MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER [1946] + SECRET OF THE WHISTLER [1946] [Blu-ray] [Limited Edition] [1946 / 2024] [UK Release] The Whistler Reveals the Inner Dark Secrets! A Dark Tale of Base Human Emotions – Love, Greed and Jealousy!
MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER [1946] Amid murders and kidnappings, Edward Stillwell, the aged proprietor of a music store, hires private detective Don Gale to find Elora Lund, a then 14-year-old who vanished seven years ago at the time her mother died. Edward Stillwell can only pay $100, but hints mysteriously that finding Elora Lund could make Don Gale a rich man. After a series of events, Don Gale finally gets arrested for a thief's murder.
FILM FACT: ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ [1946] It is the fifth of Columbia Pictures’ eight The Whistler is a film noir film that was produced in the 1940’s, and the first seven starred actor Richard Dix. Film critic Dennis Schwartz liked the 1946 film and wrote a very positive film review. This was the fifth episode in Columbia Pictures The Whistler film franchise series, and at least it was one of the better ones. William Castle directs this low-budget black-and-white enjoyable minor film noir that comes with a choice narration by the disguised The Whistler [Otto Forrest] ... all in all, it was a very good performance by Richard Dix as the unscrupulous private detective and a plausible surprising and unexpected ending to ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ film.
Cast: Richard Dix, Barton MacLane, Nina Vale, Regis Toomey, Helen Mowery, Mike Mazurki, Pamela Blake, Charles Lane, Paul E. Burns, Kathleen Howard, Harlan Briggs, Jessie Arnold (uncredited), Stanley Blystone (uncredited), Jack Carrington (uncredited), Eddy Chandler (uncredited), Kernan Cripps (uncredited), Edith Evanson (uncredited), Otto Forrest (The Whistler) (voice) (uncredited), Martin Garralaga (uncredited), Selmer Jackson (uncredited), Charles Jordan (uncredited), Donald Kerr (uncredited), Joe Palma (uncredited), Arthur Space (uncredited), Dan Stowell (uncredited), Harry Strang (uncredited) and Isabel Withers (uncredited)
Director: William Castle
Producer: Rudolph C. Flothow
Screenplay: Eric Taylor (story and screenplay)
Composer: George Duning (uncredited) + Wilbur Hatch (Original Theme Music for The Whistler)
Costume and Wardrobe Department: Eugene Joseff (Costume jewellery) (uncredited)
Cinematography: Philip Tannura (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black and White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 61 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Columbia Pictures / Power House / INDICATOR
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: With the film ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ [1946] at the start of this film, we see and hear The Whistler and his usual iconic spooky words and here is what The Whistler says, “I am The Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night, I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women, who have stepped into the shadows, and yes I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak, and it is Edward Stillwell who walks alone, he is a kindly unimportant little man, the type you pass in the street without noticing, tonight however, something will happen to him, that changes everything, something to make his life important ad exciting and dangerous. But as we get into the start of the film and meet the missing Elora Lund, The Whistler says, “Three days have passed, and Edward Stillwell had no word from the private detective he had engaged, he has almost given up hope he will ever find Elora Lund, but tonight his long search is coming to an end.”
William Castle who was the director of many low B budget films made this film into another great The Whistler film franchise series starring Richard Dix as Don Gale, a rather shady private detective who had a nice brunette secretary named Joan Hill [Nina Vale] who assisted him with all his clients and especially a little old man named Edward Stillwell [Paul E. Burns]. This little old man wanted to locate a young girl named Elora Lund in order to tell her that she was worth a lot of money and he wanted Don Gale to try and local this young girl from his past. Don Gale has other ideas and decides to find a girl to impersonate this young girl in order to find out just how much of a fortune she is worth and what it just might be. Several people get murdered and this dark tale takes you down many blind alleys with all kinds of ugly and evil men and woman.
