The Whistler (1944)

A depressed man hires an assassin to kill him when he least expects it, but when his life takes an upward turn, he finds he now wishes to live.

Director:

William Castle

Writers:

J. Donald Wilson (based on the CBS Radio Program by), Eric Taylor (screenplay)

Stars:

Richard Dix, Gloria Stuart, J. Carrol Naish

Cast

Cast overview:
Richard Dix	...	Earl C. Conrad
Gloria Stuart	...	Alice Walker
J. Carrol Naish	...	The Killer
Alan Dinehart	...	Gorman

Storyline

A man, despondent over the death of his wife, wants to commit suicide but can't bring himself to do it. He hires a man to hire a professional killer to do the job. However, he soon finds out that his wife isn't really dead - but the man he paid to hire the hitman is, and he has no idea who the man hired or how to get him to call off the hit.

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Plot Keywords:

b movie | first in series | whistling | despondency | wrong man killed | 

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Taglines:

SHOCKS YOU SENSELESS! (original poster-all caps)

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 March 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

Esta Noite Morrerás

Filming Locations:

Larry Darmour Productions, 5821 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Larry Darmour Productions,Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

59 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the film, the deaf-mute young man, who passes the message to the contract killer, is shown reading a comic book. The cover (featuring Superman and Lois Lane) clearly identifies the issue as Superman #27. The release date of this comic was about January 5, 1944, so the scene could not have been shot before that date. And that date is probably too early, since comics were generally printed in the New Jersey area and then had to be shipped by train or truck around the country. It is likely that copies would not have appeared on Hollywood newsstands until the 8th or later, perhaps not until the 12th. Of course, the scene could have been shot several weeks later than that, as Superman was bimonthly at the time and new copies of that issue could have been found on the stands up to the first week of March 1944. However, a March date for filming the scene is not likely, since according to IMDb the finished film was released on March 30, 1944. So that scene was probably filmed between January 8th and February 29th, 1944.

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Goofs

While the killer is lying on the bed perusing his book on Fear of Death, a cigarette suddenly appears in his mouth.

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Quotes

The Bum in the Next Bed: Rats in this place as big as beavers. They won't hurt ya... but you're liable to trip over them in the dark.

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Connections

Followed by The Mark of the Whistler (1944)

User Reviews

Good little B-movie

The "Whistler" was very odd for a B-movie series and so much unlike its contemporaries (such as Charlie Chan or The Falcon). Richard Dix starred in 8 of the 9 films. though he played a totally different character in each--sometimes a good guy and other times a bad one. In many ways, this is reminiscent of Universal's INNER SANCTUM series in that the same actor often played different roles in each film AND the series was NOT the standard detective film but an anthology series--much like TV's TWILIGHT ZONE. The "Whistler" in the titles of most of the films is an unseen guy in the shadows that narrates the film and occasionally makes comments during the film. This format was apparently created for the radio version of "The Whistler".

In this first of the series, Dix plays a depressed man who, instead of suicide, pays an unknown assassin to kill him!! While the whole idea is ridiculous and contrived, it is pretty entertaining--especially when Dix changes his mind and truly wants to live but he isn't sure who is coming to kill him or how to stop the contract! The biggest negative, other than the silliness of the story, was the narration by The Whistler. This narrator talks too much--sometimes making comments or saying things that were obvious to the viewer. I haven't seen the rest of the series, but surely hope this was corrected.