Columbia Noir #6: The Whistler - Blueprint: Review (2025)

Director: William Castle, Lew Landers, William Clemens, George Sherman, D. Ross Lederman
Screenplay: Eric Taylor, George Bricker, Aubrey Wisberg, William Castle, Wilfred H. Petitt, Richard H. Landau, Raymond L. Schrock, Edward Bock, Maurice Tombragel
Based on the radio series by: J. Donald Wilson
Producers: Rudolph C. Flothow
Starring: Richard Dix, Gloria Stuart, J. Carrol Naish, Janis Carter, Porter Hall
Year: 1944 – 1948
Country: USA
BBFC Certification: PG
Duration: 60 – 66 mins

Who is The Whistler? Well, that is the question! An ominous, shadowy figure who lurks on the margins observing the ironic repercussions meted out to desperate souls who make questionable decisions, The Whistler is like a cross between The Crypt Keeper and Peter Lorre’s elusive murderer from Fritz Lang’s M. He is like Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone narrator, except with a stronger sense of malevolent relish dripping from his voice. Unlike Serling though, The Whistler’s presence can occasionally be detected by the story’s characters, who often hear his distant, eerie whistle. The narrator of a popular radio series, The Whistler crossed over onto the big screen for a series of eight low budget, hour long films released between 1944 and 1948. Half of the films are directed by the legendary William Castle, who would go on to make cult classics The Tingler, 13 Ghosts and House on Haunted Hill. The Whistler films can be watched in quick succession like an anthology series. All but the last entry in the series stars Richard Dix as the leading man but playing a different role each time, a nice gimmick which, along with the short runtimes and the framing narrations by the titular character, increases the feeling of watching a high quality anthology series (The Whistler would eventually make the transition to TV too in 1954).

Ordinarily with a boxset like this I would review each film separately but The Whistler gains so much from being watched as a full film series rather than just individual entries that I’ve decided to look at all the films together. Although I watched them in chronological order of release, the films can be viewed in any order, save perhaps for the final entry, The Return of the Whistler, which does not feature Dix and throws off the continuity if watched as anything but an anomalous coda. Each film opens with the same introductory narration introducing The Whistler, his habit of “walk(ing) by night” and his insight into men and women who have “stepped into the shadows.” In terms of plot, The Whistler himself is not that important but in terms of mood and novelty value his contribution is everything. In the earlier films his presence is sometimes felt more heavily, with moments when the characters stop to wonder what that whistling sound is, but gradually he becomes more of a symbolic figure, his shadow appearing during times of high stress for the characters and his goading voiceover representing their tortured inner monologues. Though uncredited, The Whistler’s voice is always provided by Otto Forrest who seems to relish immersing himself in this gleefully mocking, otherworldly character.

At least as important as The Whistler himself is Richard Dix, whose leading performances across seven of these eight films acted as his Hollywood swan song (his failing health, exacerbated by his alcoholism, prevented him from appearing in the eighth and final instalment, and he died soon afterwards). Dix had been a popular silent era actor and secured himself an Oscar nomination in the early Best Picture winning sound film Cimarron. The characters he plays in The Whistler films are varied, from heroes trapped by circumstance to anti-heroes navigating the consequences of their bad choices, to outright villains indulging in adultery and murder. Part of the fun of watching the series is working out just which of these roles he will be filing each time. Sometimes there’s a surprising switch or a blurry morality that makes it hard to ascertain until certain key moments. Dix plays desperate rather brilliantly and his dishevelled appearance due to his failing health often enhances this quality. It’s clear that the filmmakers didn’t feel this way though, as they see fit to include numerous lines of dialogue about how good looking Dix’s characters are, usually spoken by younger women. As a disheveled middle aged man myself, I don’t object to this osmotic flattery but it does become unintentionally comic after a while. Still, Dix does a terrific job portraying and differentiating his apparently gorgeous characters and his presence is missed in that final entry.

Six of the series’ titles feature The Whistler’s name and are largely meaningless other than as a way of highlighting that this is a Whistler film. So The Mark of the Whistler seems to refer vaguely to the fact that you don’t want this guy interested in your story because that marks you out as a player in an ironic and violent morality tale. The Power of the Whistler is a similarly ill-defined moniker, with The Whistler’s only real power seeming to be that of perverse schadenfreude. The Secret of the Whistler and Voice of the Whistler seem to just be a reference to his general mysteriousness and The Return of the Whistler… well, yeah, he comes back. Twice in the series the filmmakers seem to just get fed up with coming up with these titles, opting instead for the names Mysterious Intruder and The Thirteenth Hour, punchy enough headlines which still don’t seem especially specific to the stories to which they are attached. But part of the joy of The Whistler series is going in knowing as little as possible about what you’re going to get each time, so the vague titles work well enough in preserving that. You may have trouble remembering which title is attached to which story at a later date though.

