The Whistler. . . in Murder and Mystery Forum

Forum Jump

The Whistler. . .

Author	Comment
LCranston	The Whistler. . .	Lead	[-]
Aug 10 07 9:06 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I went back through all the pages under "Murder and Mystery" and didn't see a single thread dedicated to this series. Maybe it's somewhere else (thank you 'Search' function). Anyway, I saw the first film of this series a few years ago when it was playe don the Encore Mystery channel. I really enjoyed it! I tought Richard Diz and J. Carroll Naish were great in their roles, and there was an aura of forboding that permeated the proceedings. I've wanted to get the other films in in the series and have seen a couple different people offer them on ebay. I bought one a year ago, but the person tried cramming all eight films on two single-sided DVDs and the quality was terrible (I luckily was able to return them). Does anyone else have these, or recommend a good place to get them? Or just feel generous and want to make me a copy? "I live the unknown, I love the unknown... I AM the unknown."
HalLane	Re: The Whistler. . .	#1	[-]
Aug 10 07 10:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	TCM will be showing a bunch of Whistlers in November: 5 Monday 6:00 AM Whistler, The (1944) A grieving widower hires an assassin to kill him only to have his late wife turn up alive. Cast: Richard Dix, J. Carroll Naish, Gloria Stuart. Dir: William Castle. BW-60 mins, TV-PG 7:15 AM Power of the Whistler, The (1945) A young woman seeks an amnesiac's true identity in the clues in his pockets. Cast: Richard Dix, Janis Carter, Jeff Donnell. Dir: Lew Landers. C-66 mins, 8:30 AM Voice of the Whistler (1945) A dying millionaire marries his nurse for companionship, only to experience a miracle cure. Cast: Richard Dix, Lynn Merrick, Rhys Williams. Dir: William Castle. C-60 mins, 9:45 AM Mysterious Intruder, The (1946) A detective discovers the woman he's been hired to track down is the key to an unusual inheritance. Cast: Richard Dix, Barton MacLane, Nina Vale. Dir: William Castle. C-61 mins, 11:00 AM Secret of the Whistler, The (1946) An artist plots murder when his rich wife when she catches him in an affair with one of his models. Cast: Richard Dix, Leslie Brooks, Michael Duane. Dir: George Sherman. C-65 mins, 12:15 PM Return of the Whistler, The (1948) When a woman goes missing on the eve of her wedding, her fianci hires a detective to track her down. Cast: Michael Duane, Lenore Aubert, Richard Lane. Dir: D. Ross Lederman. C-60 mins, What's missing?
black hangman	Re: The Whistler. . .	#2	[-]
Aug 11 07 9:26 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	MARK OF THE WHISTLER and THE 13TH HOUR are the two not scheduled. MARK was one of five that showed on THE MOVIE CHANNEL some dozen years ago. I just hope that when November arrives, they are still scheduled. TCM has scheduled a number of B's in the last few months that have disappeared as the scheduled month drew closer. All of them Columbia's.
LCranston	Re: The Whistler. . .	#3	[-]
Aug 11 07 12:41 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	HalLane, wow! Many thanks for that update! My birthday's in November, so this is perfect timing. It would be nice to think that TCM is playing these in anticipation of a legitimate DVD release (like with the Nancy Drews), but I'll take what I can get. "I live the unknown, I love the unknown... I AM the unknown."
Butcher Benton	Re: The Whistler. . .	#4	[-]
Aug 16 07 9:05 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The Whistler is arguably Hollywood's only "film noir" movie series. Some of the Whistler's are extremely dark and fatalistic tales, particularly Mark of the Whistler. I would really like to see Sony put these films out in a DVD set with some boffo special features.
todmichel	Re: The Whistler. . .	#5	[-]
Aug 18 07 3:44 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	*Quote:* Some of the Whistler's are extremely dark and fatalistic tales, particularly Mark of the Whistler. It seems quite natural, as it was based on a story by Cornell Woolrich / William Irish, the greatest writer in this genre.
carruthers40	Re: The Whistler. . .	#6	[-]
Aug 18 07 10:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I still have not been able to see these films, so what is the consensus around here...are we going to get these in an official release? It seems as though they're getting to everything else. Here is a Whistler collage I threw together ages ago...I was really jazzed to see them then, and still am...Oh, I wish I had TCM. Looking at all this imagery, one can imagine what a nice box they could put together.
carruthers40	Re: The Whistler. . .	#7	[-]
Sep 6 07 11:55 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, I've gone and signed up with cable...seems that I've read that alot of folks around here are getting rid of cable and going with just watching their extensive DVD collecitons. Never had cable myself, my fiancee and I have lived in our current apartment for over three years here in Minneapolis, and only now are giving in to cable...It's the DVR capability that is the selling point...I'll now be recording and watching the "Whistler" pictures for the first time, and watching them at my convenience, over and over...Finally! Up next, the Boston Blackie's, the Crime Doctor, Torchy Blane...ect., ect.
HalLane	Re: The Whistler. . .	#8	[-]
Sep 6 07 2:55 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Carruthers, you do realize that the BOSTON BLACKIEs have already been running on TCM Saturday mornings @10:00 & 11:00 a.m. EST since the begining of the month, don't you ;)?
carruthers40	Re: The Whistler. . .	#9	[-]
Sep 6 07 3:34 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hiya Hal, Thanks for the heads up. They are stopping in to install on Sunday, so I'll be waiting til they next air. Can't wait for Confessions..., but as you know, I've been holding out for the Whistler for some time! How are things by the by? It's been a while...
