Un grito en la noche

The 1940's were full of private eyes from Sam Spade to Phillip Marlowe. None, however, equals the sheer sleaze of key-hole peeper Don Gale. He's a distinctive creation of writer Eric Taylor's clever little screenplay, with more twists and turns than one of those old Toni home permanents. The brief opening between Gale and his secretary tells all we need to know about his brand of professional ethics and is a great bit of subtle innuendo. Richard Dix is perfect as Gale with all the phony charm and shifty eyes of an oily medicine man. If Gale has any redeeming qualities like Spade or Marlowe, I can't find them, making him one of the most unusual lead characters of the day.

The movie starts off posing a neat little mystery-- why would anyone want to kill for some worthless old keepsakes. The solution is a novel one, although the story sometimes unfolds in a complex fashion that's hard to follow.There're some nifty little touches, such as the trigger-happy neighbor who apparently shoots at anything that moves or the safe-house matron who looks like she could go a few rounds with Mike Tyson. However, not everything is roses. Little old man Stillwell should carry a sugar-overload warning, while plug-ugly Mike Mazurki mugs it up shamelessly as the towering menace. The bare-bones street scenes might blemish most movies, but here they come across as just plain cheap like Gale himself.

How surprising that the schlockmeister of 1950's gimmick movies, William Castle, stands as the moving force behind many of these little Whistler gems. He had a real feel for them. Too bad he's identified now with such exploitation flicks as The Tingler (1959) and 13 Ghosts (1960), (Tingler wired certain certain theatre seats for a mild jolt and then insured the patrons! ). Anyway, the ending here is particularly ironical, even for a series that prided itself on irony. As they say, they just don't make 'em like this any more. Too bad.

A nice old gentleman named Stillwell approaches a private investigator about a girl who has been missing for seven years. Stillwell has some valuable property that he strongly feels rightfully belongs to the girl named Elora. Elora's mother had pawned some 'junk' at Stillwell's music shop but who has died since. The intrigue is what is so valuable about this property and whereabouts in Stillwell's shop is it? Stillwell gets stabbed and other murders follow as the search for the mysterious object ensues.

Richard Dix plays the investigator who only just manages to keep on the right side of the law. This film is so full of mercenary characters. The most interesting of these for me is Rose Denning who is a charming old dear who keeps her hard liquor hidden under the wool in her knitting basket. There is a terrific shot of Mike Mazurki as Harry Pontos when he grabs hold of a package in Stillwell's shop. The evil look of sheer avaricious delight is probably the most menacing sequence I've seen in a film lately.

I wasn't prepared for the grim ending as I didn't really know what these Columbia Whistler films were all about. The Whistler is a doom-laden narrator who only appears as a shadow on the wall. This one is full of mystery and has a terrific atmosphere as you would expect under the guiding influence of director William Castle. He has excelled himself here as he weaves together so many moments of shadows and skulduggery and I savored every moment of them.

The Whistler was both a radio show and a B-movie series from Columbia Pictures. Unlike the usual B-films (which were mostly detective films), this series was more like episodes of the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" television series--each a unique story involving human nature and each one being unique and unrelated to the others. Additionally, all but the final film starred Richard Dix--who played very different characters in all the films.

In this film, Dix plays a private detective who isn't especially honest. When a kindly old man comes to him for help, Dix appears willing to use a bit of larceny to cash in on the man's trust. Throughout the film, you see that above all else, Dix is a man out for himself. Additionally, other selfish characters abound--and soon practically everyone wants to cash in on the old man's secret.

This film is probably the best in the series because the script is much tighter and without the plot holes that sometimes impeded the series. While there are many twists and turns, the script never becomes too complicated and it ends with a wonderful and ironic twist. Additionally, the supporting staff is much better than usual--having many great character actors on hand, such as Mike Muzurki, Barton MacLane and Charles Lane.

The score of 8 is relative to other B-movies. For the genre, it's among the best and not to be missed by old film buffs.

Fifth in the Noirish Whistler film series (and the third Directed by William Castle) is a so-so effort despite a decent enough premise. A kindly old shopkeeper (Paul E. Burns) is looking for a young girl (Pamela Blake) who disappeared suddenly after a family tragedy seven years before. He's been holding some valuables for her. The shopkeeper hires a shady Private Investigator (Richard Dix) to find the young girl. Soon enough, a Model (Helen Mowry), a street thug (Mike Mazurki), a hotel manager (Regis Toomey) and the cops are on the case. At barely an hour, Eric Taylor's script never fleshes out the characters. It's purely a plot driven vehicle. Unfortunately, the P.I. is such a dreary lunkhead of a character that even the twists in the tale don't land. I like Dix in a number of movies, but he isn't able to lift the part. Castle's Direction has a few minor touches and Cinematographer Philip Tannura does a decent job under the circumstances. MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER, with it's P.I. focused story may more claim to being Noir than some of the other Whistler films (I do love that mysterious shadowy figure), but, it's still more of a crime melodrama - and, a second rate one at that.

Mysterious Intruder (1946)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fifth film in Columbia's The Whistler series has Richard Dix playing a private investigator who gets a case from an old man who is looking for his niece. Soon the old man is dead and the PI might have had something to do with it. This is a pretty good entry in the series, although the screenplay falls short when compared to the previous film. I think the biggest problem here is the plot itself, which is quite confusing and even in the end it didn't seem to work itself out very well. The film only ran 61-minutes so perhaps that's why the story didn't have time to work itself out as well as it should have. Dix once again turns in a good performance with Charles Lane, Barton MacLane and Nina Vale offering fine support. Castle's direction is good throughout, although it could have probably been better with a better script.