I found us a new serial. Ever heard of The Whistler? It began as a radio show in 1942 and branched out into a movie series two years later. Unlike other "nickname" mystery franchises of the 1940s (i.e. "The Falcon", "The Saint", "Crime Doctor"), "The Whistler" does not appear as a character. Instead, he's a narrator who lurks in the shadows, seen only in silhouette. In watching my first Whistler film, it took me a while to figure out what the deal was, that he wasn't the star, but as far as the story was concerned I was hooked immediately. I ended up watching two Whistlers on consecutive nights, and I've got both of 'em here for your approval. Before I begin, I should point out that there were eight Whistler movies in all, seven of which starred our buddy Richard Dix. I read this information before watching the first film, which I think caused my confusion in assuming Dix was The Whistler. He is not, and in fact - like Lon Chaney Jr. in the "Inner Sanctum" series - he plays a different character in each one. "The Whistler" introduces them all.
As I did with "Crime Doctor" I began out of chronological order, but for linearity's sake I'm gonna start with the first film, which I watched last night. Entitled simply "The Whistler"(1944), it stars Dix stars as a depressed man who hires a hit man to kill someone. He arranges it through a go-between, but doesn't tell him the target's name, just his address. In addition, he insists the assassin not know his identity. "I don't want to know who he is, either. It's got to be entirely anonymous". Dix then pays the go-between and walks home, to the very same address he provided. He's just put a contract on himself.
It turns out he's feeling guilty about the death of his wife, who drowned in a rafting accident. We're given only sketchy details. Dix had a chance to save her and couldn't. He's been despondent ever since and can't bear the pain. Now he's taken the final step to have himself killed. I suppose he could've committed suicide, but then The Whistler would have nothing to whistle about.
I've gotta take a moment to say that I love his narration. It's not frequent, but every now and then he'll insert an observation in the middle of a scene that's either wry or snide, such as when a killer is about to be caught. It's always an "I told ya so", meaning "I'm The Whistler and I see everything. You should've listened to me sooner".
Dix has put a time frame on the hit, saying it must happen within seven days. But during that time, he gets a telegram saying his wife is alive after all. She's turned up in a Japanese interment camp of all places, and is about to be shipped home. We get no details on how this came about (Japanese internment camp? Please explain!), but anyway, all of a sudden Dix cheers up. His depression evaporates. Now he wants to live, in hopes of reuniting with his wife, but he's got a hitman on his tail (J Carrol Naish) who's very determined. He tries to call it off, but Naish has no idea he paid for the contract, and the middleman has been killed in a shootout with the cops.
At work, Dix has a secretary (Gloria Stuart) who's in love with him but has been keeping her distance, knowing he still pines for his wife. She hoped it would eventually become mutual, but now that his wife has been found alive, she's given up. But then, Dix gets a second telegram, saying "sorry to inform you". His wife has died in the camp after all. I've gotta break in to say: "Holy Smokes, writers!......why do you do this to Richard Dix"? He was depressed enough to begin with. Now he has a complete nervous breakdown and wanders the streets, disheveled and crashing in flophouses.
One night, Dix can't sleep. A stumblebum lures him to a rat infested nook in a warehouse. "This is my special place for when the shelter gets too crowded. You can use it too". Dix takes him up on the offer, but it's a trick. The bum tries clobbering him for his wallet. Outside, the hitman has been lurking. He traced Dix to the shelter, then the warehouse, and now he's coming in through a window.
Watch out, Richard Dix! He's gonna shoot! But when he does, he hits the bum. Dix escapes and his secretary comes to the rescue. By now, she's heard the news that his wife is actually dead. Her love blooms anew and and she rushes in to protect him. ////
That's all I'm gonna tell you about the first Whistler. Are ya ready for the second? Okay, here we go.
It's called "Mysterious Intruder"(1946) and was not actually the second film in the series but the fifth. It was the first one I watched, two nights ago.
This time Dix plays "Don Gale", an unscrupulous private investigator. As the movie opens, he is visited by an old gentleman who owns a music shop. This man wants Gale to track down a girl he knew years earlier. "Her name's Elora Lund. She'd be a grown woman now, but I've got to find her". His interest isn't romantic. Elora and her mother were customers at his shop. When the mother died, she left behind some antiques. Among them were two cylinder recordings of the Swedish opera star Jenny Lind. The cylinders are the only existing records of Lind's voice and have been shipped to the shop owner by the mother's estate. He's holding them for Elora, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. A wealthy patron has heard about the cylinders and has offered to buy them for 200 grand. The shop owner wants Gale to find Elora so he can tell her she's rich. He has no designs on the money, he just wants to give her the recordings.
But Dix isn't completely straightforward. He tries to trick the shop owner by sending in an imposter to pose as Elora Lund. It looks like he's trying to steal the cylinders for himself. At any rate, the old man falls for it, and is about to give her the cylinders, when a gunman appears from the back of the shop. He's tall, dark, but not really handsome, and he's very threatening. I have to take an aside to say he's Mike Mazurki, who not only had his body switched with Ginger Grant's in the Vito Scotti "Mad Scientist" episode of "Gilligan's Island", but was also name checked in Doodles Weaver's version of "Eleanor Rigby", which Dr. Demento used to play on his radio show. ("Mike Mazurki! Albuquerque"!). To complete the aside, I just Googled Doodles Weaver to see that he was Sigourney Weaver's uncle.
But yeah, so Mike Mazurki shows up with a gun, kills the elderly shop owner, kidnaps the fake "Elora" and makes off with the box of cylinder recordings meant for the real Elora Lund. Dix locates his apartment and shoots him dead. When reporters arrive, he denies wrongdoing in the impostor scheme, claiming it was for investigative purposes. Yeah sure! If you believe that, he's got a bridge he'd like to sell you. Now the police are after Dix, believing he staged the entire setup.
What Dix doesn't know is that the fake Elora double-crossed him. It turns out she was the one who hired Mike Mazurki and let him in the back door of the music shop. They were gonna split the money from the music cylinders and high tail it out of the country. So maybe Dix isn't completely shady after all. Finally, the real Elora shows up. For her protection, he has her stay with an associate of his, a Tough Old Broad Who Knows The Score. Then he sets about clearing his name while the cops try to nail him. Meanwhile, another witness has been murdered : poor Mr. Brown, who owned the store next to the music shop.
Can Dix find the real killers before the police nab him for the deal? Well, it's Richard Dix, so I wouldn't bet against him. "Our fathers came across the prairies, fought Indians, fought drought, fought locusts, fought Dix! Remember when Richard Dix came in here and tried to take over this town"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cuy2cOGFfl0
I think we're gonna like The Whistler as much as we do the Crime Doctor. The mood is different : Whistler is grim and fatalistic where Crime Doctor is methodical, deductive, like a procedural. Here's a cool surprise for ya, though : William Castle directs both! He's not the sole director but he did several in each series, and his lighting & camerawork are superb as usual. He directed both Whistlers in this review and works well with Richard Dix, a versatile actor who pulls out all the stops. He reminds me of George O'Brien, who also began in Silents and made his name as a cowboy, but had the range to star in Murnau's "Sunrise", an Expressionist masterpiece.
Well, that's all I've got for today. Have a nice evening, listen to some Canterbury, tons of love as always!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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