The film explores reasons why whistling was common ("frequent" rather than any other meaning) until the 1950s and then seemed to die off as a routine activity. The main argument is that trannies and other portable forms of musical entertainment (iPods, these days) have replaced the need for many of us to provide our own musical entertainment.

And there were always the naysayers. I enjoyed whistling melodies (couldn't play any other sort of instrument then) and would have a go at anything. During a Chemistry I prac class I was so engrossed in what I was doing that I forgot I was whistling La Donne e Mobile but the final cadenza brought a round of applause from the rest of the lab. The senior demonstrator 'had a quiet word' to me, to the effect that he didn't want a repetition of any whistling in the lab.

That I could live with but worse was to come. Before my girlfriend's mum became my mother-in-law she was a deadly killjoy whenever I amused myself around her house by singing or whistling to myself. "Can you sing?" she'd enquire, if I were whistling or, "Can you whistle?" if I were singing. Both questions were asked with that acidic tone in her voice that would etch metal as well as confidence. Many times I've argued that these comments were the reason why my wife always regarded herself as tone deaf. Certainly she appeared that way if she thought anybody could hear her. I once heard her singing to herself when she thought I was out of the house and she was pitch perfect with a beautiful voice; she stopped as soon as she became aware of my presence and nothing could persuade her to sing again.

If you get a chance to see the film, jump at it.

Cheers, Rowan