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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.

I was eager to see the "Whistler" movies because of William Castle's involvement in some. He was a fine director ion the forties. (He was OK later, too. But in the forties his films were very elegant and subtle. His later horror outings were anything but subtle.) This one is not directed by Castle but it works really well. It was near the end of Richard Dix's run in the series. He was not a great actor, at least not at this point. But he had a very solid presence. And he is plausible as good guys and not so hot ones as well.

Here he plays a less than admirable character. He is a painter. Amazingly, the painting of his that we first see is pretty decent. So often, even in the toniest of A-pictures, paintings by supposedly great artists looked like the work of quick-sketch artists or Sunday painters.

The film opens with a stylishly noirish woman buying her own tombstone. Everything bout this film has the marvelous dark look of a film noir. Or of an Edward Hopper paintings. The scenes look especially like book jackets from the time.

And the female lead looks right off the cover of some true-crime book. Wow, she looks both right and beautiful! And she -- Leslie Brooks -- is a fine actress too. (Intriguingly, she looks like the same studio's biggest star ten years hence: Kim Novak.)

The whole series is entertaining, even the final film, which does not have Dix in it.

One problem I encountered and others may as well: Clearly the movies were based on a radio program of their time. I have never heard that program, though. I get the idea that the Whistler is an omniscient criminologist who either has no bodily image or, like Lamont Cranston of "The Shadow," can make himself invisible.

Guess I will try to track some tapes of the series down. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and search out these films. They're all good. A couple, like this one, are very good.

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.

A neat entry from the series has RICHARD DIX playing a man who wants to get rid of his wife for a younger woman (LESLIE BROOKS). What he doesn't know is that his wife learns about his affair with the young blonde model and is recording her thoughts in a diary.

When his wife dies, he does marry again--but has to play a cat-and-mouse game with his new wife when she begins to suspect him of murder.

Dix plays his role quite effectively and Leslie Brooks is stunning as the blonde beauty. She never had a better chance than she does here, but unfortunately Columbia was never able to find anything but supporting roles for her in B-films of the period.

Suspenseful, it takes awhile before the tense proceedings start to tighten up, but it's worth ending for the good finale. MICHAEL DUANE has a small supporting role as an artist but gets star billing.

Well directed by George Sherman, these series are better than average programmers.

Always enjoy the wonderful performance that Richard Dix would present in this old time Radio favorite and his on the big screen appearance in the 1940's. In this film Dix plays the role of an artist (Ralph Harrison) who is married to a very rich woman Edith Marie Harrison,(Mary Currier) who has been very ill for many years and it puts a strain on their relationship. Ralph meets up with a blonde model, Kay Morrell, (Leslie Brooks) and he paints all kinds of pictures of Leslie. A relationship develops, however, Kay does not love Ralph and knows he is married, but she does wrap him around her little finger and manages to get all kinds of expensive jewelry and clothes. Mrs. Edith Harrison starts feeling well and visits her husband's studio and from that point on the story gets very interesting and creates a great mystery story. Enjoy a good B Classic film from 1946.

Secret of the Whistler is a rather good entry into the series. The print I saw was beautiful, and I loved the different, classy sets.

Again the Whistler just walks around as Narrator. He doesn't get involved in the plot.

The series stars Richard Dix. Here he plays Ralph Harrison, a not great artist who lives off his sick wife's (Mary Currier) money. In the beginning of the film, we see her ordering her own gravestone!

Edith Harrison has a terminal heart condition. When her husband meets model Kay Morrell (the very pretty Leslie Brooks), he falls in love with her. However, a new doctor has gotten Edith out of her sickbed and ready to live again.

Edith goes to her husband's studio to surprise him. She's the one surprised as she overhears him declaring his love for Kay and saying Edith will be gone soon. In fact, he decides to help her along.

Richard Dix is an actor I have a hard time with. I find his acting not good, along with his hairpiece, and he's quite rigid. Sometimes he's a good guy in the Whistler series; here he's a bad one. There's a twist at the end.

This is the best Whistler I've seen.