The movie starts off posing a neat little mystery – why would anyone want to kill for some worthless old keepsakes. The solution is a novel one, although the story sometimes unfolds in a complex fashion that's hard to follow. There are some nifty little touches, such as the trigger-happy neighbour who apparently shoots at anything that moves or the safe-house matron who looks like she could go a few rounds with Mike Tyson. However, not everything is rosy. The little old man Edward Stillwell should have carried an overload warning sign, while plug-ugly Harry Pontos [Mike Mazurki] mugs it up shamelessly as the towering menace. The bare-bones street scenes might blemish most movies, but here they come across as just plain cheap looking like Don Gale himself.
The improbable plot for this entry in The Whistler film franchise series has something to do with valuable cylindrical wax disc recordings of Swedish nightingale Jenny Lind, and we have a double-crossed antique dealer, a femme fatale blonde who knows the recordings are worth $200,000, and also some crooked thieves. Richard Dix is the gumshoe detective Don Gale in the mould of Philip Marlowe, but his dialogue isn't quite as sharp.
As we get near to the end of the film ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ The Whistler says, “And so after long years of balancing precariously on the border line of the law, Don Gale was trying at the end to do the right thing, but he made one little fatal mistake, thinking one of the killers had come back to attack him, he fired blindly, Detectives Taggart and Burns will never know that Don Gale’s shots were not meant for them.”
All in all, I employ you to please enjoy ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ film noir folks, because it is a really good dramatic mystery, and Richard Dix had a certain charm that made his acting so suspenseful and of course director William Castle did a totally wonderful job in creating a truly spooky dramatic atmospheric feeling throughout the whole of the film.
* * * * *
SECRET OF THE WHISTLER [1946] An artist married to a wealthy but ill woman begins an affair with one of his models, who is after him solely for his money. His wife discovers the affair and threatens to cut him out of her will. In order to be able to keep both the wife's money and his girlfriend, he begins to secretly poison his wife – but events take a surprising turn after she eventually dies. A thriller exploring greed, betrayal, and the consequences of deceitful criminal actions.
FILM FACT: ‘SECRET OF THE WHISTLER’ [1946] Was the sixth of Columbia Pictures’ eight The Whistler film franchise series produced in the 1940’s, all but the last starring Richard Dix.
Cast: Richard Dix, Leslie Brooks, Michael Duane, Mary Currier, Mona Barrie, Ray Walker, Claire Du Brey, Ernie Adams (uncredited), Fred Amsel (uncredited), Baynes Barron (uncredited), Jack Davis (uncredited), Otto Forrest (The Whistler) (voice) (uncredited), Byron Foulger (uncredited), John Hamilton (uncredited), Ernest Hilliard (uncredited), Doris Houck (uncredited), Pat Lane (uncredited), Nancy Saunders (uncredited), Tony Shaw (uncredited), Arthur Space (uncredited), Ken Terrell (uncredited), Fred 'Snowflake' Toones (uncredited), Charles Trowbridge (uncredited) and Barbara Wooddell (uncredited)
Director: George Sherman
Producer: Rudolph C. Flothow
Screenplay: Raymond L. Schrock (original screenplay) and Richard H. Landau (original screenplay)
Composer: Herschel Burke Gilbert (uncredited) + Wilbur Hatch (Original Theme Music for The Whistler)
Cinematography: Allen G. Siegler, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black and White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 64 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Columbia Pictures / Power House / INDICATOR
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘SECRET OF THE WHISTLER’ [1946] is an American mystery film noir based on The Whistler radio drama of the same name. Directed by George Sherman this is the sixth of the eight film noir series adapted from the radio drama produced in the 1940s. Richard Dix reprises his role as the main character in the film with Otto Forrest as The Whistler narrating in the background.
As the film begins, we get to see and hear from The Whistler walking the streets, and says, “I am The Whistler and I know many things for I walk by night, I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women, who have stepped into the shadows, yes I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak, and tonight, in this obscure section of a large city, we find woman shopping for an unusual item.”
