The Thirteenth Hour (1947) User Reviews (11)

"You must think I'm stupid."

[utgard14 · 6/10 · 16 May 2017]

The penultimate entry in Columbia's Whistler series and the last to star Richard Dix. This final Dix Whistler movie isn't one of the best but it's still worth a look. The story is fairly straightforward with Dix playing more of a typical protagonist than in other entries where he played more morally ambiguous characters. This time he's a truck driver out to clear his name when he's framed for killing a policeman.

Karen Morley is good as Dix's girlfriend. Regis Toomey plays a small but important part as the cop Dix is accused of killing. Mark Dennis is unintentionally funny as Morley's son, who reads books on necrophobia and warns cops "That's mama's and my bedroom. We don't like anybody going in there." John Kellogg, Jim Bannon, and Bernadene Hayes round out the significant roles in the cast. For his part, Dix is solid as usual.

As I said, this is the last Whistler movie that Dix made, but it's also his last film period. He retired after this and died two years later. With a career stretching back over twenty years into the silents, he's probably best remembered for his Oscar-nominated role in Cimarron or for playing the crazy captain in Val Lewton's The Ghost Ship. Lantern-jawed with a somewhat stiff line delivery, Dix may not have challenged Gable or Grant or Flynn in charisma or sex appeal but he had an interesting screen presence all his own. He certainly made his mark in the films I mentioned, as well as many others including this fine series based off the popular radio series The Whistler. His last film may not have been an example of "going out on top," but it was definitely nothing to be embarrassed about. Which is, unfortunately, more than you can say for some of his contemporaries' final films.

Well crafted to the end

[Spondonman · 7/10 · 21 May 2007]

The 13th Hour was Richard Dix's 7th and final hour with the Whistler films; in fact he retired and died 2 years after this. It's not the best or the worst in the series, but still more than an adequate engrossing potboiler. It had the usual tight Columbia b picture budget yet atmospheric sets and photography plus the usual twisty story.

Honest and dependable truck firm owner Dix suddenly finds himself guilty of causing damage through driving whilst under the influence of alcohol, but of course he's innocent. This being the Whistler means it goes from bad to worse, and wanted murderer Dix really has his back up against the wall for most of the picture trying to find the real culprits. If you're familiar with the tenor of the previous entries you can probably see the big twist a-coming, but the beautiful little twist just after will get you! Favourite bits: the atmospheric shots outside Eileen's café; the denouement inside and outside Mabel's apartment, unfortunately leading to a bit of a trite end.

It wasn't quite the end of the dimly-lit road though – there was one more film to come (sans Dix) which wasn't too bad but the Canon is the 7 with him. All well worth watching if you prefer a simpler more complex world, when a b&w mystery film was just that and not a sex, violence, cgi cartoon riddled gimmick and hype fuelled socially inclusive seedy work of Art like nowadays.

Steve is royally screwed!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 21 June 2018]

"The Thirteenth Hour" is the final installment of The Whistler series which starred Richard Dix. Sadly, shortly after making the movie, Dix died of a heart attack at age 56.

When the story begins, Steve Reynolds (Richard Dix) owns a small trucking company and life is just fine. However, he's in for a horrible time...and it all begins when he picks up a hitchhiker. His car is run off the road and there is no obvious evidence that another driver was involved. Steve tells the cops to ask the hitchhiker what happened...and the man disappeared! The court believes Steve was drunk and they take away his license...and it's obvious the cops have it out for Steve. Soon after, Steve is deliberately set-up for murder when an unknown person runs over a policeman in Steve's truck. Steve is knocked out and stuck behind the wheel...and the police think he's a killer. So, he runs away before the police can apprehend him and he spends the rest of the film trying to discover who is doing all this to him and why. The only clue he has is a glove.

This is an enjoyable and well written installment of this B-movie series. Not among the very best but quite good and well worth seeing.

Last Movie

[boblipton · 6/10 · 4 September 2021]

The seventh 'Whistler' movie and Richard Dix's last screen performance has him as an independent trucker. He's just cleared all debts and is about to start making money and to marry Karen Morley when he gets involved in an accident. It's not his fault, but his witness vanishes. He winds up paying compensation and having his license suspended. He continues taking jobs, but when a driver fails to show up, he drives the truck himself; a mysterious stranger saps him and kills motorcycle cop Regis Toomey. Dix panics and runs, but realizes that he has to prove his innocence, with no clue but a glove.

It's also the last film directed by William Clemens, a decent journeyman, He had entered the movies as an editor, switched to directing in 1936 and made 33 features in a dozen years. He would die in 1980 at the age of 74.

Like the other movies in the series, it's a decent little B feature, taking advantage of Dix's longtime star power. He had been a middling star at Paramount in the silent era, then shifted to RKO with the coming of sound, as one of their major stars. His career began to decline in the middle of the 1930s. When RKO let him go, he switched to Columbia and settled into the comfortable routine of this series. A series of heart attacks caused his retirement, and he would die in 1949 at the age of 56.

Teuckin' on down the road to destiny.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 16 July 2016]

In his last film, Richard Dix finds his life turned upside down thanks to rules and regulations for truck drivers that result in the suspension of his license. He finds that one drink is one too many thanks to another driver too busy trying to kiss his girlfriend than pay attention to the road. His only witness disappears seemingly into thin air after the truck veers off the road to avoid the other driver, crashing into a gas station ironically as a police officer reports in that nothing is going on. That officer, it turns out, is the rival for the affections of his waitress girlfriend (Karen Morley).

Unable to drive after the trial with a suspended license, Dix finds himself the main suspect in the murder of his rival, seemingly linked to the trucking company Dix has started. The road to his clearing leads him straight to the path of...you guessed it...the Whistler.

