For It Is Man's Number: richard dix

Showing posts with label richard dix. Show all posts

Thursday, 20 November 2025

Noir-vember: The Mark Of The Whistler (1944)

The good thing about The Whistler movies is that they all tend to be pretty short, this one is 62 minutes, they lack any pretension, and you could easily marathon the movie series in a day. The bad thing about them, or maybe I should just refer to it as a weakness, is The Whistler himself, a presence who doesn't really seem to be necessary to guide us through the storyline. Mind you, I enjoyed his narration here more than I enjoyed it in the first film.

The story is enjoyably simple. Richard Dix plays Lee Selfridge Nugent, a man who sees an opportunity to change his life when he reads a newspaper notice about a large sum of money being left for a different, and unrelated, Mr. Lee Nugent. Taking the time to work on his backstory, Nugent then gets himself along to the bank and presents himself as the recipient of the money. He is nervous as he considers his chances of being successful. But he is unaware that other people may want to catch up with Mr. Lee Nugent.

Based on a story by Cornell Woolrich, it's George Bricker who gets the writing credit for this second movie in The Whistler series. Bricker does a good job of packing a lot of exposition and character development into each scene, leaving director William Castle free to just focus on keeping everything clear and enjoyably fast-paced as the story zips from scene to scene. Castle doesn't have to use all of the extra tricks that he used in the previous instalment, now having the luxury of a more dense screenplay and an "established brand" (with the first film proving to be a successful transition from an audio to a visual medium).

It's fun to see Dix take on a lead role that feels so far removed from his lead role in the last movie, and he seems to enjoy having a lot more to work with this time. Porter Hall is amusing as someone who might be able to help our lead, but only if he can make a decent profit for himself, Paul Guilfoyle is enjoyable in the role of a street vendor named 'Limpy' Smith, and Janis Carter lights up a few scenes as a determined reporter named Patricia Henley. There are also a couple of menacing performances from John Calvert and Matt Willis, both working better when trying to observe Mr. Nugent before their motivation is made clear.

I've yet to be convinced by the need for The Whistler himself, but the rest of the film makes this an easy one to recommend. It's a great blend of fun and danger, as well as being another classic noir premise (someone pretending to be someone that they're not in order to collect a large sum of money) given that ever-so-slight twist by having it presented to us by The Whistler. I don't expect the rest of the series to keep entertaining me as much as this, but I was pleasantly surprised that this was a step up from the first movie. And I'll be pleasantly surprised if another one or two subsequent instalments match it.

7/10

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Friday, 14 November 2025

Noir-Vember: The Whistler (1944)

Based on the radio program by J. Donald Wilson, The Whistler is a very economical and fun little noir from director William Castle. He wasn't yet the William Castle that we know and love as the master salesman, this was very near the start of his feature directorial career, but he certainly already knew how to deliver thrills to an audience. It helps that the runtime just about nudges right up against the one hour mark, making everything feel more urgent and fast-paced.

Earl C. Conrad (Richard Dix) is seen arranging for a hit man at the start of the movie. It soon becomes apparent that the target is himself. He remains grief-stricken after the loss of his wife. Things change, however, when he receives news that his wife may actually still be alive. It should just be a case of calling off the hit, letting those who arranged it keep the money, and getting on with a happier life ahead. The middle man is no longer available though, having been caught in a shootout with police just after arranging the hit. Conrad needs to find out who the killer is, and he then needs to convince him that the job is no longer going ahead.

Despite the framing device (The Whistler is an unseen character who comments on the events like some omniscient figure who enjoys being caretaker of some kind of criminal Twilight Zone), which feels strangely redundant, The Whistler is essentially everything you could want from an enjoyably basic and cheap noir. It's a solid premise, one we've seen many times (sometimes with slight variations to the methodology, of course), the cast are all working well enough with the material, and Castle does his utmost to put his stamp on everything. Everything is dark and slightly askew, a nightmare landscape that our lead character seems unable to escape.

