Some of the most astounding dialogue I have heard in any movie or TV show is in the first season of True Detective.  There are lines from that I just like to roll around in my head, in the same way there are certain tunes I like to recall.  Sometimes, I like to say one of the lines aloud, just because they are interesting to let loose into the real world. 

At the risk of overselling 1945’s The Power of the Whistler, the killer in it has some statements towards the end of the picture that make my brain itch in that way.  My particular favorite is: “This moment is set apart from time.”  This he says to his next potential victim, and rather seductively.  His voice is even calm and gentle as he goes on to offer to cut her throat.  It’s a throat that’s made for cutting, or so he claims.  He claims it’s even a favor to her, relieving her of the pain of getting older.  It’s this final set piece that makes this a must-see for noir fans.

This is the third of the Whistler movies I have seen.  Again, the titular character is only a voice narrating on the soundtrack and sometimes a shadow on a wall.  And yet, he isn’t The Shadow.  He just happens to also only have a shadow as his visual representation, and he know the evil that lies in the hearts of men.  Both also started out as popular radio serials.  But this is definitely a differently character.  *wink*

In the opening of this film, The Whistler declares, “Here is a strange man.”  Why, yes, it is a strange man, as it is once again Richard Dix.  The star of the previous two entries in this series, he is once again a different character, one that is unique to this film.  With his rather awkward facial features, and slightly slurred baritone voice, I keep picturing him cast as Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs.  It doesn’t help he also frequently has expressions that don’t seem to jive completely with the moment at hand.

We were only introduced to him seconds before, when a car sideswipes him and he hits his head against a lamppost while trying to get out of the way.  There is speculation among the crowd that gathers that he could be concussed.  Still, he walks away and into the nearest bar, because it is obviously a great idea to down a couple of shots immediately after sustaining a head injury.

The club is The Salt Shaker, and I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about the name of that establishment, even as interesting things were unfolding later in the runtime.  The inside of the place is also odd, with a homey vibe and the look of a family restaurant.  Maybe this is the first Bob Evans, and they gradually transitioned the chain to move away from selling alcohol.

Janis Carter, Jeff Donnell (who, interestingly enough, is a woman) and Loren Tindall (who isn’t) are at a table in the bar.  Carter is telling fortunes using a standard deck of playing cards.  She decides to tell the fortune of “the good-looking man at the bar”, and I was surprised she meant Dix.  Two times in a row, she draws the ace of spaces, so now I can’t get that Motorhead song out of my head.  Also, that is the death card.

Dix leaves the bar and she follows.  They sit in the back seat of a car that doesn’t belong to either one of them while she explains her scary prediction for him and he tells her about his sudden amnesia.  He has a variety of items in his pockets, and these are the breadcrumbs they will use as the trail to learn his identity.  Among those items are a Canadian dollar with a number written on it, a distinctive lighter, a receipt for ordered roses, a prescription and a bakery receipt for a birthday cake.  To my considerable surprise, the owner of the car finds them there and offers to drive them wherever they want to go.  Somehow, I doubt this scenario would play out this way in reality in any era.

I don’t want to say much more about the film, but I do need to give fair warning a cat will die in it, and not from natural causes.  Of course, no feline was actually hurt, and what happens occurs offscreen.  Still, this must be a good movie for me to recommend it despite a cat being offed as part of the plot.  When a movie does that, it is going to have a hell of a hard time bringing me back in.

And, overall, The Power of the Whistler is a surprisingly nasty little film, given when it was made.  It is also genuinely creepier than I imagined, and left me looking forward to the remaining titles in this series.

Dir: Lew Landers

Starring Richard Dix, Janis Carter

Watched as part of Powerhouse/Indicator’s blu-ray box set Columbia Noir #6: The Whistler