Mysterious Intruder (1946)

The sixth 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 ... See full summary »

Director:

William Castle

Writer:

Eric Taylor (story)

Stars:

Richard Dix, Barton MacLane, Nina Vale

Cast

Cast overview:
Richard Dix	...	Don Gale
Barton MacLane	...	Detective Taggart
Nina Vale	...	Joan Hill, Gale's Secretary
Regis Toomey	...	James Summers
Helen Mowery	...	Freda Hanson
Mike Mazurki	...	Harry Pontos
Pamela Blake	...	Elora Lund
Charles Lane	...	Detective Burns

Storyline

The sixth 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...

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Plot Keywords:

music store | private detective | whistler | murder | hidden treasure | 

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Taglines:

Radio's master of mystery... in his most thrilling case!

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Genres:

Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 April 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

Murder Is Unpredictable

Company Credits

Production Co:

Larry Darmour Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

61 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Followed by The Return of the Whistler (1948)

User Reviews

The Whistler Returns

Mysterious Intruder (1946)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fifth film in Columbia's The Whistler series has Richard Dix playing a private investigator who gets a case from an old man who is looking for his niece. Soon the old man is dead and the PI might have had something to do with it. This is a pretty good entry in the series, although the screenplay falls short when compared to the previous film. I think the biggest problem here is the plot itself, which is quite confusing and even in the end it didn't seem to work itself out very well. The film only ran 61-minutes so perhaps that's why the story didn't have time to work itself out as well as it should have. Dix once again turns in a good performance with Charles Lane, Barton MacLane and Nina Vale offering fine support. Castle's direction is good throughout, although it could have probably been better with a better script.