Dix is decent enough, and we can stick with him as the hero because we're given clear motivation for his initial decision and subsequent turnaround (hey, isn't love always the most noble of motivators? or maybe that is just too cheesy for us noir fans to keep in mind). J. Carrol Naish is a suitably focused and dangerous killer, and it's obvious from early on that he won't be easily swayed to drop a job that he's already been paid for. The cast also includes Alan Dinehart (as Gorman, a friend of the killer), Gloria Stuart (a concerned secretary/friend named Alice), Charles Coleman (a loyal butler), Don Costello (the middle-man), and Joan Woodbury (a widow searching for some information that she might get from Conrad).

I can see why this would work better on the radio, despite being a decent little feature, but I got to the end of this film and wondered why we needed The Whistler to be part of the whole thing. Of course, that name allowed this one film to start off a series of eight features, which I'll definitely check out some time (especially as I now own them all). Maybe later instalments will allow The Whistler to play a more integral part in the proceedings. Or maybe not. I'll have to wait and see.

6/10

Thursday, 7 July 2022

The Ghost Ship (1943)

I promise you that, despite the wild news cycle we are currently going through here in the UK, the timing of this review, concerning a movie that shows an unfit leader who clings to his power while becoming more and more obviously dangerous to those around him, is completely coincidental. I enjoyed this film last week, days before the current, joyous, political bloodbath that should end with Boris Johnson no longer being Prime Minister.

It’s very appropriate that this is a film I have to review by starting off with talk of coincidental similarities elsewhere, because it is the film that was hidden away for many years due to a plagiarism lawsuit that was lost by a devastated Val Lewton, the producer on this. Nobody who was aware of the full facts of the case, and who knew of the fertile imagination and creativity of Lewton, ever saw the lawsuit result as fair, but that is beside the point. The end result was a huge blow for Lewton, and it meant The Ghost Ship was kept away from viewers for a few decades.

Clocking in at just under the 70-minute mark, this is the story of 3rd Officer Tom Merriman (Russell Wade), a newcomer to a ship helmed by Captain Stone (Richard Dix). Stone seems nice and friendly enough, initially, but it soon becomes clear that he has some bad habits. He always has an excuse to avoid responsibility, he never wants to admit when he is in the wrong, and he deems himself able to decide the ultimate fate of anyone working under him. Merriman realises all of this a bit too late, after a death that he doesn’t think is as accidental as it could seem, but his attempt to confront the Captain don’t go well. Nobody else is privy to the information that Merriman has, making him seem more illogical and unhinged as he grows more desperate to make people see the truth.

Based around a ship set that was available for use, this tale, credited to Leo Mittler for the story and Donald Henderson Clarke for the screenplay, is another superb slice of commentary-smuggling entertainment that Lewton was excelling at during this time. Pushing back against the expectations of the movie title, as usual, what could have been a standard chiller is instead crafted as an intriguing character study, showing the damaging effects of too much power being conferred upon one individual, and the way in which a bad situation is compounded by people being silent/complicit while they try to make the most of their own circumstances.

Director Mark Robson, given a chance to step up after his editing work on Cat People, has a good grasp on the material. Okay, it isn’t all shadows and scares, but there is still a growing aura of menace as our hero tries to share uncomfortable truths in a situation that becomes increasingly dangerous for him.

Wade is a decent lead, essentially coming across as a stand-up guy who will only rock the boat (no pun intended) when he feels it is absolutely necessary. His performance is nicely settled in a happy medium, being neither too passive nor too hysterical as he constantly weighs up the fluid dynamics of each interaction he has, with Stone and the other crew members. Dix is excellent, lending his character a real shade of the monstrous, barely hiding his true character at the start of the film while unabashedly showing everything horrid about him during a third act that escalated things beautifully. Many supporting cast members do good work (including Edith Barrett, Lawrence Tierney, Ben Bard, the “mute” Skelton Knaggs, and the musical Sir Lancelot), but the other real standout is Edmund Glover, playing a radio operator who knows just about enough to suspect Merriman may be telling the truth. Glover is allowed to be a fun presence during the first half and a potential ally throughout the second half.

Things may seem to get a little bit silly during the final act, and it’s a shame that some characters don’t get to make more of an impression, but there’s little else to fault here. Unless you go into it wanting an actual ghost ship. In fact, it’s almost comforting knowing that people will eventually restrain and remove a leader who has gone mad and will do anything to maintain their position of power. Don’t you think?

8/10