Rent Mysterious Intruder / The Secret of the Whistler (1946)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Adapted from a hit radio series, each episode has the 'Whistler' emerge from the shadows to introduce a nightmarish, twisting tale in his own sardonic manner, with the first seven films starring Richard Dix (It Happened in Hollywood).
Mysterious Intruder (1946)The fifth entry in the Columbia series based on the CBS radio program, "The Whistler", opens with kindly old music store owner Edward Stillwell (Paul E. Burns) hiring private detective Don Gale (Richard Dix) to find a girl Stillwell hasn't seen in seven years. Gale sends Freida Hanson (Helen Mowery') to pose as the missing Elora Lund (Pamela Blake), and she learns that some items left by Elora's mother are now extremely valuable before Harry Pontos (Mike Mazurki) comes into the room and kills Stillwell. He also kidnaps Freida but releases her when Don announces she is an impostor. With Freida's help, Gale locates Pontos' apartment, who is shot down in a gun battle with the arriving police. Gale returns to his place but is arrested by detectives Taggart and Burns and jailed. The detectives later find the real Elora, who has been in a sanitarium recovering from an accident. Gale is released and Elora is sent by the detectives to see if he will disclose why Stillwell was looking for her. Gale, planning to cheat her, tells her what the secret treasure is. Gales disappears and becomes the object of a manhunt when he is wrongfully accused of killing Freida, who has been killed by James Summers, her apartment manager, who has also discovered the secret. Joan Hill, Gale's secretary, locates and warns him about the police. He tells her he is going to the record store to find some recordings made by Jenny Lind worth $200,000.
The Secret of the Whistler (1946)
An artist married to a wealthy but ill woman begins an affair with one of his models, who is after him solely for his money. His wife discovers the affair and threatens to cut him out of her will. In order to be able to keep both the wife's money and his girlfriend, he begins to secretly poison his wife - but events take a surprising turn after she eventually dies.- Actors:
- Richard Dix, Barton MacLane, Nina Vale, Regis Toomey, Helen Mowery, Mike Mazurki, Pamela Blake, Charles Lane, Paul E. Burns, Kathleen Howard, Harlan Briggs, Jessie Arnold, Stanley Blystone, Jack Carrington, Eddy Chandler, Kernan Cripps, Edith Evanson, Otto Forrest, Martin Garralaga, Selmer Jackson
- Directors:
- William Castle, George Sherman
- Producers:
- Rudolph C. Flothow
- Writers:
- William Castle, Richard H. Landau, Raymond L. Schrock
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 27/05/2024
- Run Time:
- 127 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
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Reviews (2) of Mysterious Intruder / The Secret of the Whistler
Humming Along - Mysterious Intruder / The Secret of the Whistler review by CH
Those familiar with the Whistler series, of which these are the fifth and sixth parts (each a story to itself), will know that there is ingenuity to plot and setting every time. Of these two, the second - about an artist married to a rich , dying woman - is the better even if Mysterious Intruder has some fine moody noir scenes, all alleyways and ill-lit premises.
As for Secret, much is owed to model and femme fatale Leslie Brooks - and leaves one eager to seek out her later Blonde Ice, in which she disposes of a series of husbands (something of an aspiration in this one).
Two more Whistlers to go - a treat in store for anybody who welcomes an intelligent diversion.
on Mysterious Intruder - Mysterious Intruder / The Secret of the Whistler review by Steve
William Castle’s final entry in Columbia’s Whistler series of low budget suspense pictures suggests he has been taking notes from the emerging film noir movement. The shadows are deeper and darker, and many scenes are plainly stolen from year-zero noir Murder, My Sweet (1944).
Even more, the script rips off The Maltese Falcon (1941) at every turn. Except this time the rumpus is all about is a couple of valuable musical recordings. Series regular Richard Dix stars, and his morally ambiguous gumshoe might as well be called Sam Spade.
Barton MacLane even turns up as the antagonistic cop. The private dick is hired to find the real owner of the MacGuffin while a dangerous criminal gang muscles in. It doesn’t so much duplicate the usual Whistler blueprint. This is less about the fate of an ordinary man blighted by a single wrong move…
And the Whistler is just a narrator, rather than the mocking, cautionary voice of destiny. The support cast isn't as familiar as usual, but Mike Mazurki has a cameo as a killer heavy. It’s an hour long, cheap, dirty B noir but way above standard for an instalment in a ’40s mystery series.