The Secret of the Whistler

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The Secret of the Whistler
Secret of the whistler poster small.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by George Sherman
Screenplay by
Based on The Whistler
1942-55 radio series
by J. Donald Wilson
Produced by Rudolph C. Flothow
Starring
Narrated byOtto Forrest
Cinematography Allen G. Siegler
Edited by Dwight Caldwell
Music by Herschel Burke Gilbert
Production
company
Larry Darmour Productions
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • November 7, 1946 (1946-11-07)(United States)
Running time
65 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Secret of the Whistler is a 1946 American mystery film noir based on the radio drama The Whistler . Directed by George Sherman, the production features Richard Dix, Leslie Brooks and Michael Duane. [1] It is the sixth of Columbia Pictures' eight "Whistler" films produced in the 1940s, all but the last starring Dix.

Contents

Plot

Ralph Harrison (Richard Dix) is married to Edith (Mary Currier), a rich woman who has been suffering heart attacks. Upset by her condition, he finds consoling companionship with an artist's model, the unscrupulous gold-digger Kay (Leslie Brooks).

He falls in love with Kay. Edith's health then improves. Edith overhears Ralph professing his love for Kay. Edith threatens Ralph, saying she's going to take him out of her will. He decides to poison her, with her own medicine, before she can meet with her lawyers.

After Edith dies, Ralph marries Kay, who becomes suspicious of how Edith died and worried for her own fate. Finding incriminating diary pages and the medicine, she has the medicine analyzed, discovering that it was poisoned.

Ralph overhears Kay's phone conversation with the lab. Pretending to embrace her, he strangles her to death, just as the police arrive and arrest him for murder - but not for the murder of Edith, because she had not taken the poisoned medicine but died of a heart attack.

Cast

Reception

TV Guide rated it 3/5 stars and called it "engrossing as usual and well acted". [2]

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References

  1. The Secret of the Whistle at the TCM Movie Database.
  2. "Secret Of The Whistler". TV Guide . Retrieved February 20, 2015.