Ralph Harrison [Richard Dix] is married to a very wealthy and very sick woman Edith Harrison [Mary Currier]. But desperate for companionship Ralph Harrison seeks it out in an artist's model Kay Morrell [Leslie Brooks], and gradually falls in love with her. But then Edith Harrison also miraculously starts getting better. What will Ralph Harrison do now? Stuck in an unhappy marriage? Longing for a new partner? Has Edith Harrison already suspected about his wavering? Where will the love between these three characters lead them to the final outcome?
The film ‘SECRET OF THE WHISTLER’ is another dark story dealing with love, jealousy, greed and is suspenseful, and it takes a while before the tense proceedings start to tighten up, but it is well worth ending with a very good finale. Michael Duane has a small supporting role as an artist but gets star billing and was well directed by George Sherman. This was the second to last film Richard Dix made in The Whistler film franchise series, and of course the mysterious The Whistler is seen as a shadow as usual in summing up what you have just seen in the film. There's a brilliant poignant twist at the end of the film, so your attention is very much recommended.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Image Quality – Columbia Pictures, Power House + INDICATOR presents us the films ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ + SECRET OF THE WHISTLER’ with a brand new wonderful 1080p digital restoration and both shown in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio. The awesome black-and white-images are truly wonderful and was sourced from SONY’s 35mm High Definition Masters and excluding a few minor density fluctuations and shaky darker nuances, this will likely be both films their final image definitive presentation and most of all there is great clarity and depth that is extremely excellent for both films and especially by both of the brilliant and professional cinematographers Philip Tannura and Allen G. Siegler. Most of all, there are no traces of any problematic digital work and image stability that is also extremely good. All in all, both films ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ + ‘SECRET OF THE WHISTLER’ really look totally wonderful and especially for both films made in 1946. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Columbia Pictures, Power House + INDICATOR brings us the films ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ + ‘SECRET OF THE WHISTLER’ with a really good quality 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio experience. The audio dialogue for both films is very clear, sharp, and especially very stable. For both films made in 1945 you would think and expect to hear rather substantial audio fluctuations in terms of dynamic intensity and stability because of the age of both ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ + ‘SECRET OF THE WHISTLER’ films. But all in all, everything sounded really good, superb and most of all, its audio qualities are definitely retained as best as possible throughout both movie soundtracks, which were sourced and remastered at the same time.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
High Definition presentation of ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ + ‘SECRET OF THE WHISTLER’
Special Feature: ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ Audio Commentary with Jeremy Arnold [2024] [1080p] [1.37:1] [61:28 With this featurette, we get to hear from Film Historian, Commentator, and author of Turner Classic Movies Jeremy Arnold and is here to talk in-depth on the Columbia Pictures 1946 ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ film and as the film starts Jeremy Arnold introduces himself and informs us that he is the author of several books on classic cinema and is delightful to be doing this audio commentary and to also discuss the Columbia Pictures 1946 film ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ and says this is the 5th of The Whistler film franchise series and the final one to be directed by the brilliant William Castle. Jeremy Arnold says the last four The Whistler film franchise series were very profitable and well received by the critics, and this 1946 film would prove no exception. Now Jeremy Arnold comments that he will be talking about the history of the ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ throughout this audio commentary, especially about its style, and its visual approach and about many of the cast and crew involved with the film, and is assuming that we have viewed the movie and how the story played out, and says there will be spoilers throughout this audio commentary. When we see The Whistler for the first time, Jeremy Arnold says that The Whistler original theme music by Wilbur Hatch is a very difficult tune to whistle and says that Dorothy Roberts who also whistled the theme song on CBS Radio's The Whistler (1942 – 1955) and was also an actress who did a very fine job with the whistling and also felt she did it very well, but also did the whistling for The Whistler television series for 39 episodes in 