The Last Whistle

 

 (imdb)

THE RETURN OF THE WHISTLER-1948-A man (Michael Duane) and woman (Lenore Aubert) want to get married but the minister is away. Meanwhile someone sabotages their car. Since this is the 1940's they can't stay together in one room. The next day he goes to her room and she's disappeared. A private eye (Richard Lane)) tries to help him and flashbacks reveal how the two lovers met. Double crosses, evil in-laws and an inheritance all figure in the wild plot. Uncredited roles go to Trevor Bardette, Ann Doran, Wilton Graf and Olin Howland. 

This last installment into the series was directed by D. Ross Lederman. 

Lead actress Lenore Aubert was in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN the same year.

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Secret Whistler

 

 (imdb)

THE SECRET OF THE WHISTLER-1946-After the usual intro, a woman (Mary Currier) buys a headstone for herself (from Byron Foulger). Her husband Ralph Harrison (Richard Dix) is called away from a party he's throwing because his wife, Edith has a heart attack. He meets a model Kay (Leslie Brooks) and begins to romance her while waiting for his wife to die. Somehow, his wife gets better and overhears Harrison telling Kay how much he loves her. Edith throws him out but he returns at night and switches her meds with poison. She dies and he marries Kay. Everyone suspects him of murder but Kay finds the old wife's diary that has an entry that seems to clear Ralph. Both wind up dead and the Whistler keeps whistling. John Hamilton and Arthur Space have uncredited roles. 

This is another weird entry into the series (the sixth installment), this time directed by George Sherman (THE LADY AND THE MONSTER (1944)). Star Dix would make one more film in the series, which be his last film appearance as he died in 1949 at age 56. His death may have been hastened by alcoholism.

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Still Whistling

 

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THE POWER OF THE WHISTLER-1945-In this strange drama, Richard Dix is a man who suffers a blow to the head and can't remember his name or the purpose of an important mission he knows he has to perform. Jean Lang (Janis Carter)) reads his fortune in a Greenwich village cafe and deduces he's in danger. She and her sister (Jeff Donnell) decide to help him from clues he has on him. (a lighter, a Canadian dollar, a bakery slip and a doctor's prescription). It all comes together when it's discovered he's an escaped lunatic out for revenge. John Abbott is a book shop owner and I. Stanford Jolley, Kenneth MacDonald, Nina Mae McKinney, Eddie Parker and Frank Scannell have small roles. 

Screenwriter Aubrey Wisberg later wrote and produced THE MAN FROM PLANET X (1951) and wrote THE NEANDERTHAL MAN in 1953. Prolific low-budget film director Lew Landers made this sometimes eerie film noir mystery. It's the third in the series.

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The First Whistler

 

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THE WHISTLER-(1944)-In the first of the series, Earl Conrad (Richard Dix) is a businessman who blames himself for the death of his wife and decides to have a hit man knock him off. Later, when it appears his wife is still alive, Conrad changes his mind and doesn't want to die. His journey takes many twists. A psychotic hit man (J.Carroll Nash in standout performance) tries to scare him to death. Conrad almost winds up as a stowaway on a ship bound for Japan. 

Nice little film noir directed by William Castle. Also with Gloria Stuart, Byron Foulger as a flophouse attendant, William Bennidict as a mute delivery boy, Trevor Bardette, Ralph Dunn and George Lloyd. It's based on a CBS radio show created by J. Donald Wilson. This was the first of 8 Whistler films produced by Columbia Pictures. Richard Dix was the star of the first 7. The titular character is the narrator (Otto Forrest). 

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