In this, the penultimate Whistler movie, Richard Dix, aging and hulking, is simply deliciously evil. Though acting with seeming sweetness and kindness to those around him, Dix's eyes give it all away: hideous, subtly maniacal eyes, eyes in which we can see the selfish egotistical dementia of a man who has apparently spent a lifetime manipulating and using every person unfortunate enough to cross his path. A great job by Dix, and I hope he had fun with this role.Otherwise, as is usual in the Whistler fliks, the supporting actors are adequate, and the dialogue slightly corny and dated, but with a time of barely over an hour, the pace is quick and satisfying.A very interesting directorial decision: three years before this movie was made (that is, 1943) the great western, The Ox-bow Incident, was released. In the famous last scene, Henry Fonda reads aloud the last letter written by the lynched Dana Andrews. Fonda's eyes, and eyes alone, are not visible, hidden behind the brim of Henry Morgan's hat, while we see his mouth move. A very effective idea.Well, here, in The Secret of the Whistler, the director uses the exact same idea: in a late scene, Richard Dix's wife makes a startling confession, her eyes hidden by an intruding lamp shade, but her mouth visible as she speaks, with Dix looking on behind her. Again, interesting.Lastly, look for Dix's wife walking around with about a half-dozen dead minks or stoles or whatever they are, complete with heads, draped across her left shoulder. I don't why this struck me as funny, but, in its gratuitous pointlessness, it did.Definitely a fun way to spend 65 minutes.

While this is far from the best entry in the Whistler movie series, it is still a decent and very watchable B-movie. The Whistler series was popular on film and radio and was in many ways an anthology series like "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". Each episode was totally self-contained and had all new characters, and in an unusual twist, Richard Dix starred in almost every film as a different character--some of them nice, some awful and many which possessed both good and bad traits. He was not in the final film, RETURN OF THE WHISTLER due to his ill health.Here, Dix plays a guy you initially feel for, as his wife is very sickly and Dix is quite lonely as a result. When he meets a sexy young model, you could understand (though not excuse) his actions--after all, it isn't much fun having an ill wife who is expected to soon die and is too weak to see except for brief moments. However, when this rather innocent relationship with the new lady changes and becomes very serious, the film takes some very interesting twists. In fact, while I could describe the plot in detail, one other reviewer already did this very well--plus I'd rather not include the spoilers because enjoying the film depends greatly on all the surprises, though as usual for the series, the film ends with a very ironic twist.Very good writing, an engaging story and good acting all result in a better than average B-movie. While not as good an entry in the series as THE WHISTLER or MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER, it is very good and well worth a look--and is light years better than the low-point in the series, THE POWER OF THE WHISTLER (which, frankly, isn't worth watching since it so poorly written).

A neat entry from the series has RICHARD DIX playing a man who wants to get rid of his wife for a younger woman (LESLIE BROOKS). What he doesn't know is that his wife learns about his affair with the young blonde model and is recording her thoughts in a diary.When his wife dies, he does marry again--but has to play a cat-and-mouse game with his new wife when she begins to suspect him of murder.Dix plays his role quite effectively and Leslie Brooks is stunning as the blonde beauty. She never had a better chance than she does here, but unfortunately Columbia was never able to find anything but supporting roles for her in B-films of the period.Suspenseful, it takes awhile before the tense proceedings start to tighten up, but it's worth ending for the good finale. MICHAEL DUANE has a small supporting role as an artist but gets star billing.Well directed by George Sherman, these series are better than average programmers.

This was the second to last film Richard Dix made in the Whistler series. The mysterious Whistler is seen as a shadow and heard invoice-over narration, but the "star" of the films is Richard Dix, who plays a different role in each--some heroic, some cowardly, some honorable, some not so honorable. This must have been satisfying to Dix, since it gave him regular work AND allowed him to show his talent in a wide variety of roles. This particular entry gives Dix a complex role, as an artist married to a rich woman whose financial support allows him to continue his work. The plot is more complex than the synopsis suggests, and there are a number of twists and turns throughout, giving the film the feel of an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The "femme fatale" in this film is played by Leslie Brooks, who took this kind of role even further in the great BLONDE ICE two years later. Director George Sherman did a lot of exciting films at Republic prior to this film at Columbia, including many entries in the Three Mesquiteers series, and went on to do many more films, including episodes of such classic TV shows as Rawhide and Naked City. The centerpiece of the film, though, is Richard Dix, an actor of great presence (it's fair to say that Gary Cooper was influenced by Dix)and subtlety. SECRET OF THE WHISTLER would be a good introduction to this series, and it should appeal to any fan of INNER SANCTUM, THRILLER, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, etc. Most of the other films in the series are worth checking out also. Perhaps sometime in the future Columbia could do a DVD boxset of the Whistler films the way Universal is doing the Francis and Ma&Pa Kettle films? And after that, perhaps they could reissue the Boston Blackie films?