double-edged sword, sometimes it is much sharper than we think, we must wield it cautiously.

Reckless Monkey A charming film about the importance of Spiritualism in a cynical jaded world. Although misguided, the children's belief in JC was heartfelt and sincere, and for an atheist, it touched my soul (assuming I have one) This was juxtaposed to sour, world-weary attitude of the adults in the film, from the greedy farmhand, who's only passion was his traps, to the aunt, embittered by the fact she's forced to help bring up her children of her brother, after his wife has passed away, and of course in a clever swipe at the religious establishment, with the vicar, who doesn't really get it.The innocence and charm of the children reminded me of the original Lord of the Flies, another 60's classic, and you can't helped but be enchanted by the young characters, as they interact, often to great comic effect.There is a moral message behind a fairly straightforward story, and you can take that to heart, and analyse it at length, alternatively you can just enjoy a lovely tale of life seen through children's eyes.

sapphire4810523 I've watched this brilliant movie a few times and never get sick of seeing it. Hayley mills is a marvellous actress which we see in this film. Alan bated is a powerful actor, and his part in this film goes to show .more films should be made like this for viewing. the ending is very sad , but there was no escape for him. Hayley's dad in the film comes across a caring considerate father , looking out for his family. the little boy and his sister contributed to the performance , there face when they thought they had found Jesus in the barn was a look of astonishment. great viewing and a brilliant performance from all the cast.