Das Zeichen des Whistler

A drifter claims money held in an old bank account for a namesake of his. Soon he finds himself the target of two men who turn out to be the sons of the man's old partner, who was sent to prison because of a conflict with him over the money in that account.

The second in the low budget Whistler series from Columbia but, at just under an hour's running time, this is a surprisingly watchable film. The storyline flows and there are several twists along the way. Stars Richard Dix.

Second in Columbia's Whistler series starring Richard Dix and directed by William Castle. In each movie, Dix played a different character in a film noir mystery thriller. This time around he plays a bum who tries his hand at identity theft to claim some money that belongs to someone sharing the same name as him. Good support from Porter Hall and Paul Guilfoyle. Dix is solid as our lantern-jawed "hero." Some nice twists & turns in this one. Castle does a fine job building suspense with scenes like when Dix is sitting in the bank, growing uncomfortable with everyone staring at him. I was on the edge of my seat about what's going to happen to this guy for awhile. Is he going to get away with it? Do I want him to get away with it? My only real complaint is the sucky ending, undoubtedly tacked-on because of the Production Code. Still, it's a pretty good B picture that kept my interest throughout.

This entry is the best in this above-average series from Columbia. All the stories had intriguing premises and clever twists, but this one even more so, since it was based on an original by Cornell Woolrich, that master of gloom, fate and paranoia. You definitely won't see the last curveball coming. There's a nice element of "Crime and Punishment"-like guilt infiltrating the protagonist's shady exploits, although it's not directly responsible for his downfall. The material is the essence of noir, but Castle filmed it straightforwardly for the most part. In his early days before churning out his gimmicky horror pics, he knew how to add telling little touches and include fascinatingly offbeat characters on the margins. All the same, one can't help thinking that this might have been a low-budget noir masterpiece along the lines of "Blind Spot" or "Fear in the Night" if the style had been more doom-laden and shadowy.

This is the second of the Whistler films, having two titles: THE MARK OF THE WHISTLER and THE MARKED MAN. It has a superb plot written by the famous mystery writer Cornell Woolrich. And Richard Dix, who plays the lead, intensifies the suspense by his brilliant portrayal of a man who impersonates another man of the same name in order to access a dormant account at a bank. He only discovers that the dormant account exists by randomly picking up a newspaper in which an ad has been placed for claimants to dormant accounts to come forward. His name is Lee Nugent, and so is the man whose money was left to him in trust by his mother many years ago and never claimed. Dix does research and, reassured that laying claim is probably safe, approaches the bank with a loan from a pawn broker to pay for a new suit (as Dix is penniless). But nothing in a film noir is ever simple, which is, one might say, the same as with Life. There are unknown factors in the background, and some begin to stir. Will the bank hand over the money? Will Dix get away with it? How much money is there, anyway, since the bank won't say. Events get more and more tense. This is a really excellent suspense film.

This was the second of the eight self-contained Whistler films starring Richard Dix, still playing a goodie but this time with more bad in him. Also after the first my second favourite entry in the series.

Lee Nugent – mark that name – is a human derelict who hits upon the idea of impersonating a man whose bank is advertising for him to appear and claim his dormant bank account. He doesn't initially know how much money is involved but when he does get it he gives Porter Hall a fair price for the loan of his suits … Things start to get complicated when he bumps into Limpy the match seller and a determined newspaper reporter played by Janis Carter – just before she played a determined newspaper reporter in One Mysterious Night! Favourite bits: Signing his name but blotting his middle initial in the bank; Some of the sinister scenes with John Calvert chasing after Dix. The overall moral is Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide, with Dix you can believe it too. With one twist after another the last one is a little twee but still effective.

No cgi cartoonery, swearing, sex or violence, just b&w and an intricate story well acted make for a very pleasant hour.