The Whistler

This unusual Film Noir (the only one ever to be made into a whole series of films) certainly catches the sinister atmosphere of its genre, both visually with very well done shadow effects and the adequate 'cheap' harbor surroundings of a B movie, and thematically, using a lot of psychology which doesn't fail to have its effects, neither on the protagonists nor on the audience - but just a little bit of an overdose of the belief in 'destiny'...

Whose destiny is it to live or to die? Who has a 'right' to live or to die? Questions like these are maybe somehow out of place in a Film Noir - because they've got too much to do with morality. The Noir world (at least that of the 40s) is usually quite immoral (see "The Maltese Falcon", "The Shanghai Gesture", "Gilda"); and it's not always the good ones who get away - that's the cynical Noir philosophy...

But anyway, "The Whistler" still remains an enormously suspenseful film with a very capable cast and direction; and a 'must' for every fan of classic crime.

A man (Richard Dix) is despondent after the death of his wife but can't bring himself to commit suicide.. So he hires a professional hit-man (J. Carrol Naish) to do the deed for him. But suddenly things are looking up for him and he wants to live. The problem is he has a killer after him that he already paid for! An outlandish premise but a fun start to Columbia's Whistler series. The Whistler was a popular radio program of the time. I am way too young to remember the radio show when it first aired, but I have heard many episodes on satellite radio. It's a good show. The movie series is good, as well, with iron-jawed Richard Dix playing the lead in all but one of them. He plays a different role in each movie, just like Lon Chaney, Jr. was doing over at Universal in their Inner Sanctum series.

Like I said, this is a fun movie despite the unbelievable premise. Nice supporting cast backing up Dix including Gloria Stuart, Alan Dinehart, William Benedict, and J. Carrol Naish. Benedict first appears on screen reading a Superman comic book. This has to be one of the earliest appearances or mentions of Superman in a live-action movie. It's also one of the earliest directing jobs from William Castle.

Solid, low-budget film noirish yarn about a man who takes out a contract on himself and then through a reversal of fortune decides against it. The Whisteler open up the film with that delightfully creepy little tune and a brief narrative and the reigns are handed over to a competent corp of character actors(and Richard Dix and Gloria Stuart). Dix plays the lead well-enough though incredibly lethargically. He literally looks like he hasn't slept in days. Stuart is peppy and pretty in a smallish role, but J. Carrol Naish does an outstanding job as the contracted killer. He gives a layered performance is what was a truly difficult role. The film barely spans an hour and ten minutes or so but never lags. we get suspense, action, and answers rather quickly. The Whistler has a much more subdued role then what you would hear in the radio series. This film would go on to spawn many sequels and was one of the earliest directorial forays of horror icon William Castle. Castle, as always, does a more than workmanlike job.

The "Whistler" was very odd for a B-movie series and so much unlike its contemporaries (such as Charlie Chan or The Falcon). Richard Dix starred in 8 of the 9 films. though he played a totally different character in each--sometimes a good guy and other times a bad one. In many ways, this is reminiscent of Universal's INNER SANCTUM series in that the same actor often played different roles in each film AND the series was NOT the standard detective film but an anthology series--much like TV's TWILIGHT ZONE. The "Whistler" in the titles of most of the films is an unseen guy in the shadows that narrates the film and occasionally makes comments during the film. This format was apparently created for the radio version of "The Whistler".

In this first of the series, Dix plays a depressed man who, instead of suicide, pays an unknown assassin to kill him!! While the whole idea is ridiculous and contrived, it is pretty entertaining--especially when Dix changes his mind and truly wants to live but he isn't sure who is coming to kill him or how to stop the contract! The biggest negative, other than the silliness of the story, was the narration by The Whistler. This narrator talks too much--sometimes making comments or saying things that were obvious to the viewer. I haven't seen the rest of the series, but surely hope this was corrected.

Before he became a producer and conjured up all those publicity gimmicks for his cheesy horror pictures, William Castle churned out a series of nifty little pictures as a director for Harry Cohn's B unit -- including the immortal "When Strangers Marry". "The Whistler" is a clever noir that tackles the old premise of a despondent man hiring a contract killer to murder him, only to change his mind later. Castle provides a higher standard of mise-en-scene than in most pictures of this ilk, with nice camera movement and grungy, realistic sets. The absurd plot twists and lapses of logic stretch credulity to the utmost -- but that's one of the "beatitudes of the B's" (as Andrew Sarris would say). It's surprising that Cornell Woolrich was not the original author, so close is the atmosphere to his oeuvre. Dix is a bit of a cipher, but Naish is as compelling as always in another offbeat role as the philosophical hit man who suffers from fear of death; plus there are plenty of familiar faces in minor roles. The mysterious omniscient Whistler narrator is effective, if somewhat underused here. Castle went on to direct two even better entries in the series.