HalLane	Re: The Whistler. . .	#10	[-]
Sep 6 07 5:28 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Things are good, Kirk. Good to see you back on the boards! As you probably already know, November's going to be the TCM month for you. Make sure there's plenty-o-room on that dvr! www.tcm.com/schedule/month/?cid=N&timezone=EST&oid=11/1/2007
HalLane		#11	[-]
Nov 7 07 11:26 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Fans of the Frankenstein Monster hoping for a good peek at controversial stuntman Eddie Parker without monster makeup need look no farther than TCM's recent airing of THE POWER OF THE WHISTLER (Columbia, 1945), where motorcycle patrolman Eddie (on the left) blows the whistle on Whistler regular Richard Dix: Only one of the many pleasures of these fine films! Edit: I just checked IMDb, and Eddie's not listed there in this, so consider it a true Heads Up! Btw, he also shows up in TCM's Crime Doctor entry THE MILLERSON CASE (Columbia, 1947), airing later this afternoon. Last Edited By: HalLane Nov 7 07 11:45 AM. Edited 1 times.
Lawrence Nepodahl		#12	[-]
Nov 7 07 9:15 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>...controversial stuntman Eddie Parker < ********************************* What's so controversial about this man HalLane?
HalLane		#13	[-]
Nov 8 07 9:51 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Sorry to be as enigmatic as the Whistler, Lawrence. Merely a reference to the "Who Played The Monster Film By Film...." thread, wherein the actual number of times the reputedly ubiquitous Mr. Parker doubled for our famous monsters has been called into question.* Knowing what he looks like sans monster make-up has proven helpful in separating the wheat from the chaff, as it were. *While he does appear in the most unexpected places, like THE POWER OF THE WHISTLER, "conventional wisdom" would have him doubling everyone from Donnie Dunagan to Elyse Knox. Visual evidence suggests that he played The Monster and The Wolf Man in certain sequences of FMTWM, but not in others. The debate continues here: http://monsterkidclassichorrorforum.yuku.com/topic/621?page=196
Lawrence Nepodahl		#14	[-]
Nov 8 07 7:31 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Speaking of Stuntman, as well as FMTWM...the subject being Bela Lugosi. While watching "The Return of Chandu", I notice quite a few scenes with Bela's stand-in or stuntman. I came to the conclusion that Bela didn't like to do his own stunt work; even when running to get in a car. I'm not up on my Lugosi, as so many that come to this site are; but, maybe he didn't do his own driving because he didn't drive.
Lawrence Nepodahl	Voice of the Whistler	#15	[-]
Nov 9 07 7:24 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	This was an odd little picture; I'm ambivalent about it though. I felt the woman (Lynn Merrick) had an abrupt change in her character...so did the young doctor (James Cardwell). In the beginning, there never was a hint to there becoming what they turned out to be. Just too nice! Maybe, that's what they really wanted to show. If that is the case, and I thought about it long enough, I'd be creeped out; who knows, maybe my doctors nurse has these same aspirations. But, I'm still enjoying all the Whistler's that I recorded several days back. They are soooo atmospheric.
John M Short		#16	[-]
Nov 10 07 1:33 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hey Warner Bros! You reading this thread??
Doc Carruthers		#17	[-]
Nov 10 07 10:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think we need the Sony folks to see this...they have Columbia, isn't that correct fellas? "Your brain is too feeble to concieve what I have accomplished!!"
Rapfred	re: VOICE OF THE WHISTLER	#18	[-]
Nov 11 07 12:56 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	>>I'm ambivalent about it >> I'm not. It's my go-to film in the Whistler series, and possibly the best thing Castle ever directed. I've always been a sucker for moody lighthouse yarns and this could well be the moodiest. The film's last shot is, for my dough, the most affecting climactic pullback this side of Quasimodo becoming one with the gargoyles in the '39 HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME.
Bill Lydig		#19	[-]
Nov 12 07 10:36 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Doc Carruthers wrote: I think we need the Sony folks to see this...they have Columbia, isn't that correct fellas? Yes, Sony is correct. I know that "precode"/Mike S has said he's championed the Lone Wolf series. If Sony is paying any attention at all, I really believe that collections of these various series (Whistler, Blackie, Crime Doctor, Lone Wolf) would be very profitable releases for them. Fox's Chan series is apparently their best seller among classic films. Warners sold over a million units of the Thin Man box. MPI, a minor player, sold hundreds of thousands of Rathbone Holmes DVDs. There is a viable market for these mystery series films. Warners has already announced plans to release Saint/Falcon/Philo Vance/Perry Mason in the future and Fox seems committed to releasing the entire Chan canon. I'd really hate to see these Columbia series go into obscurity after TCM finishes their run this month.
Ray Faiola		#20	[-]
Nov 13 07 12:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Richard Dix really was a lousy actor. Very showy, everything external. And if any series needed a good internalist in the lead it was The Whistler.. Also, it sounded as if Bill Forman only did the voice of the Whistler for two of the pictures that TCM showed. I did love the way Wilbur Hatch's theme was interpolated into the scores, especially the main titles. Classic Film Scores Restored on CD http://www.chelsearialtostudios.com

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Add Reply

Yuku free message boards

The Whistler. . .

The Whistler. . .