The Whistler

Fun little B-movie about a suicidal guy who decides he wants to live and a hitman who has a phobia about death. Castle's dark, noir-like photography gives the film a nice atmosphere of paranoia and distrust, but the plot gets pretty ridiculous at times and the ending is very underwhelming (I found it strange there was no twist ending, seeing as twist endings were a trademark of the radio series on which this is based).

I don't get the whole "Whistler" gimmick, but it's pretty inconsequential to the film as a whole. It's a fun little noir with some twists of fate that wrings everything out of a fairly simple premise.

Just about an hour long, which is 55 minutes longer than it would've been if he'd just hired John Wick instead.

The "Whistler" frame story... Well, it is what it is. Other than that, it is highly entertaining. Clocking in at just around an hour, it keeps things moving along nicely in a simple but effective plot.

Not bad for a Shadow rip-off. Better than either of the sequels.

The last chapter of Richard Dix. The Whistler (1944) was the first of eight films in that franchise, seven of which starred Dix, which also was the last seven films Dix did. And we're off to a good start. Started out like a usual B-movie, but it gained a lot of steam as the twists started coming. The suspense crept in and stayed there till the end. Good to see tired drunken Dix score such a solid gig to close his legacy.