The Whistler

A man (Richard Dix) is despondent after the death of his wife but can't bring himself to commit suicide.. So he hires a professional hit-man (J. Carrol Naish) to do the deed for him. But suddenly things are looking up for him and he wants to live. The problem is he has a killer after him that he already paid for! An outlandish premise but a fun start to Columbia's Whistler series. The Whistler was a popular radio program of the time. I am way too young to remember the radio show when it first aired, but I have heard many episodes on satellite radio. It's a good show. The movie series is good, as well, with iron-jawed Richard Dix playing the lead in all but one of them. He plays a different role in each movie, just like Lon Chaney, Jr. was doing over at Universal in their Inner Sanctum series.

Like I said, this is a fun movie despite the unbelievable premise. Nice supporting cast backing up Dix including Gloria Stuart, Alan Dinehart, William Benedict, and J. Carrol Naish. Benedict first appears on screen reading a Superman comic book. This has to be one of the earliest appearances or mentions of Superman in a live-action movie. It's also one of the earliest directing jobs from William Castle.