the audience applauded

Brilliant and touching

Amateur movie with Big budget

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

This should have been an ideal part for Claude Rains, who could have added a great deal of suavity and other nuances to the weird character of William Everest, who as it is raises your suspicion from the beginning, while poor Janis Carter in spite of all her beauty and charm seems to be totally blind to the warnings that should be alarming enough to anyone, like the weird man causing the deaths of three pets - Janis seems to take it for granted that it must be accidents, but three? Just coincidence? Come on.But the story is good, and the intrigue is fascinating. She gets the idea from her cards that a man standing by the bar only has 24 hours left to live, wherefore she will do anything to prevent this and save his life. It actually proves to be at peril, since he just had a car accident and has lost his memory, so the least thing she could do is to help him regain his memory and find out who he is. It proves however that losing his memory was the best thing that could have happened to him, and as he gets it back not even Janis can save him any more.As it is, an interesting intrigue gets undeveloped and lost in superficiality, while a Claude Rains would have been needed to bring the film to maturity.

24 hours to live. The cards have it, twice, shocking an amateur fortune teller (Janis Carter) who out of the blue looks over at total stranger Richard Dix sitting at a bar and on a whim deals his future from her deck. Shocked by this, she decides to warn him, and after discovering that he has no idea of who he is makes it her mission to find out. Is she going to find danger as she helps him along his journey? Only the whistler knows for sure!Absolutely superb mystery with enough twists and turns to fill out a map of the east, west and Greenwich Village where much of this takes place. As Carter gets in deeper, her sister Jeff Donnell finds out her share of information, and like a train whistle, it is a warning of approaching danger.Deliciously complex but never convoluted, this could rank as a B film noir if it wasn't for its radio history and certain other elements that aficionados argue over. Miss Carter, who appeared in a few film noir as femme fatales, is noble here as she digs herself in deeper. The exotic Tala Birell also fits in to the fast moving nail biter that is delightfully atmospheric and gripping.

This is one of the more frustrating movies I've seen in some time. That's because the basic story idea is brilliant and very engaging--so engaging that even with the plot's many, many faults, it still was worth watching. The bottom line is that the film had so many plot holes and irrational behaviors on the part of the characters that I was frustrated beyond belief. My wife also watched the film with me and we both found ourselves complaining out loud repeatedly at all the bone-headed actions of the cast--particularly, but not exclusively, Janis Carter (who played "Jean Lang"). The writer, Aubrey Wisberg, had great ideas but either rushed the film into production before all the kinks could be worked out or they didn't care--I'm not sure which.Richard Dix returns again to the series and I liked his being in the Whistler films because he was a very good actor and it was neat to see the same person play different roles in the lead in every Whistler film--what a great concept. It starts off very well as he's struck by a hit and run driver and loses his memory. As he wanders about, Jean sees him and takes pity on him--discovering that he has amnesia and she tries to help him recover his memories. Not knowing what sort of person he was is a great idea--especially as the hidden truth about Dix is really exciting like an episode of the Twlight Zone or Outer Limits.However, here is a partial list of stupid behaviors (those not by Jean are noted): --When she discovers Dix wandering about, she never thinks to take him to the police (who can take fingerprints and check out his story very quickly), but takes him home! What if he's a maniac or a sex offender or is an Amway salesman? --When Dix touches three animals and only a short time later they are dead, no red flag was raised to idiot Jean. A stranger appears and in the space of less than a day, three cute animals die around him and yet that doesn't result in her questioning his character! --When you discover that he IS lying about his past and has every appearance of being a maniac up to no good, you are fortunately stopped by the police who can easily save you! Yet, when they question him and he lies, you say nothing--you don't even ask for help, even though the cops have guns drawn on Dix and to your knowledge Dix is unarmed.--When Dix tries to kill you and chases you, you never scream for help! You just run and hide! --When Dix acts clingy and creepy later in the film (saying he loves you after only knowing you a day), you let this slide.--When Jean and Dix visit the actress early in the film, the actress says she doesn't know him and tells them to leave. Late in the film, she says she DID know him and that he was a dangerous maniac--yet said nothing!!! Had she just told Jean this in the beginning, the entire rest of the film would have been irrelevant!! Now this isn't to say ALL the characters were stupid. Jean's sister and her boyfriend were both good and intelligent characters. But Jean's actions go way beyond pathetically stupid making her seem ridiculous and forcing the audience to cheer for her to die! Plus, the actress and her story made absolutely no sense at all. It's really a shame, as apart from these problems, the plot was amazing and super-exciting. I really hope someone at a studio watches this film and decides to do a remake--the story idea and most of the plot are amazing.

(There are Spoilers) Having a lot of things on his mind William Everest, Richard Dix, stumbles across a well traveled city street and almost gets run down by a speeding car. Hitting his head against a lamp-post Everest completely loses his memory and stumbles into this Greenwich Village night club "The Salt Shaker" to get a drink. It's there where his future is uncannily foretold by Jean Lang, Janis Carter, in a deck of cards that she's playing with: Everest the cards predict has just 24 hours left to live.Leaving both her sister Frankie played by Jeff, a strange first name for a girl, Donnell and her boyfriend Charlie, Loren Tindall, Jane follows Everest outside in order to keep him from his date with death. Not knowing who Everest really is, since he doesn't know himself, Jean calls him "George" and the two try to figure out his true identity. Looking through "George's" pockets Jean comes up with a number of clues that eventually leads to who he really is. The strange clues include a skeleton key and receipts for a bouquet of flowers and birthday cake as well as a doctors perception and railroad schedule and most of all a Canadian dollar bill with a car license plate written on it! Spending most of the evening together tracking down the clues the two soon fall in love with each other and George ends up staying the night with both Jean and Frankie in their apartment. George besides being a real dreamboat, in Jean's eyes, also turns out to be a great cook in his God-given ability in frying perfect sunny-side up eggs as well as him being a perfect gentleman; he also says grace before meals. This has the very suspicious Frankie, who's not as turned on by "Gerorge" as her sister is, to soon fall heads over heels for him as well. There's only one slight imperfection, that goes almost unnoticed by the two women, about this "George" that's very disturbing! Any living thing that he touches, parrakeet's kittens and squirrels, suddenly and mysteriously die!It doesn't take long to realize, with the exception of the love and star-struck Jean, that "Geroge" is bad news to anybody that he comes in contact with and that includes Jean Lang who by then really should have known better. Without giving away any more of "The Power of the Whistler's" storyline Jean's cards did in fact predict "George", or William Everest's fate. ***SPOILER ALERT***It was only too bad that Everest, an escaped and on the loose psycho from a local mental institution, came across so likable and friendly at the beginning of the movie. Knowing who and what he is would have saved a number of our innocent and fellow living creatures, I can't remember Evererst or "George" murdering any human being in the movie, from the horrible fate, by him poisoning the sweet and lovable little critters to death, that he had in store for them.