Simply Perfect

Must See Movie...

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

"Voice of the Whistler" is an interesting entry in the Whistler series in several aspects. The first half of the movie will lead you to believe that it will be the story of a dying man trying to improve his life before he passes on. It is treated pretty seriously, and there is nothing chilling or horrifying about the movie during this first half. Things do start to get darker in the second half of the movie, but not right away - it's only in the last fifteen or so minutes that the movie gets seriously dark. And the way the movie unfolds during those last fifteen minutes feels more like a noir of the period than a suspense drama. Although my above description of the movie may make it sound to be somewhat of a mess, it's actually executed fairly well. It's fairly briskly paced and never boring - you'll be wondering what exactly will happen in the end (though the flash forward scene at the beginning of the movie does take out some of the punch at the end.) This is a nice little B movie that does its job in just sixty minutes.

The Whistler series from Columbia is unusual. Every feature starts out with an introduction by "The Whistler" who is just a shadowy anonymous figure. The protagonist in every feature is played by Richard Dix, and in each case he is a different person with a different problem.This one tackles greed and loneliness. Dix plays business titan John Sinclair. The film opens with a film within a film that is a history of Sinclair's business life, starting in WWI, then spreading to auto production and banking, how his banks stayed solvent through the Great Depression, and a recent court win over another company stealing Sinclair's inventions. It's a nice little device to catch you up on John's history. But Sinclair is lonely because he doesn't trust other people to not use him to get his money. He has no friends or relatives. He has something that is merely called "an attack", and his doctor says he needs to leave immediately for a vacation or else he will die, the implication being that he will probably die shortly anyways. Nothing more specific is ever said about his illness.Well, John does take that trip, does make friends in Chicago, and then changes his destination to the seacoast on medical advice. He takes two of his Chicago friends with him - a cabbie, Sparrow, who helped him when he did not know he was helping the rich John Sinclair, and a nurse, Joan, at a neighborhood clinic for poor people. He marries the nurse strictly as a business deal - she will stay with him the few months he has left in return for inheriting his fortune. The problem is, Joan already has a fiancé, Fred, but he is struggling in spite of being a doctor and Joan wants money NOW. It is a revealing scene when she talks to her fiancé and you see how greedy she is underneath that compassionate exterior.So John, Sparrow, and Joan go to live in a lighthouse on the Maine Coast, renovated to a beach house. There is just one snag - John doesn't die. Happiness with Joan has helped him recover. The other snag is Joan is getting impatient again, tired of the isolation of the lighthouse which is really nothing for John since he has always been socially isolated. And then Joan's ex-fiancé shows up unexpectedly one day. John is suspicious that Fred will take Joan away. Fred still loves Joan. Joan still loves Fred but also loves the promise of her inheritance which she loses if she dumps John. And how does Sparrow the friendly cabbie fit into all of this, or does he? Watch and find out how this noir turns Capra-esque and then turns Hitchcock in the end.Recommended as a very good entry in the series. Columbia certainly knew how to take a shoestring budget and turn out an interesting product.

Wealthy industrialist John Sinclair (Richard Dix) has devoted so much of his life to making money that he has no friends. To make matters worse for the saddest millionaire, his health is now failing. While on a doctor-prescribed vacation, he meets sexy nurse Joan (Lynn Merrick). He steals her away from her fiancé Fred to go live with him in a lighthouse, promising he will leave his fortune to her when he dies. After awhile Fred shows up and the plot, as they say, thickens.The fourth in Columbia's Whistler series starring Richard Dix. Not the best but pretty good, especially given the short runtime. Dix is solid as usual. Fine support from Rhys Williams, James Cardwell, and beautiful Lynn Merrick, who looks great in a bathing suit. There's an early scene with a group of men sitting in a darkened room watching newsreel footage about the life of Dix's character that is close enough to Citizen Kane that one might call it a rip-off. Perhaps William Castle meant it as an homage. By the way, how precious is that little girl in the doctor's office? "I can't help it if I'm popular" -- so cute.

Whistler no.4 was imho perhaps the weakest of the 8 in the series, the main trouble being the plot change from seedy tarmac to invigorating lighthouse. This still means it's an atmospheric, interesting and inventive mystery thriller, keeping you on your toes with all the twists to the very end.Rich, friendless and ill industrialist Richard Dix has a heart attack and gets ordered to go on vacation, forget about work and de-stress. He bumps into an English ex-boxer cocky Ernie Sparrow who befriends him and shows him round his poor but friendly neighbourhood. But sadly it doesn't last long as a new story direction is suddenly taken. You go from feeling sympathetic for everyone to feeling it only for Sparrow, such is the effect of the "business arrangement" that was made. Favourite bits: Some of the homely scenes looking out of the lighthouse windows stick in the mind; Lynn Merrick never looked lovelier this side of Boston Blackie, or out of a saddle either.If you like the genre like me it's a nice little film, an hour well spent.