Voice of the Whistler (1945)

This is a very haunting entry in the unusual Whistler series, exploring loneliness and the need of friendship. Lynn Merrick was an up and coming starlet who had been featured on the Crime Doctor series and also in "Nine Girls" but she just wasn't showy or different enough to stand out from the crowd I suppose - she looked eye catching enough in this movie. These series were particularly good with unusually solid parts for girls, here Merrick plays Joan Martin, a nurse at the East Street Clinic where ruthless industrialist John Sinclair (Richard Dix) has been directed. He has just collapsed outside a train station where he is helped by a cheery cockney (!!!) cabbie who doesn't know who he is. Sinclair has been a hard headed business man all his life and through his hunger for power has missed out on love and companionship and now wants to make amends. He is drawn to nurse Joan (Merrick) but Joan is engaged to doctor Fred, even though, because of his lowly paid work among slum patients, he cannot give her the money and security that she craves. Sinclair sees his chance, reveals his true identity and lies, telling Joan he has only six months to live and that after his death, if they marry, she will inherit everything.The odd thing is that they then move to an isolated lighthouse - after realising that being around people has cured him of his malaise. Never fear, Joan has now given him even more of a reason to live and at the end of six months it is a hale and hearty John and a discontented Joan who welcome Fred as a guest to their lonely home. Fred has changed from a caring doctor to a grasping opportunist who can see a way out for himself and Joan. John's thoughts are going along the same lines and he engages Fred in that old conversation "how would you plan the perfect murder"??? John confides his plan of starting a rumour around the village that Fred is a sleepwalker - so when Fred's body is found, he will have a perfect alibi. Fred starts to act on the "suggestion", just as John hoped he would and when Fred enters his room that night, John is two steps ahead of him and Fred then becomes the corpse.... but there is a problem!!! After listening to John's proposal, Fred had become paranoid and ordered Sparrow (who is now John's buddy) to nail down the windows so it seems John now has to carry Fred's body down to the rocks below where he is seen by someone.... but who!!!After proving that he could play a villain as well as the next man (in "The Ghost Ship") Richard Dix was signed to do "The Whistler" series where he was called on to play a variety of characters - none of them particularly nice!!!

Although "Voice Of The Whistler" is the shortest of the first four Whistler films, running just under an hour, it is also the slowest in its setting up the plot. It doesn't really pick up until the last 20 minutes or so, when the young doctor arrives at the lighthouse and the film becomes (not a who-done-it but) a who-will-do-it-first! The characters are complex people - neither good nor bad, but somewhere in between (like most of us). Other points of interest include the surprising amount of skin Lynn Merrick shows in her vintage mid-1940s swimsuit, and the pseudo-documentary at the start which actually reminded me of Woody Allen's "Zelig"! **1/2 out of 4.

Voice of the Whistler (1945) *** (out of 4) Fourth film in Columbia's series is once again directed by William Castle but he also co-wrote the screenplay here. This time out Richard Dix plays a rich man who will dead within a two month period. Not wanting to spend his last months alone, he offers a nurse (Lynn Merrick) a great opportunity. She marries him to bring him happiness and he'll leave her his millions. They go through with the plan but all of the sudden he starts to get healthy again. This is certainly the best film in the series so far and it works mainly due to the great story they are working with. There's a lot of twists and turns throughout the short 60-minute running time but it all leads to a highly believable ending. Dix is very good in his role as is Merrick and the two work perfectly well together. The screenplay offers both of their characters a chance to grow, which certainly isn't normal for this type of B movie. Castle does a very good job with his direction and proves he could direct something without gimmicks.

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.