Main Cast: Paul Scofield, David Threlfall, Helen Mirren, David Suchet, Helen Pearce
Release Year: 1989
Country: UK
Run Time: 100 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
In this English drama, set during World War I, a strange, deaf man, known to all as "The Birdman" (Paul Scofield), must enlist the help of young Daniel Pender (Max Rennie) and Gracie Jenkins (Helen Pearce) to prevent the narwhal whales from suffering abuse at the hands of the local islanders. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Jeremy Kemp - Mr. Wellbeloved; Max Rennie - Daniel Pender; John Hallam - Treve Pender; Barbara Ewing - Mary Pender; Dexter Fletcher - Big Tim; Nicholas Jones - Vicar; Joanna Bartholomew - Miss Tregarthen; Barbara Jefford - Auntie Mildred; David Quilter - Mr. Bullhead; Frederick Warder - Fisherman; Paul Thomas - Big Tim's Gang; Susan Curnow - Fisherwoman; Stephen Dan - Watchboy; Keith Low - Fisherman; Derek Pearce - Fiddle Player; Blue Philpott - Albert Pender; Fergus Rees - Birdman as a Boy; Penny Rogers - Maisie; David Sherris - Big Tim's Gang member; Kerra Spowart - Margaret Pender; James Stedeford - Big Tim's Gang member; Irene Wilson - Molly Woodcock
Credit
Colin Grimes - Art Director, Lindy Hemming - Costume Designer, Clive Rees - Director, Andrew Boulton - Editor, Christopher Gunning - Composer (Music Score), Ruth Rennie - Composer (Music Score), Norma Webb - Makeup, Bruce Grimes - Production Designer, Robert Paynter - Cinematographer, Simon Channing-Williams - Producer, Peter Hutchinson - Special Effects, Michael Morpurgo - Screenwriter, Michael Morpurgo - Book Author
When the Whales Came is a 1989British film, based on the 1985 children's book Why the Whales Came written by Michael Morpurgo. The film is set on the fictional British island of Scylla, while the location of the book is explicitly identified as Bryher, one of the Isles of Scilly.
Plot
A pair of children befriend an eccentric old man, who lives isolated on the far shore of their island home. But it turns out that the old man knows a terrible secret about the island and the narwhales who sometimes come. Meanwhile WWI is making life hard in the village.