Dix helps a tricky, but intriguing story line, move along as a rather supernatural element takes over the organized crime hints. Who is that mysterious passenger who disappears? While only the whistler knows for sure, I suspected that he was actually the whistler guiding Dix to his destiny. Moving at a fast and furious speed, this has great character performances and moody photography as well to recommend it.

Nice send-off for Richard Dix

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 24 February 2013]

Probably the most "Hitchcockian" of the "Whistler" series (an innocent man framed for murder, trying to evade capture from the police and bring the real killer to justice), "The Thirteenth Hour" is also notable for being the last film in the series for Richard Dix, as well as his last film in general. And it is an appropriate farewell: it has one of the very few happy endings in this series, and Dix has his warmest, most loving relationship with a woman (the likable Karen Morley). Dix died shortly after completing this film, but at least the fictional character he played in his last film seemed like he went on to live a long and happy life. The one major problem with "The Thirteenth Hour" is that the one big surprise of the plot is not very surprising for mystery fans. But it's still a well-done B-movie, and even features a particularly competent child's performance (from Morley's son). **1/2 out of 4.

Part Hitchcock part Twilight Zone...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 9 September 2021]

... is how I describe Richard Dix's final film and the last of the Whistler series of B films in which he starred with twists and turns like the California roads over which his trucks roll.

Dix plays trucking company owner Steve Reynolds, who has just gotten engaged to diner owner Eileen Blair. He has a single alcoholic drink to celebrate his engagement and, while driving his truck, picks up a hitchhiker simply because he is in a good mood. That less than a minute it took to pick up the hitchhiker causes Steve to be at a point on the road where he has a near collision with a reckless driver who simply keeps on driving. Steve crashes into a gas station to keep from hitting the reckless driver. But Steve is readily written up for drunk driving by a cop who is resentful of the fact that Steve got Eileen. Steve says the hitchhiker can verify what happened, but he is gone. Nobody at the site of the wreck saw the reckless driver, and nobody else saw the hitchhiker. It is like he disintegrated. This is the Twilight Zone part of the film.

From there things just go horribly wrong for Steve. He is framed for murder, runs away making himself look guilty, and in attempting to clear himself runs across a major criminal enterprise. To tell you more would be to tell too much, but it is a very entertaining B film. Dix was great in this Whistler series of films, here playing somebody who is not a gray character, but a straight shooter who just got caught up in events.

Truckers Unite!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 20 February 2019]

A pretty nifty little murder mystery with Richard Dix making his last appearance in the series before his untimely death. Dix indictated in an interview that he was never happy in the series, he felt the characters were misfits and oddballs but I think a lot of his best work was found in the Whistler series. Dix plays a truck driver who breaks the truck driver's number one rule and picks up a hitchhiker - things go from bad to worse

• he is involved in a horrific crash, his passenger disappears and when he

appeals to the motorcycle cop (Regis Toomey), the cop claims he never saw the joyriders who were careening all over the road. Reynolds misses out on a jail sentence but loses his trucking license for six months.

Within 65 minutes a lot of improbable situations arise - of course, comes a night when all operators are out, a driver calls in sick and Reynolds finds himself driving through the byways and praying he can avoid the police. His truck is hijacked by a masked man and while Reynolds is knocked out the hijacker savagely runs down Toomey. It doesn't look good for Dix as the cop had a well known grudge against him for stealing his girl Eileen. With Reynolds on the run from a murder charge - the scene shifts to Eileen's Diner and Karen Morley (almost at the end of her career due to the HUAAC) is great as the practical Eileen. Reynolds has traced the trouble back to a rival trucking company who will stop at nothing to get his trucks off the road. Meanwhile back at the diner, Eileen thinks there's something amiss with her new waitress - she listens at keyholes, makes random telephone calls etc.

From starting out as a trucker's war it now turns to diamond smugglers - and a mystery murderer who shows no fear or favour about taking out the mobsters also!! Recommended

Interesting story that keeps you attached till the end ...

[dwpollar · 6/10 · 10 March 2001]

1st watched 5/29/2000 - (Dir-William Clemens): Interesting story that keeps you attached till the end in this obvious "one in a series of films" surrounding mysterious things that happen around a whistler that shows up in shadows.Very much like "The Fugitive" TV series and movie that followed.

"Every dog has its day. Mine's coming"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 6/10 · 17 September 2022]

Another entry in the 'Whistler' film series based on the radio series but not an adaptation of any of those plays (which were 30 minutes long) but an original story by Edward Bock and Raymond L. Schrock, only keeping the mysterious character of the 'Whistler' who narrates some of the story like he does on the radio. It is the tale of a truck driver Steve Reynolds who no fault of his own gets involved with diamonds and murder. Reynolds is played solidly by Richard Dix in his last film part. Supporting him is Karen Morley as his fiancee Eileen Blair, and that under rated actress does fine work as always in her role. Mark Dennis does well also as young Tommy Blair. The twist near the end took me by surprise but is plausible, unlike some film twists.

Two questions do remain; what happened to the truck passenger who disappeared and why is the film called 'The Thirteenth Hour'?

The Thirteenth Hour

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 8 January 2023]

Richard Dix is lorry driver "Reynolds" who is going about his business when he gets slugged by an unknown assailant whilst out on a job. He and his truck are taken, but they are pursued by a motor-cycle cop. When they stop, the driver allows the truck to roll backwards squashing the cop under it's wheels, then he absconds leaving "Reynolds" with only a glove to help him track down the true criminals before he falls victim to them - or to the police... Williams Clemens keep the film moving along swiftly. No, there is nothing much new here and there is little, if any, jeopardy about the conclusion but we remain in ignorance about the identity of the baddies for a fair while, and the cat and mouse elements are enjoyable enough for an hour.