The Secret of the Whistler

Lesser entry in the offbeat Whistler series. The story is worthy enough. Richard Dix plays an "artist' and kept man who takes a fancy to a shapely blonde model while his wealthy wife is stricken with a serious heart problem. The intrigue goes on from there. The problem is that the screenplay is filmed in straightforward fashion, with none of the moody atmospherics that distinguish other entries. The result is an entertaining 60 minutes, but minus the usual visual panache. Apparently, journeyman director George Sherman wasn't advised of the proper lighting or feel of the series. Either that or the producers were seeking a stylistic departure.

Nonetheless, the story keeps us watching. As usual we can't be sure how events will turn out since Dix's character is as morally compromised as in the other entries. Unlike other Hollywood films of that era, there is no one to root for as the plot unfolds. Thus, it's the story itself that holds our interest, and not the more predictable question of how a hero will triumph. Fortunately, the ending comes up with the usual fine touch of irony that fans expect.

There's an expertly shaded performance by Mary Currier as Dix's star-crossed wife. Watch the subtlety of her expressions as she learns about her wayward husband. The series itself did not depend on subtle acting-- and certainly Dix doesn't manage the Lothario role very well. Nonetheless, Currier delivers an A-grade performance. (In passing-- I expected the screenplay to develop the scheming relationship between blonde model Kay and her effete boyfriend Jim more fully than it did. That could have set up an interesting dynamic of those schemers competing against another schemer, Dix.) Anyway, stylish or not, this remains a very watchable hour of frustrated passion and the hand of fate.

This is the sixth of the Whistler films. Once again Richard Dix stars, this time as an impecunious artist who has married a very rich woman. The versatility of Dix really is astonishing. He changes like a chameleon from picture to picture. This film is not directed by William Castle like the others, but by George Sherman. It has a completely different feel about it. It is not so quirky and mysterious, but is more of a glamorous melodrama. The budget seems to have been a bit higher, and the film is more of an ordinary murder mystery. The film opens well with a woman going to a monument maker and commissioning a very expensive gravestone for herself. ($5000, a lot of money then.) She is Dix's wife. She has a severe heart condition and believes she has only months to live. Dix is a dutiful husband towards his wife, seriously concerned for her health, until he falls into the clutches of a scheming young femme fatale played by Leslie Brooks. This curvaceous blonde artist's model sees dollar signs and goes for Dix bigtime. He naturally becomes infatuated and says when he is free (i.e., when his wife has died) he wants to marry her. But then along comes a clever doctor with a new treatment which restores the wife to health very suddenly. She overhears Dix and the blonde talking and realizes the situation, so phones her lawyer to arrange to change her will so that he inherits nothing whenever she does die, and to commence divorce proceedings immediately. However, this is a film noir, so she dies during the night. So what has happened? "The Whistler knows."

Secret of the Whistler, The (1946)

*** (out of 4) T

he sixth film in Columbia's series and the last to feature Richard Dix. In the film Dix plays an artist who begins dating a younger woman (Leslie Brooks) while waiting for his wife to die. After the wife dies he marries the younger woman but soon she starts to fear that he might have killed the first wife. This is another good entry in the series that manages to build some nice suspense with its very entertaining story and another fine performance by Dix. Not only is Dix very good in his role but the supporting cast is great as well. Brooks turns in a very good performance as the woman who begins to suspect the worst. Michael Duane and Mary Currier co-star as a newspaper man and Dix's first wife. The story goes by at a very fast pace and there's some nice twists and turns along the way. The film focuses on a psychological horror aspect, which is where the suspense comes from.

This is, in my humble opinion, the best of the whistler series of films, and sadly, the next to the last one starring Richard Dix as the center of whatever dark tale "the whistler" is recounting for the audience. This one plays out like a 40's version of Night Gallery except without any of the supernatural elements usually involved in that 70's series and with an extra helping of irony.

This is a tale about a mediocre middle aged artist, (Richard Dix as Ralph Harrison) married to a middle-aged wealthy wife (Mary Currier as Edith Harrison). The first scene sets us up for the macabre nature of the tale to come. A woman is ordering an expensive headstone - even in 1946 it will cost five thousand dollars . The stonemason is telling her it will take three months to build such an expensive monument. She says that is OK. Then she gives the name to be put on the headstone - her own. You see, Edith is quite ill with a bad heart and has only months to live and she knows it.

Someone else here mentioned this as the tale of "the inconvenient wife", but it is not at all clear what Ralph's true feelings are for his wife, at least in the beginning. For sure he likes not having to sell sketches in the park, to be able to have his own studio and dabble even though he has no talent, and to entertain his "friends" who are actually just a bunch of parasitic hangers on. However, he seems genuinely troubled and saddened by the doctor's news that his wife has only weeks or months to live. His great misfortune is to befriend ace grifter Kay Morrell just to have someone to talk to during his time of trouble with his wife tied to a sick bed, and then he falls in love with her.

Ralph decides he really wants Kay, Kay really only likes Ralph's money, and Ralph really likes his money too, and he loses that if he divorces Edith. Normally he could just wait out Edith's illness to its inevitable conclusion, but then a monkey wrench is thrown into his plans - a young hot-shot doctor devises a state of the art treatment plan and Edith now has a second lease on life. I'll let you watch for yourself and see how all of this plays out.

This particular whistler entry is the essence of noir - an average man who is on an average man's path until something unexpected comes along, and suddenly that forbidden fruit just looks to good to pass up. Surely he can get away with a bite out of that fruit just once...or not.

Like I said earlier, Dix did an outstanding job in this one. You never really know what his true feelings are deep in his heart, since he plays his cards close to his vest in his role as Ralph and he is fascinating to watch. Kudos also go out to Claire Du Brey who has her Mrs. Danvers like role down pat as the loyal servant of Edith, and also to Leslie Brooks as Kay Morrell who is beautiful and cold as ice as the femme fatale. A highly recommended little B noir.

I always thought Richard Dix was at his best in this series of films. The sense of mystery, menace, or goodness he could generate by turns makes his Whistler films (this was number 6 out of 7) well worth watching, although he could sometimes give the impression of a chunky silent actor getting to grips with talkies.

In this outing he plays a man married to a woman purely for her money and who falls in love with a younger woman who is after him purely for his (her) money. How the situation is nefariously resolved is the plot, simply and carefully plotted. The way the actors spoke their words beginning with capital letters in this - and other entries in the series - makes me think this must have been adapted and expanded from one of the scripts of the 231 radio plays already aired by then. Whether playing a goodie, baddie or bothie Dix exuded a simple yet intense sincerity, he's basically a baddie with all the usual human failings in here and yet you can still find yourself rooting for the poor mutt. Leslie Brooks as the not-too-bad gold-digger artists model was never more alluring, I was definitely rooting for her! There's a poignant twist at the end, so attention is recommended.

Sadly neglected, about time they were all available on DVD, a nice entry in a nice series for those of us who like the genre.