I love classic films, but one of my greatest pet peeves about them is long, uninteresting dialogue scenes. This film has got plenty! The plot is at least intriguing. There's this guy who thinks that his wife is dead, so he hires a hit-man to kill himself off. Midway through the movie he realizes his wife is alive, but he is unable to call off the murder.Where this film is lacking is in its execution. The cinematography is bland and uninteresting, and the performances here, except for J. Carroll Naish, are dull. This movie manages to take an interesting premise and make it boring by sheer unimaginative filmmaking.I know this is a low budget movie, but you know what? So was Night of the Living Dead. That movie at least had a spark of imagination and creativity.I actually stopped watching this 3/4 of the way through. I don't know for certain how it ends, but that doesn't matter to me, for I was not invested in the story at all. Ugh.Don't waste your time here.

Richard Dix is a depressed businessman who, through a third party, hires an unknown hit man to kill him. When the reason for his depression disappears, Dix prowls around looking for the unknown murderer, trying to stop him. Other movies have used a similar formula, most recently "Bulworth." Dix is a little soggy but otherwise bland, with the voice of an experienced actor. Gloria Stuart is the secretary who loves him and hers is an appealing presence. Pretty, too. J. Carrol Naish is the would-be murderer who first shows up as an annoying and somewhat comic life insurance salesman but, thereafter, is unidimensional as the determined killer who never smiles, is usually interrupted in his attempts to plug Dix, and who is given to reading books with titles like, "The Pleasures of Necrophilia" -- I mean "necrophobia." He conceives the idea of scaring Dix to death. It sounds silly but under the right conditions it can work. Read my ground-breaking article, "Doomed Status", in "Psychiatric Quarterly," where all will be explained.It's a minor B feature based on the popular radio series. "B Feature", as in this case, usually translates into "no time, no money, little talent." The sets are spare. There is, though, one fascinating and repellant scene in a flop house. Twenty-five cents buys a sort of cot for the night. You must watch out for cooties and thieving neighbors. Director Castle makes the most of the scene.I don't know exactly how it's possible for some people to compare this unpretentious, careless minor feature to Val Lewton's psychological horror stories over at RKO. This is a sometimes diverting B movie. Lewton's work was sometimes gripping and always meticulously executed.

Whistler, The (1944) ** 1/2 (out of 4) First film in Columbia's series has Richard Dix playing a man wanting to commit suicide due to the death of his wife but he doesn't have the courage to do so. Wanting to die, Dix hires a killer (J. Carrol Naish) to do the job but then he learns that his wife is still alive so he too must try and stay alive. Based on a radio show, this first film is actually pretty entertaining due to some nice direction by Castle and the two leads turning in fine performances. The story itself is pretty interesting and the B-budget gets all out of it that it can. Dix makes for a very good leading man and his performance is very good especially during his depression scenes. Naish is a great character actor and makes for a very good killer. Gloria Stuart plays Dix secretary and does nice work, although she has the weakest character.

I watched this last night on TCM and found it not only thoroughly entertaining but a textbook example of how a B-grade picture from a poverty row studio could rise above its budget limitations thanks to the efforts of a clever director (William Castle) and strong players (Richard Dix and J. Carroll Naish in particular). Superior in some respects to entries in parallel series based on radio programs (like Universal's Inner Sanctum with Lon Chaney, Jr.), perhaps the most appealing aspect of "The Whistler" is the economy with which the story is told. There are no needless lines, no needless scenes. Whether it belongs within the "noir" cycle is a matter to be debated, but nevertheless "The Whistler" has its share of the quirky characters and shadowy settings that typify that genre, not to mention the creepy portrayal by Naish of a hit-man who reads a monograph on "necrophobia" in his spare time.