1954. Dorothy Roberts had a job at the Lockheed Corporation factory and Dorothy Roberts had to get permission from the company to leave early one day each week so she could make it to the radio station and to do the whistle at the start of each radio program. Jeremy Arnold says that the films in The Whistler film franchise series are basically film noir, but to Jeremy Arnold the ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ is the only entry to reach the level of pure genius film noir and it is an extremely dark visually film and it has a sinister fatalistic story that unfolds in a particularly unstable dangerous world. On top of all that, it places the audience in the position of feeling trapped in this complicated web of a plot, and that the plot harks back to other film noir like ‘The Maltese Falcon’ [1941] starring Humphrey Bogart and also ‘Kiss Me Deadly’ [1955] starring Ralph Meeker that is similar with the storyline. The opening sequence scene of ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ is similar to the opening sequence scene of ‘The Maltese Falcon’ where a stranger walks off the street and walks into the private detective’s office, which the secretary had sent the stranger in, and the stranger asks the private detective to search for a missing girl, and the private detective seems totally unsavoury towards the stranger, and is driven by money than anything else, and the stranger is introduced to Richard Dix who plays the private detective Don Gale, and he is bathed in film noir lighting and a beautiful image that is mostly black but with a blinking neon light outside his office, and is a wonderful striking visual image presentation, and including the way Richard Dix charms with his cigar he is smoking and underscores how ambiguous his character is and he should be on the side of good, but the lighting and his manor tells us he is sinister and he comes across in the scene as on the one hand agreeable, but on the other hand disagreeable, calm and angry, probing and impatient, and we do not know what side of the moral divide he actually is on, which contributes to the feeling of instability for his character, that carries on throughout the film, but as Don Gale says in a moment, that at least it makes him the most unusual private detective. Jeremy Arnold now says that Richard Dix was also the most interesting actor of his period in films and a major screen film star who wound down his career with these inexpensive B pictures, and his real name was Ernst Carlton Brimmer (1893 – 1949) and Jeremy Arnold says that one of his relations was on the Mayflower ship and that there is a street in Boston named after one of his family. Now Jeremy Arnold goes into great detail about Richard Dix in saying he was an American motion picture actor who achieved popularity in both silent and sound film, and his standard on-screen image was that of the rugged and stalwart hero. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his lead role in the Best Picture-winning epic Cimarron [1931 and appeared in 101 film roles, and Richard Dix excelled in sports, especially football and baseball, and his obvious acting talent in his school dramatic club also led him to leading roles in most of the school plays. After a year at the University of Minnesota, he took a position at a bank, and trained for the stage in the evening. His professional start was with a local stock company, and this led to similar work in New York City. He then went to Los Angeles and became leading man for the Morosco Stock Company, and Richard Dix’s success there earned him a contract with Paramount Pictures and got offered parts in the following films in 1917 like One of Many, Not Guilty and All's Fair in Love. The scene with Don Gale in his private detective office, where his character gets very agitated with is client Edward Stillwell, the aged proprietor of a music store and Jeremy Arnold comments where Don Gale goes from being polite to being totally belligerent and back again to being polite, and all in one very unexpected and bizarre line of dialogue, which Jeremy Arnold felt was highly entertaining, but it also again underscores how we can’t figure out Don Gale’s character, and we can’t decide whether to trust him or not. Jeremy Arnold now says we are now getting our first look at the actor Mike Mazurki who plays the very menacing character Harry Pontos and when you see him lighting up a cigarette, Jeremy Arnold feels it is a stunning image of wonderful lighting from the brilliant cinematographer Philip Tannura and making an inexpensive movie look do gorgeous and to experience the storyline. When we see the entrance of actress Nina Vale who plays the character Joan Hill walks into the room where the character Edward Stillwell is in the chair, and Jeremy Arnold feels it is a very nice touch by director William Castle in making us think that Edward Stillwell is dead or even murdered. Now Jeremy Arnold talks about the actor Richard Dix again, who once said that his acting mantra was to “Be honest and you will be believed,” and Jeremy Arnold also feels Richard Dix is incredible in The