Watch The Secret of the Whistler For Free

I wanted to but couldn't!

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

best movie i've ever seen.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

George Sherman directs this episode of The Whistler movies, where crime takes no time out. A simple story line that sustains this Columbia B-flick. Richard Dix plays Ralph Harrison a moderately successful artist that is married to a wealthy but ill wife Edith Marie(Mary Currier). Restless, conniving and looking for affection, Harrison begins an affair with one of his models, who is only interested in his money...well, Edith's money. When his wife discovers his unfaithfulness, Ralph becomes desperate when he is threatened with being cut from her will. With pressure from the girlfriend, Mr. Harrison secretly begins to poison his wife. Of course nothing goes unknown by The Whistler(Otto Forrest).Other players: Leslie Brooks, Mona Barrie, Michael Dunne, Baynes Barron and Pat Lane.

This is, in my humble opinion, the best of the whistler series of films, and sadly, the next to the last one starring Richard Dix as the center of whatever dark tale "the whistler" is recounting for the audience. This one plays out like a 40's version of Night Gallery except without any of the supernatural elements usually involved in that 70's series and with an extra helping of irony.This is a tale about a mediocre middle aged artist, (Richard Dix as Ralph Harrison) married to a middle-aged wealthy wife (Mary Currier as Edith Harrison). The first scene sets us up for the macabre nature of the tale to come. A woman is ordering an expensive headstone - even in 1946 it will cost five thousand dollars . The stonemason is telling her it will take three months to build such an expensive monument. She says that is OK. Then she gives the name to be put on the headstone - her own. You see, Edith is quite ill with a bad heart and has only months to live and she knows it.Someone else here mentioned this as the tale of "the inconvenient wife", but it is not at all clear what Ralph's true feelings are for his wife, at least in the beginning. For sure he likes not having to sell sketches in the park, to be able to have his own studio and dabble even though he has no talent, and to entertain his "friends" who are actually just a bunch of parasitic hangers on. However, he seems genuinely troubled and saddened by the doctor's news that his wife has only weeks or months to live. His great misfortune is to befriend ace grifter Kay Morrell just to have someone to talk to during his time of trouble with his wife tied to a sick bed, and then he falls in love with her.Ralph decides he really wants Kay, Kay really only likes Ralph's money, and Ralph really likes his money too, and he loses that if he divorces Edith. Normally he could just wait out Edith's illness to its inevitable conclusion, but then a monkey wrench is thrown into his plans - a young hot-shot doctor devises a state of the art treatment plan and Edith now has a second lease on life. I'll let you watch for yourself and see how all of this plays out.This particular whistler entry is the essence of noir - an average man who is on an average man's path until something unexpected comes along, and suddenly that forbidden fruit just looks to good to pass up. Surely he can get away with a bite out of that fruit just once...or not.Like I said earlier, Dix did an outstanding job in this one. You never really know what his true feelings are deep in his heart, since he plays his cards close to his vest in his role as Ralph and he is fascinating to watch. Kudos also go out to Claire Du Brey who has her Mrs. Danvers like role down pat as the loyal servant of Edith, and also to Leslie Brooks as Kay Morrell who is beautiful and cold as ice as the femme fatale. A highly recommended little B noir.

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.