This was the second to last film Richard Dix made in the Whistler series. The mysterious Whistler is seen as a shadow and heard in

voice-over narration, but the "star" of the films is Richard Dix, who plays a different role in each--some heroic, some cowardly, some honorable, some not so honorable. This must have been satisfying to Dix, since it gave him regular work AND allowed him to show his talent in a wide variety of roles. This particular entry gives Dix a complex role, as an artist married to a rich woman whose financial support allows him to continue his work. The plot is more complex than the synopsis suggests, and there are a number of twists and turns throughout, giving the film the feel of an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The "femme fatale" in this film is played by Leslie Brooks, who took this kind of role even further in the great BLONDE ICE two years later. Director George Sherman did a lot of exciting films at Republic prior to this film at Columbia, including many entries in the Three Mesquiteers series, and went on to do many more films, including episodes of such classic TV shows as Rawhide and Naked City. The centerpiece of the film, though, is Richard Dix, an actor of great presence (it's fair to say that Gary Cooper was influenced by Dix)and subtlety. SECRET OF THE WHISTLER would be a good introduction to this series, and it should appeal to any fan of INNER SANCTUM, THRILLER, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, etc. Most of the other films in the series are worth checking out also. Perhaps sometime in the future Columbia could do a DVD boxset of the Whistler films the way Universal is doing the Francis and Ma&Pa Kettle films? And after that, perhaps they could reissue the Boston Blackie films?

The sixth Whistler movie from Columbia starring Richard Dix. This time Dix plays a real slimeball. He's an artist married to a rich lady with heart problems. Dix has his lusty sights set on gold-digging model Leslie Brooks and can't wait for the wife to kick the bucket. But then wifey's health takes a turn for the better. She ought to know better than that.

A few neat twists & turns as one might expect from this fine series of B films. Dix turns in a good performance as the creepy husband. Leslie Brooks is a knockout as the model all the fuss is about. The supporting cast includes greats like John Hamilton and Byron Foulger. One thing that irked me is the way Brooks' mercenary character is turned into the heroine in the final act. It was a hard sell to me. Altogether, this was a pretty solid B movie.

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.

Can someone explain to me how this movie ends ?? I watched it twice, enjoyed and didn't understand the ending. I thought Richard Dix was terrific The sets and storyline were first rate It was obvious that having a "radio script" helped. You can't top the movies of this era. These would be great movies to remake. Who would be a good lead for this ?? Maybe Kevin Spacey or Alec Baldwin. You could even have a good female lead for this. How about Meryl Streep or Kate Blanchett ? I'd love to hear any other suggestions. The fact that these "Whistler" movies provided the fodder for a great series of movies is a great foundation for a future run. Charlie Chan, Thin Man, etc. were excellent, but wouldn't work. But this format has the chance to provide for a multitude of surprises and plot twists.

Thanks

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."

This is my first of the Whistler films and I for the most part was pleasantly surprised. All of the performances were solid and on-point, the direction was brisk and nicely paced throughout, the sets and costumes worked as well. The story was for the most part very interesting and engaging . . . Until the very end. I'm not sure why they took the otherwise great story into such a soft and unsatisfying ending when the much better one had to be very apparent. I wonder if it had something to do with the moral codes that might have been in place at the time of this film where they thought that all of the bad guys have to get caught and pay the price so justice and good would prevail? Anyway, despite a disappointing ending The Secret of the Whistler is still worth checking out.

In this, the penultimate Whistler movie, Richard Dix, aging and hulking, is simply deliciously evil. Though acting with seeming sweetness and kindness to those around him, Dix's eyes give it all away: hideous, subtly maniacal eyes, eyes in which we can see the selfish egotistical dementia of a man who has apparently spent a lifetime manipulating and using every person unfortunate enough to cross his path. A great job by Dix, and I hope he had fun with this role.

Otherwise, as is usual in the Whistler fliks, the supporting actors are adequate, and the dialogue slightly corny and dated, but with a time of barely over an hour, the pace is quick and satisfying.