Whistler film franchise series, where he played lots of different characters, like a tramp, an artist, a private detective, a psychotic killer with amnesia and much much more, and feels his character Don Gale in ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ is a totally unethical protagonist to some degree, and Don Gale vacillates between being honest and being corrupt and the whole story hinges on the very question of whether Don Gale is really on the right or wrong side of the law, since audiences had seen the actor Richard Dix in other The Whistler films playing other different characters, and the question where this character could realistically go either way, because he is unpredictable. Now we see the actress Nina Vale’s character Joan Hill talking face to face with Edward Stillwell and Jeremy Arnold thinks the scene is absolutely stunningly framed with very low key lighting and the darkness and the shadows are just beautiful, which helps to drive the sense of the story onwards. At that point, Jeremy Arnold goes into great detail about the history of the actor Mike Mazurki who plays the menacing character Harry Pontos and Jeremy Arnold feels Mike Mazurki really made the scene in this 1946 film totally perfect, and feels his character is also best known with his appearances in other film noir films like Belle of the Nineties [1934], Black Fury [1935, The Shanghai Gesture [1941, Mission to Moscow [1943] and Whistling in Brooklyn [1943] to name a few and informs us that Mike Mazurki was born Markiyan Yulianovich Mazurkevich (Ukrainian: МаркіÑн (Михайло) Мазуркевич) (Polish: Markijan (Mychajlo) Mazurkiewicz) in the village of Kupchyntsi (in present-day Ternopil Raion), near what was then Tarnopol, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Ternopil, Ukraine). Mike Mazurki had trained as a professional wrestler, but turned to acting after serving as Mae West's bodyguard. Mike Mazurki was discovered by Josef von Sternberg and given a bit part in his film The Shanghai Gesture [1941]. This led to a long film and television career. Possibly his best-known role was as the slow-witted but dangerously obsessed thug Moose Malloy in the lurid film noir Murder, My Sweet [1944] and in this film Mike Mazurki’s character is portrayed an imposing dangerous maniac as well as a killer, and in this film Mike Mazurki is a totally memorable menacing character and Mike Mazurki hasn’t a single word of dialogue, because of the way he portrays his character, especially with his manner, his size, his facial expressions and the way he moves through the frame of the film and all of it purely visually generates the effects of dread and feels that is why in the film ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ the actor Mike Mazurki contributes as a genuine character in this film noir, and at the same time, Jeremy Arnold feels Mike Mazurki adds a great deal to the film with his infamous murderous character. Jeremy Arnold also feels that the actor Mike Mazurki was very well educated, genial and sophisticated and was very disappointed that very many audiences were put off by his menacing appearance, and also felt that nobody else was ever more typecast than me, and producers were convinced I could play two types of characters, like a comedy moron or an evil killer, but suddenly in the film ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ we see his evil personality character viciously kill actor Paul E. Burns character Edward Stillwell by strangling him, which is a surprisingly brutal murder. On top of all that, we all thought the actress Nina Vale was the real Elora Lund, but of course we were all fooled; now this makes the story even more intriguing, further on, it makes the character of Don Gale even more intriguing and begs the question is Don Gale ethical and can we really trust his character and of course what is really going on, both in the main plot of the film in trying to find the real Elora Lund, and trying to find out who is the real character of Don Gale, and what is he really up to. We now meet the actress Helen Mowery who plays the character Freda Hanson and it was her first screen role in this 1946 film and had a very brief screen career and her birth name was Helen Emily Inkster from Casper, Wyoming and was a former Miss Wyoming who acted on the stage, in films, and on television, then Helen Mowery eventually wound down her performing career with guest appearances on Frontier Doctor, Sea Hunt, Men into Space, and a couple of episodes of Lock-Up for the years 1959 through 1961 and Jeremy Arnold feels Helen Mowery plays her character really well and also feels her character is very dangerous and a wonderful femme fatale. Now Jeremy Arnold goes into great detail about the film ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ because the entire The Whistler film franchise series was produced by Rudolph C. Flothow was born on the 23rd November, 1895 in Frankfurt, Germany and was a movie and television producer active from 1915 through the mid-1950s, producing more than 45 films and over 80 television episodes. Most of his productions were crime films