The Whistler (1944)

Film Title: The Whistler
Released: March 30, 1944
Directed by: William Castle
Written by: Eric Taylor based on a story by J. Donald Wilson
Starring: Richard Dix, Gloria Stuart & J. Carroll Naish

Plot: A depressed man hires an unknown killer to assassinate him. When he has a change of heart, he scrambles to call off the hit but has no way to do so.

IMDb: 6.6/10
My Score: 3/5

The Whistler was a long-running anthology mystery series on the west-coast regional CBS radio network from 1942 to 1955. The character of "The Whistler" was a kind of all-knowing, all-seeing entity that would narrate the stories and sometimes comment on the proceedings. In 1944, Columbia Pictures adapted the show into a film series that would eventually have eight entries in all. The first film, simply called The Whistler, stars Richard Dix (who appears as a different main character in seven of the eight films) as a wealthy businessman whose wife was lost at sea. Three years have passed and he has only grown more depressed since the incident so he hires an assassin (J. Carroll Naish) to kill him, not having the fortitude to do it himself. But when he receives the good news that his wife is alive, he needs to call off the hit. Desperately looking for the middleman who was his contact, he discovers that the man was shot right after their initial meeting and that he now has no way of contacting the killer directly. What ensues is a cat and mouse game with plenty of shadowy photography, dames with a grudge and crazy killers. I found this movie very entertaining, with enough twists and turns to keep me guessing, and am looking forward to watching the others in the series. Gloria Stuart co-stars as Dix's secretary who is in love with him, though Dix is oblivious. The film was an early effort of great B-movie director William Castle, only his third feature. The three main actors were all nominated for Oscars in their careers: Dix for Best Actor in 1931 for Cimarron, Stuart for Best Supporting Actress in 1998 for Titanic (she played Old Rose) and Naish twice for Best Supporting Actor; once in 1944 for Sahara and again in 1946 for A Medal for Benny. Watch the opening sequence below.