In terms of quality, The Whistler films hold up extremely well. Chances are if you like the first one you’re going to have a blast with the majority of the series. Mostly adhering to an hour runtime with a few that flirt with the hour and five minute mark, the films are gloriously uncluttered and to the point. Only the more ambitious Voice of the Whistler suffers from needing more time to incorporate its story. That film, the weakest of the Dix vehicles, attempts to combine an upbeat Capra-esque morality tale with a sudden shift into a story about sexual obsession, isolation and murder, and the runtime just can’t contain all those things. Despite being unsuccessful, Voice of the Whistler is still fascinating in what it attempts, with its chilly downbeat ending being one of the series’ most satisfyingly unforgiving. It was directed by William Castle, whose other three Whistler films constitute some of the best of the series. The first, simply titled The Whistler, tells that well-worn story of a depressed man who hires a hitman to kill him, after which he suddenly finds a reason to live and struggles to call off the hit. This plot originated in Jules Verne’s 1879 novel Tribulations of a Chinaman in China and has been the basis of many films before and since Castle’s version. Luckily, it’s a doozy of a concept and The Whistler fills its hour with back-to-back exciting episodes, a sprightly take on Noir with a touch of wry humour (see Byron Foulger’s uncredited performance as a flophouse desk clerk). Dix receives support from future Titanic Oscar nominee Gloria Stuart as the secretary who is in love with him, but it is J. Carrol Naish as the neurotic killer who stands out here. Castle’s second Whistler film, The Mark of the Whistler, is even better, taking another age-old premise of a desperate man who assumes the identity of another person only to find that person was in over their head. Again, it’s a storyline ripe with potential and The Mark of the Whistler does it justice, with Dix playing a far more morally ambiguous character this time round. The resolution of this entry is a little pat and lighthearted but it fits with the film’s tone. From this point on the Whistler series darkens considerably.

The Power of The Whistler, the first of the series not to be directed by Castle, offers up another old chestnut: the amnesia story. Reliably intriguing and efficiently directed by Lew Landers, The Power of The Whistler is the first of the series to get really dark. As Dix’s amnesiac works with his new friend to uncover the truth about himself, the clues lead somewhere unexpectedly grim, prefaced by the appearance of small dead animals wherever the pair go. The Power of The Whistler is not quite up to the standard of the first two films but it is still a gripping and satisfying watch. Castle returns one last time for Mysterious Intruder, which features perhaps Dix’s best character of the series in a corrupt private eye who becomes a fascinating antihero. This one has a great twisty plot and a nice MacGuffin in some valuable wax cylinder recordings. It dives straight into the action so it can pack in as much plot as possible, a marked improvement from the meandering approach of the preceding Voice of the Whistler. It was a great way for Castle to bow out of the series and it might be my favourite of the eight films. Fortunately, the series does not go off the boil with Castle’s exit. George Sherman delivers the deliciously dark romantic murder tale of The Secret of the Whistler, featuring a wonderfully oily Dix as a kept man who uses his wife’s potentially fatal illness as an excuse to line up a new lover, only to find himself facing being cut off when she makes a miraculous recovery. This is probably my second favourite of the Whistler films, with Dix’s loathsome character and his hysterically funny attempt at being an artist standing out. Leslie Brooks is also great as an opportunistic model who plays everyone off each other to her advantage.

By the prophetically titled The Thirteenth Hour, Dix is looking in very poor shape indeed to the extent that it’s a bit distractingly tragic. Still, under the solid direction of William Clemens he turns in one final enjoyable performance. This one is about an unfortunate truck driver who finds himself framed for murder. The story plays out predictably but is extremely entertaining nonetheless and it’s nice that Dix went out with one last shot at playing a sympathetic hero. The Thirteenth Hour would have made a nice ending to the series but unfortunately there was an attempt to make one last entry, the limp The Return of the Whistler. The story, in which a man leaves his fiancé in a hotel room while he goes to get his car fixed and finds her missing on his return, is sufficiently intriguing but D. Ross Lederman’s direction is a bit bland and Michael Duane is a completely inadequate replacement for Dix. By this stage however, Dix was such a crucial part of the series that any film would’ve seemed like a bastardised version of The Whistler without him. The seven films in which he appears, even the lesser Voice of the Whistler, are a fantastically intriguing and thrillingly entertaining body of work which have made me into something of a Dix fan. I loved every moment I spent in the world of The Whistler and was sad to reach the end of this superior series. Indicator have done a fantastic job of preserving the films all in one place and I have no doubt I will dip into this set regularly on evenings when I fancy a double feature, although I have a feeling that to watch one would be to watch the entire series again across successive evenings. What a thoroughly wonderful thing to have discovered.

THE WHISTLER:

THE MARK OF THE WHISTLER:

THE POWER OF THE WHISTLER:

VOICE OF THE WHISTLER:

MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER:

THE SECRET OF THE WHISTLER:

THE THIRTEENTH HOUR:

THE RETURN OF THE WHISTLER:

Columbia Noir #6: The Whistler is released on limited edition Blu-ray by Indicator on 27 May 2024. Special features are as follows:

-Audio commentary with film historian Josh Nelson on The Whistler (2024)
-Audio commentary with professor and film scholar Jason A Ney on The Power of the Whistler (2024)
-Audio commentary with film historian Lee Gambin on Voice of the Whistler (2024)
-Audio commentary with film historian Jeremy Arnold on Mysterious Intruder (2024)
-Audio commentary with academic and curator Eloise Ross on The Thirteenth Hour (2024)
-Kim Newman on ‘The Whistler’ (2024): in-depth exploration of the film series by the critic and author
-Kim Newman on William Castle (2024): overview of the cult filmmaker’s early career as a studio-contracted director, prior to his successes as an independent showman best known for his macabre genre movies
-Stuart Holmes Oral History (1958): rare archival audio recording of the prolific character actor in conversation with historian George Pratt
-It’s Murder (1944): dramatised documentary, produced by Columbia Pictures for the war effort and featuring a number of cast and crew members from The Whistler film series
-It’s Your America (c. 1945): dramatised documentary focusing on soldiers returning from World War II, directed by John Ford and featuring J Carroll Naish, the antagonist in The Whistler
-Image galleries: promotional and publicity materials
-New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
-Limited edition exclusive 120-page book with a new essay by Tim Lucas, archival interviews with actor Richard Dix, an extract from director William Castle’s autobiography, an archival article on the popularity of the radio show, new writing on the short films, and film credits