for Columbia Pictures, including the 1943 Batman serial, and was a producer and production manager, known for The Desert Hawk [1944], The Monster and the Ape [1945] and Criminal Lawyer [1951]. Rudolph C. Flothow died on December 21, 1971 in Culver City, Los Angeles, California, USA. At around 21 minutes, Jeremy Arnold thinks the scene with Don Gale outside a certain house owned by the menacing character Harry Pontos at night and it shows the private detecting active skills in finding this particular house, and he might be crooked, he might be corrupt, but he has a very logical mind, and he is capable of being a good private detective, and Jeremy Arnold feels the shadowy images of the house is really looking splendid, but also gives off a very spooky image. Now Jeremy Arnold talks about another famous actor that appears in this 1946 film and his name is Charles Lane who plays the character Detective Burns and goes into great detail of his acting career, and Charles Lane [1905 – 2007] who was an American character actor and centenarian whose career spanned 76 years and was a prolific actor who played hundreds of roles in both film and TV, and often played sour, scowling and disagreeable clerks, doctors, judges, and middle-management authority figures. Recalling in 1981 his many roles, he said “They were all good parts, but they were jerks. If you have a type established, though, and you're any good, it can mean considerable work for you.” Jeremy Arnold now talks about the scene with Don Gale’s shoe hidden on his bed when two detectives turn up and one of them is Detective Taggart and the other one is Detective Burns because they knew Don Gale was at Harry Pontos spooky house and Jeremy Arnold says that I have to interrupt myself and says a word or two about the business of the Don Gale hidden shoe under the bed sheet and with some skilful editing, it has really been two scenes and the surface dialogue and the integration by the two detectives and what is unspoken, but this is clear that nervous Don Gale who worries about his hidden dirty shoe being found and it is suspenseful and very amusing and has a comic payoff that leads to bringing the house down. Now around 30 minutes, which is the halfway point in the movie, where we are at the Sanatorium and we are introduced to a new character and it the real Elora Lund played by the actress Pamela Blake and we see meeting two of the real detectives to inform her that people are looking for her in connection with the two very rare wax cylinder recordings that are worth a great deal of money for the real Elora Lund and Jeremy Arnold feels the actress Pamela Blake is really good in the film ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ and feels the actress portrays her character on the screen really well and allows us to experience her personality and her character really well. Now Jeremy Arnold feels The Whistler film franchise series all stand out on their own, which was not the norm among most other B pictures of the day, which usually had iconic characters, and feels the actor Richard Dix really stood out with his character appearances in The Whistler film franchise series and The Whistler films also had anti-heroes and outright villains, and each The Whistler film also has an eerie ironic somehow unsettling storyline, and with a sense of foreboding spectacular plot twists and each film has of course The Whistler characters narration and of course the iconic Wilbur Hatch Original Theme Music for The Whistler. Now Jeremy Arnold talks about the real Jenny Lind [1820 – 1887] was a Swedish opera singer, often called the Swedish Nightingale. Jenny Lind was one of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century; she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and of course recorded those two famous wax cylinder recording six months before she died and of course it is the main plot in film ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ and on top of all that, Queen Victoria attended each of Lind's sixteen debut performances in London in July 1847, and because Queen Victoria was so impressed with the singers performance, threw a bouquet of flowers at Jenny Lind’s feet on the stage, sadly, none of the two wax cylinder recordings survived. Now Don Gale finally meets the real Elora Lund and here Don Gale is really shady and really only after the two wax cylinder recordings to make his fortune, and unfortunately Elora Lund is very naïve and has no idea of that Don Gale’s real motive is of his greed for the money and does not care about the feelings of the real Elora Lund who finds out Don Gale had used another women to impersonate Elora Lund and had visited Edward Stillwell to get her hands on the two rare wax cylinder recordings. Jeremy Arnold now says that one of the revealing pleasures of The Whistler film franchise series is the ones that were directed by William Castle and are noticeably really special and very stylish and used style to enhance the storyline and the atmospheric mood of The Whistler film franchise series he directed, and William Castle was 31 years old and his 10th feature