A very interesting directorial decision: three years before this movie was made (that is, 1943) the great western, The Ox-bow Incident, was released. In the famous last scene, Henry Fonda reads aloud the last letter written by the lynched Dana Andrews. Fonda's eyes, and eyes alone, are not visible, hidden behind the brim of Henry Morgan's hat, while we see his mouth move. A very effective idea.

Well, here, in The Secret of the Whistler, the director uses the exact same idea: in a late scene, Richard Dix's wife makes a startling confession, her eyes hidden by an intruding lamp shade, but her mouth visible as she speaks, with Dix looking on behind her. Again, interesting.

Lastly, look for Dix's wife walking around with about a half-dozen dead minks or stoles or whatever they are, complete with heads, draped across her left shoulder. I don't why this struck me as funny, but, in its gratuitous pointlessness, it did.

Definitely a fun way to spend 65 minutes.

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.

The Secret of the Whistler is one of a series of motion pictures inspired by a radio program entitled The Whistler. Like its radio inspiration, it starts with a mysterious narrator whistling before saying, "I am the Whistler. I know many things for I walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows." Since film is a visual medium, we see as well as hear "The Whistler" although all we see is - appropriately - a shadow ominously upon a wall.

Then our story really starts. It starts in a way that suggests it will indeed be a "strange tale," a tale of "the shadows." An attractive, elegantly but somberly attired older woman (Mary Currier) sits across from a man at a funeral home. She wants an expensive gravestone made out for one Edith Marie Harrison. We soon learn that she is Edith Marie Harrison.

The mood drastically changes as the film cuts to a party! Everyone is drinking and dancing and having a great time. Enter gorgeous blonde model Kay Morrell (Leslie Brooks), her lovely hair done up in elaborate curls. The party is being given by artist Ralph Harrison (Richard Dix) who is wealthy, not because of the interesting surreal paintings he creates but because he is married to the rich Edith Marie Harrison. He sees Kay Morrell from behind as she is powdering her nose. Her low-cut back and curled bun understandably catch his attention and holds it. They have a dance and he clearly becomes enthralled - who wouldn't? - with the graceful beauty.

A phone rings and Ralph answers it. Housekeeper Laura (Claire Du Brey) sadly informs him that his wife has had another heart attack. He leaves the party to be by his ailing wife's side.

As the story unfolds, The Secret of the Whistler has several elements common to film noir. The husband pretends to love the wife when he really only loves the wife's money. The younger woman with whom he develops feelings is, naturally enough, only interested in him for his money. So far, so standard. To get and sustain viewer interest, plot twists and skillful acting are necessary. Luckily, The Secret of the Whistler possesses both.

The first twist occurs when a doctor unexpectedly succeeds in helping Edith. She appears to be on her way to recovery. She feels refreshed and healthy. She wants to go to her husband's studio and surprise him with the good news! Except . . . That she gets the surprise . . . A bad surprise.

That is the first of twists that keep suspense in the film. It also benefits from the sure direction of George Sherman and the adequate (although not outstanding) screenplay co-authored by Richard H. Landau and Raymond L. Schrock. Perhaps the film benefits most from good performances. Richard Dix is excellent - suggesting the slimy, greedy, unfeeling character underneath - even when he mouths phrases of caring. Mary Currier is even better in the demanding role of a character who must veer from heartily optimistic to tragically disappointed to harshly resigned.

I personally watched this movie for Leslie Brooks. I am a fan because of her delicate-featured blonde beauty and her acting ability even though her acting career only lasted about a decade. I became a fan of hers when she played the title psychopath in "Blonde Ice." Here she plays a less pathological version of the femme fatale and she plays her fascinatingly and completely believable.

Also worthy of note in a minor yet sympathetic and interesting role is Claire Du Brey as housekeeper Laura who is loyal to boss Edith Marie Harrison and deeply suspicious of Ralph Harrison. Claire Du Brey suggests layers of intelligence and caring beneath what could have been, in a lesser actress, mere nosiness.

All in all, The Secret of the Whistler is an entertaining and dramatic crime movie.