Don Gale, agent privé

The improbable plot for this entry in "The Whistler" series has something to do with valuable cylindrical disc recordings of Swedish nightingale Jenny Lind, a double-crossed antique dealer, a femme fatale blonde who knows the recordings are worth $200,000, and some crooked thieves. RICHARD DIX is the gumshoe detective in the mold of Philip Marlowe, but his dialog isn't quite as sharp.

Dix, of course, has to play fast and loose with the police on his trail and there are enough plot twists to keep any mystery fan mystified. Another factor in the plot is the femme fatale posing as someone else while scheming to get the money. As you can see, for a film that only runs one hour there's enough to keep you busy watching for the next development.

The supporting cast includes BARTON MacLANE, PAMELA BLAKE, CHARLES LANE, REGIS TOOMEY and MIKE MAZURKI.

Crisply written and directed, it's a good series entry.

Up to this point, I found the entries in "The Whistler" series to be enjoyable B movies, but with "Mysterious Intruder", something seems to have gone wrong. Let me make clear that I didn't think that this entry was a terrible movie. But all the same, it doesn't seem to fit with the other entries. For starters, the story is more of a standard B movie detective movie instead of a more suspenseful story. And this particular detective story really requires you to pay close attention - if you are not keeping careful mental notes to what's going on, you'll likely get lost pretty quickly. I will admit that if you're patient enough to sit through the movie, you'll be rewarded with a dark ending that does seem to fit other movies of the series. Those who also like detective dramas of the 1940s probably will get some extra enjoyment as well. But as I said, it isn't really a true "Whistler" movie, and must be considered somewhat of a misfire.

William Castle the director of many low B budget films made this into another great Whistler series starring Richard Dix as Don Gale, a rather shady private detective who had a nice brunette secretary named Joan Hill, (Nina Vale) who assisted him with all his clients and especially a little old man. This little old man wanted to locate a young girl named Lund in order to tell her that she was worth lots of money and he wanted Don Gale to try and local this young girl from his past. Don Gale has other ideas and decides to find a girl to impersonate this young girl in order to find out just how much of a fortune she is worth and what it just might be. Several people get murdered and this dark tale takes you down many blind alley's with all kinds of ugly and evil men and woman. Enjoy, it is a good mystery, and Richard Dix had a certain charm that made his acting so suspenseful.

Here's another fine entry in Columbia's noirish Whistler series, the fifth chronologically, and fourth directed by soon-to-be schlockmeister William Castle. Like the first in the series, Castle imbues the film with an especially sleazy atmosphere. The shadowy b&w photography, threatening background detail and desperate lowlife characters evince a cynical view of the urban world, and the writers obliquely hint at sordid relationships and motivations which simmer below the surface of the story. Series lead actor Richard Dix, normally emotively challenged, gives a rather eccentric interpretation of a venal, socially inept gumshoe seeking a big score, who is ironically given the opportunity for redemption. Buffs will certainly savor the parade of iconic supporting actors like Mike Mazurki and Charles Lane. Much better than one would expect from a mystery series, this picture reflects the seamy side of life usually glossed over by the Hollywood veneer.

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.