film and of course he was remembered as a showman and promoter who came up with attention grabbing gimmicks, to turn his movies into events, such as the film ‘The Tingler’ and ‘ House On Haunted Hill,’ but well before those days in the 1950’s and beyond, William Castle was a young director who was learning his craft in the world of B movies at Columbia Pictures and Harry Cohen was a co-founder, president, and production director of Columbia Pictures Corporation, and Harry Cohen said he would teach William Castle the business from the ground upwards and William Castle’s first assignment was with Rita Hayworth who played the character Patricia O'Malley in the film ‘Music In My Hearts’ [1940] and eventually William Castle got a chance to direct his own B movie entitled ‘The Chance of a Lifetime’ [1943] and eventually Harry Cohen gave William Castle the script for ‘The Whistler’ film and the director William Castle loved the script and set out to create all kinds of effects to create a mood of terror, low key lighting, wide angle lenses, and to give an eerie feeling and also to use a hand held camera in many of the important scenes to give a sense of reality to the horror that unfolds throughout the film. On top of all that, The Whistler film was meant to be a one off, but it was so successful commercially and also critically, that Harry Cohen gave the green light to release more of The Whistler films and because of William Castle directing the first ‘The Whistler’ film wound up setting the template for eight more The Whistler film franchise series and because William Castle directed four more of The Whistler films showed that William Castle was a young talented film director and are also constantly stylish and tightly made and even though other directors have done The Whistler films. Jeremy Arnold feels ‘The Whistler’ film that William Castle directed, really stands out for Jeremy Arnold. When we get to around 54 minutes, Jeremy Arnold informs us that we are now firmly moving towards the films climax, and we see Don Gale in disguise as a cripple with crutches and his face is covered with a white cloth, it is overdone and it is a bit much and feels it is the weaker spot in the film ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ and the finished shooting just before Christmas 1945 and this was an interesting moment in the history of Hollywood and over the previous two years, and dozens of finished movies all over town had piled up and were not released because of labour disputes, war time shortages, and it was revealed that in January 1946 the Columbia Pictures studio had 189 finished films awaiting release and all together they amounted to $130,000,000 dollars in production costs, and Variety called this, “The greatest and most expensive backlog in the history of Hollywood,” and included A and B pictures and Columbia Pictures were actually the most backlog studio with 26 unreleased film titles. On top of all that, it is quite amazing that in 1946 $130,000,00 dollars would get you almost 200 movies made, but today in 2024 you would only get one movie made, although to be fair, $130,000,00 dollars in 1946 is actually worth about $2 Billion Dollars into today’s money. The film ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ was well received, with many trade reviews pointing out William Castle’s brilliant directing of the film and was constantly lots of entertaining hours performance said Variety, and also said that William Castle keeps the action moving at a lively pace and the audience edge forward on their seats. Now we get to see Don Gale’s motivation and see his on the right side of the law and for that moment he has triumphed, because he has apprehended the man who has found the two rare wax cylinder recordings of Jenny Lind that have finally been revealed, but tragically as we get near to the end of the film, something tragically really bad happens the two rare wax cylinder recordings and of course no one will be the outright winner, and it all results in bad circumstances and bad timing and especially with Don Gale, and sadly we get the demise of Don Gale. Jeremy Arnold now says, one curious aspect of The Whistler and his final narration, where he says that the detectives will never know that Don Gale’s bullets for them, and Jeremy Arnold now says, “This is an hour long The Whistler mystery and a very satisfying one, especially as a purist film noir ever,” and fate gets the upper hand of Don Gale in the end, even though he was trying to do the right thing, and sadly it was very unlucky for him, but luckily for the audience, Richard Dix will return in ‘The Secret of the Whistler’ and ‘The Thirteenth Hour’ and his final The Whistler film and the final movie that will be a strong one indeed. So at that point, Jeremy Arnold’s audio commentary comes to an end, and his last and final comment, he says, “Thanks so much for listening to this audio commentary, and I hope you enjoyed this movie and this entire series as much as I did, this is Jeremy Arnold saying so long.” All in all, this Jeremy Arnold audio commentary is quite an interesting one to listen to.
