The Secret of the Whistler

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.