Special Feature: Working In The Shadows: Kim Newman of William Castle [2024] [1080p] [1.78:1] [20:51] With this featurette, we get to meet and hear from Author, Film Critic and Fiction Writer Kim Newman who discusses the cult filmmaker William Castle [1914 – 1977] about his early career as a studio-contracted director, and prior to his successes as an independent showman and of course is best known for his macabre schlock genre movies, and at the start of this featurette we get to view some still from William Castle films and they are ‘Homicidal’ [1961] and ‘The Tingler’ [1959] and William Castle is a name that is film history as the king of gimmicks and thinks the director was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock in the mid 1950’s. On top of all that, William Castle had a close partnership with Harry Cohen at Columbia Pictures, where of course William Castle directed some of his most iconic The Whistler film franchise series, and of course when William Castle promoted any of his macabre schlock genre movies, you always saw him with his big cigar and Kim Newman feels William Castel was trying to emulate the director Alfred Hitchcock like on his famous TV programmes, and of course William Castle films that he is very famous for like ‘The Tingler’ [1959], ‘Homicidal’ [1961] and the hilarious ’13 Ghosts’ [1960] that had a gimmick entitled ILLUSION-O! and because of who William Castle was, that is why we remember him and his totally iconic very different kind of scary movies. But even before those famous William Castle macabre schlock genre movies, the autre William Castle was involved with other films like ‘The Lady from Shanghai’ [1947] as the associate producer (uncredited), and William Castle directed other films like ‘Hollywood Story’ [1951], ‘Fort Ti’ (3-D) [1953], ‘Serpent of the Nile’ [1953], ‘Conquest of Cochise’ [1953], ‘Slaves of Babylon’ [1953], ‘Masterson of Kansas’ [1954], ‘Charge of the Lancers’ [1954], ‘The Battle of Rogue River’ [1954], ‘The Iron Glove’ [1954], ‘Jesse James vs. the Daltons’ [1954], ‘Drums of Tahiti’ [1954], ‘The Saracen Blade’ [1954], ‘The Law vs. Billy the Kid’ [1954], ‘The Gun That Won the West’ [1955], ‘New Orleans Uncensored’ [1955], ‘Duel on the Mississippi’ [1955] and ‘The Houston Story’ [1956] to name just a few, and after all the above William Castle films I have listed, William Castle decided he felt a need for change, as those films listed above were made like a conveyor belt of pulp and hokum and led William Castle to a crises, which caused William Castle to re-invent himself as the gimmick man of those extra special macabre schlock genre movies, with the cooperation of Columbia Pictures. From then on, Kim Newman just rambles on in a very boring manner and talks about nothing of interest.
Special Feature: ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ Image Gallery: With this featurette, we get to view 16 wonderful 1080p black-and-white and colour promotional and publicity materials related to the 1946 Columbia Pictures film ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER.’
Special Feature: ‘SECRET OF THE WHISTLER’ Image Gallery: With this featurette, we get to view 18 wonderful 1080p black-and-white and colour promotional and publicity materials related to the 1946 Columbia Pictures film ‘SECRET OF THE WHISTLER.’
Finally, ‘MYSTERIOUS INTRUDER’ + ‘SECRET OF THE WHISTLER’ has in my opinion been fully honoured and justified in being given a really good 1st class World Premiere presentation on this wonderful Columbia Pictures, Power House + INDICATOR Blu-ray release. Plus, it features a wonderful array of fascinating special features, including a fascinating recorded audio commentary, critical appreciations, and rare archival featurettes. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
